Styling Long Wavy Hair

Following my hair care article, I was inspired to write about styling long wavy hair. On most days of the year, I like to leave my hair natural and let it be free to do its thing. But on rare occasions, either a wish out of the blue or due to an occasion for which I want to look a little different and that leads me to look at hair styling options.
As much as going to a hairstylist is pretty comfortable because someone else has to deal with all the heavy lifting, there are times when you either want to do something yourself, or you simply don’t have the time. In such situations, My go-to style is straightening my hair. It may not seem a huge deal for some people because a lot of people do it very regularly, but for me, I don’t do it too often and I actually look completely different.

So I’m going to walk through step by step, the way I straighten my hair. I thought it would be a good idea since I get a lot of questions on how it is that I manage to straighten my very big and long hair all on my own, in under an hour.

Styling Long Wavy Hair – Straightening Long and Wavy Hair

Items I use:

• Straightener
• A heat protector

Hair sections and Heat Protective Spray

I usually divide my hair into 3 parts: 1/3 of my hair from the back till the region just above my ears, I then divide the remaining hair into two and fix them on each side on the upper part of the head.

I begin from the section at the back. I apply my L’Oreal Elnett Satin Heat Protective Spray to that entire section and then divide it into multiple sections.

Hair Twirling

For each smaller section, I twirl to make sure it doesn’t mix with the other sections. What I usually do is try to keep the natural grouping of the waves which form on their own together, so sometimes the sections can be different sizes.

When I begin straightening the hair, I first separate the smaller twirled sections between the right and left sides of the head. Usually begin with the sections which are harder to reach, begin the ones in the middle, and I work my way to the front of my right side of my head and the same with the left side.

Using a Comb with a Straightener

I use my Double Row Detangler hair comb together with my straightener. I brush through the section of hair and then go through it with the straightener. I usually do that twice for each section.

Slowly making my way from the neck region, to the frontal region.

Once I get to the section which was divided into half, I usually work on my side fully, until switching to the other side.

Cooling off the Hair

Once the entire hair is done, I pass my fingers through the hair from the roots, to cool the hair and let it settle.

Straightening my Hair

When I straighten my hair, it takes approximately 40 minutes to do.

Here are the few reasons I like to straighten my hair:

1. I am curious just how long my hair is, it’s hard to tell when it’s wavy.
2. It is so much easier to take care of.
3. I absolutely love the colour gradation that you can only see clearly when it’s straight.
4. It definitely feels lighter.
5. A change for my look.

I must say though, it usually feels weird and I do normally miss the waves shortly after it’s straightened, probably why I rarely do it.

Styling Long Wavy Hair – Simple High Classic Bun

For a classic high bun, I use:

• Tresemme Freeze Hold 5 hairspray
• * Large hair doughnut ring
• Approximately 60 U-Shaped hairpins
• 15 Hair grips
• 2 Normal hair bands
• Double Row Detangler hair comb

* Doughnut rings usually come in 3 sizes and 3 colours.

The sizes are:

• Small (6cm in diameter)
• Medium (8cm in diameter)
• Large (10cm in diameter)

For the purpose of this post, I decided to show how I do the high bun on my hair when it’s straight. When my hair is wavy, it is hard to see what is happening.

The base of the Bun

I begin with the base of the bun, basically the high ponytail. This is actually the most important part, as it sets the positioning of the bun, you need to watch out how the area all around the bun looks because it is now the time to make it look as perfect as possible and most importantly for me, to make sure the ponytail isn’t pulling the hair. This is important for me because unless I position it just right, I will end up with a headache for the rest of the day.

I do usually handle my hair in a twirl motion, as I have quite a lot of hair, twirling it helps it stay in space. If I just tie it up normally, the ponytail usually slides off quite quickly.

Using the Doughnut Ring

Once the ponytail is set, you simply put on the doughnut ring on top of the hairband holding the ponytail.

Hair Distribution

Then I gently distribute the hair and around the doughnut ring, making sure the entire ring is equally covered with the hair.

Once all the hair is equally distributed, I simply slip on the second hair band from the top part of the doughnut ring up until the bottom end.

Securing the loose hair

As for all that hair flapping around, I take a small section, twirl them and pass the twirled hair all around the bottom of the bun and secure it with a U-shaped hairpin.

Giving the Classic Bun a clean look

Once I’m done with all the strands of hair, I use my Tresemme hairspray all around the hair that is pulled in and is under the bun. This hairspray, from my experience, is the only one that holds my hair in space and does not make it look sticky or plastic. It is also light and when I take the hair down, and either brush through my hair (when it’s straight) or simply pass my fingers throughout, the hairspray gets loose pretty quickly.

Once the hairspray is done, and before it sets, I brush from the outer side of the head, towards the inner side, where the bun is located with my comb. This way I push any small or loose hairs towards the direction of the bun and secure them with hair grips.

Upstyle: Classic High Bun

Styling long wavy hair can be tough, however, a classic high bun is one of my favourite hairstyles; mainly because it is one of the easiest up style which makes the biggest statement, literally. Another reason is that when I have a high bun, I get to keep my hair away from my face and it doesn’t feel heavy on my neck. Finally, it can be done with straight and wavy hair and it doesn’t take longer than 20 minutes!

For those who have very long hair and have trouble making curls a reality, check out my product review on the most perfect hair curler I have come across. I was truly surprised with the results and figured it deserved an entire product review of its own.