Taming Heavy Waves

A tutorial for gorgeous, light waves on even the heaviest hair

 

This tutorial is a special one because it deals with a specific type of hair that is often considered hard to style. My client Brooke has very oily hair, but we always make it look fabulous for stage and photography with section work. In this tutorial, I will be showing you how to achieve a gorgeous wavy look which is perfect for this type of hair. I find it also keeps her hair slightly detangled and holds for a long time.

Let’s Get Started

In the before picture, it was early morning when Brooke came to get glammed. Notice her hair does have a little bit of layering, as it is very heavy and long. When you see where I split the hair open, you can see how at the bottom, the oil shows. Even when she washes it the night before, it’s manageable, but still extremely heavy.

I always begin by separating the hair out usually creating 4 to 6 rows of hair, moving from the bottom upward and brushing out each layer making sure to start with a well-manicured mane. I always use a paddle brush for the detangling. If a client’s hair is very tangled, then I will switch to a boar’s hairbrush first and then go back through with the paddle brush.

Blowing Away the Bed Head

Here you see me blow drying her hair. This is something I do often if I feel like the hair is still not at the proper texture to start styling or prepping the hair, always using Bed Head’s Blow Out in the purple bottle. I love that this illuminating sheen cream actually works to help the hair texture. From time to time, I use a texturizing spray, but I never use a dry shampoo in this phase of styling.

Magic Wand

Next, we take small sections, starting at the bottom and wand them out, changing directions row by row. Brooke’s hair is very thick, so we usually wind up with 8 to 12 rows, depending on the style we are looking to create for the event. It takes 45 to 90 minutes depending on how fast I am moving to work through her hair. I like to make sure the prepped pieces are very secure and have a great coil to them.

 

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