meagan

california gurlz: a beach hair tutorial


Hello dear readers! After numerous requests, today I will be sharing my method of styling hair in the uh, Beach Hair manner. It's a really easy style to do! Especially since perfection is decidedly not the goal here. You want it to look a little messy and ratty and harken back to Mary Kate Olsen's dumpster days. Even today, Mary-Kate Olsen is still my ultimate hair goals goddess. But since we don't have a team of extraordinarily talented stylists, we're gonna do this on our own. I should mention that I have very thin, fine hair that breaks easily and I have no natural volume or waves. If you are lucky enough to possess a lil bounce in your locks, feel free to modify this tutorial to best suit you.
Let's begin...
Start with wet hair. Let's all note the hilarity of me wearing a full face of "natural makeup" while styling my hair.
Products I swear by are are Moroccanoil Treatment, Full Again Thickening Lotion and Hair Resort Spray both by Kevin Murphy. I promise this post was not sponsored by Kevin Murphy, I JUST REALLY LIKE HIS PRODUCTS, OKAY. Since my hair is so fine, my biggest requirement in product is that it won't weigh my hair down. The Hair Resort Spray is a sea salt spray that activates waves curls in the hair and holds for several hours without sacrificing volume. It was recently highly recommended by New York Magazine, but I give this product an A . Follow the cut because there are LOTS of photos.

Apply a liberal amount of the Thickening Lotion to the shaft and ends of your hair. I find that it works best on slightly damp hair, as the water gives the lotion something to grab onto. Since my hair is realllllly fine I keep the lotion away from the roots so my hair isn't weighed down.
Massaaaaaage it in.
Volume is the secret to beachy hair. Blow dry the roots UPWARDS in order to get some bigger hair going. Be sure to keep the shafts still damp. By now the Thickening Lotion should have settled in.
Next, I like to make a couple pin curls with my overgrown face-framing layers. This helps to define the waves in my hair. If you've never done pin curls before, it is SUPER easy. Simply coil a small section of hair around your fingers into a horizontal circle, and pin securely to your head.
I'm sure there is a Right Way to do perfect pin curls, but that is not what this tutorial is about!
Blast the pin curls with a hot blow dryer, but be sure to use a diffuser. The pin curls will be let out as the second-to-last step.
The shafts of your hair should be about 50% damp by now. This is the perfect time to spritz the Hair Resort Spray. You can apply liberally, but the product does have a little bit of hold, so begin blow drying almost immediately after spraying.
Next, we're are going to make the waves. Since this is an easy, no-stress tutorial, we are going to skip the curling iron and use our fingers instead. In fact, I rarely even use a curling iron these days. You're going to coil your hair around your finger, similar to making the pin curls, but with larger sections of hair. You can make the waves go up as high as you like - I personally prefer them at 1/3 way past the roots, where my ombre' highlights begin. If you have more time, you can even section off your hair to make the most out of the waves, but I don't do this because I have no time in the mornings and also, the whole point of beach hair is to not look perfect!
Keep the hair wrapped around your finger while using the diffuser'd blow dryer for about 15 seconds. Obviously if it starts to burn, STOP. You can also set the hair into the diffuser too. Repeat all around the head.
The Hair Resort Spray really activates with lots of scrunching. Once the hair is about 25% damp, scrunch, SCRUNCH LIKE YOUR LIFE DEPENDS ON IT. Keep applying the Hair Resort Spray and scrunching/finger waving as needed. All the while keeping the diffused blow dryer going.
Time to remove the pin curls...
...which are probably still a lil wet at this point, so wrap around the index finger and hit with the blow dryer some more.
OPTIONAL: Once the hair is dry, you can tease the roots a little for extra volume. I do this because my hair is very fine, and often need to tease throughout the day to keep the lift. Teasing your hair is very bad for your overall hair health so if you don't need the extra volume, I recommend skipping this step!
Last but not least, we're going to use a tiny little bit of the Moroccanoil Hair Treatment on the ends only. This helps to define the ends and create that snakey effect, and also to give your precious ends some TLC after being blasted with a blow dryer.
You don't need a lot, just enough for the very ends. Also, while applying the Moroccanoil Hair Treatment, be sure to look as blase' as I do in this photo.
All done! Apply hair spray if you need the hold. Honestly though, the Hair Resort Spray last for a full day. I like my beachy hair paired with smokey eyes and a neutral brownish lipstick as an everyday look, however feel free to GO CRAZY with your makeup. This hair is supposed to be messy and imperfect, but belies how much actually goes into it crafting this style. For second-day hair perfection, simply bun your hair before bed and secure with bobby pins. Do NOT use a hair tie as you will end up with kinked ends which is never a good look and leads to split ends. Spray a little Hair Resort Spray and scrunch some more, and be on your way! Feel free to email me if you have any questions and email me photos if you choose to follow the tutorial. Go forth and make your hair look like you've been surfing all day, even if you're a Flyover Country Babe like me! xoxo
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