Styling straight hair

[TeaAndSketches]

Hello friends,
I feel like everyone dislikes their hair (we all want what we don't have!) and the journey to figuring out how your hair works is a lot harder than it seems! I have naturally straight hair, about 1b, maybe 1c on a good day. I've really fallen in love with wavy hair and fun texture, since my hair has always been seen as naturally sleek because of how straight it is. I was wondering what fellow natural straight haired friends do for their hair in terms of styling? I currently discovered that a dab of water-based shine pomade to damp hair and scrunching has helped with texture. I then spray my hair to reactivate the texture instead of adding more product to prevent buildup.

What cool tips and tricks have you discovered for straight hair?

[illicitlizard]

Ooooh I'm curious to see what people say!
I tend to just embrace the straightness because it's low maintenance and honestly I have no idea how to actually style hair. Kind of why I prefer it long so I can put it up and don't have to worry about how flat it is haha. If I want it to have some body I tend to scrunch it whilst it's damp and air dry but that takes forever.

[Kalamazoo]

Side combs!

[cheepcheep]

I get a waves and volume from sleeping with my hair in a bun on top of my head. Simple and effective :)

I'm too lazy to add product, but it would probably work better with some texturiser.

[Lady Stardust]

Braid waves are my new favourite thing! I get fewer tangles and more consistency than I do with scrunching. They’re very pretty too. (I don’t usually go for “pretty” so it makes a nice change!)

I thought that my hair wouldn’t dry in a plait but I’ve found that it does dry in 2 plaits, although it takes most of the day.

[Elodea]

I get great waves if I braid my hair while damp/wet and allow it to fully dry. Altering the size of the braids will change how big/small the resulting waves are. If I do a French or Dutch crown braid, I have more waves around the crown of my head compared to braiding from the nape. The key is to allow the hair to fully dry in the braids before you take them out, so you have to get the dampness to time spent drying ratio right if you air dry (wetter hair at time of braiding means longer drying time). When I braid my hair right after washing it, it can take awhile to air dry compared to just spraying dry hair with a spray bottle to get it slightly damp in preparation.

Sometimes my hair gets a bit of curl/wave from being in a bun, but I haven't been able to get particularly impressive curls/waves from buns. Once I got some decent curls when taking down double buns, but they fell out within minutes, I think because my hair wasn't completely dry. It probably takes longer to air dry when it's all wrapped up in a bun.

I usually just wear buns these days without the goal of trying to produce curls/waves but I've had good results with braid waves before.

[TreesOfEternity]

Do you mean hairstyles or ways to give hair waves?

[TeaAndSketches]

Do you mean hairstyles or ways to give hair waves?

Both! I am curious about how people create waves in their hair though, whether they use product or whether just with braids! I've tried mousse and stuff, but I'm not sure if other straight haired people can relate, but mousse just makes my hair way too crunchy. I think pomades are the best recent find at the moment. I'm still exploring options though!

[TreesOfEternity]

I cant give wave to mine, even if i used heat they would be gone in a couple of hours. I just try to work with my hair not against it.

I do lots of accent braids or twists at the sides, they give some volume and substance to the style.

[Khristopher]

I've found that oiling my hair before braiding seems to make my hair more maleable, besides making the braid very shiny and pretty. When I take it out I have wonderful waves, but keep in mind I braid my hair just after waking up and take it out at night, so it's a long time. I guess you can do braids overnight if you want to sport waves during the day :) Parandas make braid waves more defined as well. Other good style to have some texture is a disc bun, gives wurls to your length/ends. Oh, and squish to condish is great to bring out hidden waves you could have, and gives some good volume while having smooth moisturized hair. Hope this helps!

[lapushka]

What about braid waves. If you don't like the spaghetti ends, try this. I have recommended this tutorial *so* so many times already:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R0NMLSUICp4

[Cg]

I cant give wave to mine....

Yes, this.