How to Get Awesome Festival Hair

Over the years I've spent my fair share of time attending one of summer's greatest rituals—the outdoor music festival. It was always the highlight of my summer, and even though it was hot, crowded, and dirty (oh man, was it dirty), it was always fun and worth the effort. Unfortunately, the humid conditions and lack of electrical outlets meant that my sleek, flat-ironed hair was a thing of the past (at least until the week was over), so I would spend hours trying to figure out the best way to control the frizz and still look cute. What I needed was an easy way to create a look that didn't require electricity and actually got better with hot sun and humid conditions. That's where this hairstyle comes in!

I've been doing this style of hair in the summer for a while, but I recently started to use a homemade sea salt spray to see if it improved the process, and I'm absolutely crazy about the results. Here's how to make your own:

Festival Hair Sea Salt Spray

1 cup warm water
1 teaspoon coconut-scented conditioner
1/2 teaspoon coconut oil
1 teaspoon sea salt
small squirt of gel

Pour the warm water into a small spray bottle (you can find these at almost any drugstore), and add the conditioner, coconut oil, salt, and gel. The warm water will help dissolve the salt and the coconut oil (if it's not already melted), but you'll want to give it a few good shakes to make sure it all dissolves and mixes together.

Spray the mixture onto damp or dry hair. If your hair is sopping wet, wait a bit or towel dry until it's damp before spraying the mixture (more of the spray will stay if your hair is partially dry). Once you feel like your hair is evenly saturated and coated, scrunch your hair up towards the roots several times with both hands. Allow your hair to air dry while continuing to scrunch the hair from time to time. I would suggest being outside for as much of the time as you can while it dries. I find that if my wet hair dries indoors where there is air conditioning, the results aren't nearly as good. The hotter it is and the faster it dries is usually the best result for me.

Once your festival waves have dried and set in, you can use a teasing brush to tease the roots at the top of your scalp to add a bit more volume to the crown area. If you have access to electricity, you can also touch up any strands that didn't dry quite as curly with a small curling iron, or you can simply just spray that strand again and give it more scrunching attention as it re-dries. Once I'm done with that, I spray some spray wax (this product is my favorite hair product ever!) onto my fingertips, and I lightly run my fingers over the waves, scrunch the hair again, and twist the ends of the strands with my fingers. This will give the waves more definition, and you can finish with an anti-humidity spray if you like.

Feel free to experiment with the amount of ingredients in your sea salt spray. If you need more hold, add more gel; not wavy enough, add more salt. If your hair gets too dry, add more coconut oil and conditioner. Keep experimenting until you find your perfect combination.

Another festival-friendly thing about this hair is that it actually gets better if you don't wash it for a couple of days. Just dampen your hair with the sea salt spray again the next day, scrunch periodically until dry, and you'll refresh the waves good as new again (or if you like how it looks once it's been slept in, just leave it alone and you're good to go). You may have noticed in our recent Cost Rica vacation pictures that this is also my go-to beach hair (or pool hair) when I'm in need of humidity-proof hair waves.

This look is definitely one of my faves, and it comes in handy when I'm traveling to an outdoor summer show to watch my husband play, or just attending a summer pool party. Think you'll give it a try for your next outdoor event? xo. Laura

Credits // Author: Laura Gummerman. Photography: Laura Gummerman and Sarah Rhodes. Photos edited with Stella and Autumn from The Signature Collection.