If you’re all about the undone beachy hair but can’t quite face the reality of the current arctic water temperatures (seriously, how do people ocean swim year round?!), then it’s time to cheat your way to beach waves.
RELATED: Meghan Markle’s mermaid curls are honestly a sight to behold
RELATED: How to beat the high ponytail headache
The biggest player? The waves. Shocking, we know. Reaching for a classic curling iron won’t necessarily give you the right result, though. We recommend using something that offers a more ‘undone’ finish. Think a Mermade waving wand or an oval barrel that delivers delightfully dishevelled bends. Our go-to? The VS Sassoon Keratin Protect Undone Waves wand; it actually features keratin-infused technology to help protect hair health while adding the perfect ‘I woke up like this’ waves.
Your other secret weapon? Your styling product kit. Start by adding a bit of texture-enhancing styling cream into hair post-wash. It’ll add a bit of body and extra pieciness while also getting your waves looking perfectly windswept (like, in a good way) Our pick? The Redken No Blow Airy Cream.
Then, once your waves are in place, add some salt spray. Salt sprays are your short cut to undone and tousled tresses, minus the sand and dry-straw feeling that can often occur from the real thing. And if you’ve previously experienced too much ‘crunch’ from the product, we urge you to try again, because the sea salt sprays on the market now are pretty magical. Basically, they’ll help to finesse your curl sans crunch.
Formulated with texture-enhancing yet hair nourishing ingredients to soften and hydrate while adding volume and movement, they’re ideal for creating the beachy look in just a few spritzes.
Here are our favourite ones for natural soft waves..
JUSTICE Professional Sea Salt Spray
For finer and flatter hair types, the JUSTICE Professional Sea Salt Spray will boost volume and increase hair thickness by adding natural movement from the roots down. If your hair tends to go frizzy from the sea, this spray is formulated with resins and polymers to create the body and texture, minus the frizz.
Read more on JUSTICE Professional Sea Salt Spray here…
KMS HAIRPLAY Sea Salt Spray
If your hair struggles to hold a wave, the KMS sea salt spray will keep that ‘just out of the ocean’ look lasting all day. Thanks to the innovative formula using a PVP setting polymer, this spray will provide support and maintain hold within the hair.
Read more on KMS HAIRPLAY Sea Salt Spray here…
ELEVEN Australia Sea Salt Texture Spray
Fake volume at the roots, and thickness and texture at the mid-lengths and ends with this lightweight spray. A few spritzes onto wet or dry hair and transform flat, lifeless hair into fuller, thicker locks.
Read more on ELEVEN Australia Sea Salt Texture Spray here…
TONI&GUY Sea Salt Texturising Spray
Tink vacation hair that will cost you way less than an airfare. This spray is suitable for all hair types and will create instant natural movement without the stiff, crunchy feel.
Read more on TONI&GUY Sea Salt Texturising Spray here…
Beach muk Sea Salt Spray
Perfect for naturally straight hair, this spray separates and defines individual curls while adding natural body and texture from the root to tip. The oil-free formula is finished with a refreshing cantaloupe smell for the full tropical experience.
Read more on Beach muk Sea Salt Spray here…
It’s good that we can get the look of this without the salty crispy feel. I wonder which of these products does that best?
Not a huge fan of the look that I wore when younger. My hair is too short anyway ATM.
I can’t use them either. Will just have to put up with my naturally dead straight hair instead.
I’ve never used a sea salt spray before but I have a feeling it wouldn’t work for my curly/wavy hair
I really like the look of wavy hair. I’ve never used a sea salt spray, I always imagined they would be very drying.
I love the look of beachy waves
I scrunch my hair up after washing and then I use a volume spray and it looks pretty good, as I have a wave in my hair
Quite like the effect of salt spray
Wow these products look amazing
Not too cold to swim in QLD ….just saying 😀
Lovely products, I look forward to giving them a try.
I love the look of sea salt sprays, but they contain salt (obviously), so I was worried that they’d be damaging to my hair. I’m going to have to try a new brand.
I’ve never been able to make sea salt sprays work for me.
I’ve been making my own and it works great, but it’s pretty drying. I will probably have to try one fo the commercial ones. Particularly tempted by the ELEVEN as I really like their products.
I’m lazy when it comes to my hair, it’s wash n wear, that’s it
Just not into beachy waves my hair does it naturally most of the time I straighten them out. Not sure that it would work for me. Having silvery grey hair?
One good thing about sea salt spray is that it also helps you if you want to increase the number of days between hair washing 🙂
Still have John frieda one, smells divine! But prob with using sea salt sprays on my hair type, hair gets all stuck together and hard to brush afterwards.
I don’t think my Asian hair will ever have beach hair
I’ve never tried these, my hair is naturally curly!
I haven’t tried any of these but I know somewhere in my stash I do have a sea salt spray. I really wasted lock down, I should have been trying out all my stash.
I tried John Freda sea salt spray.
Never tried a salt spray before… Sounds interesting…
I used to have such perfect natural beach curls, but I straightened them out so I will have to try one of these to get them back. Thank you Beauty heaven!
I tried , it made my hair so sticky and tacky, it looked ghastly, i wish i knew how to use them properly
Sounds too drying to me
I already have dry hair so I think i would still give it a try though. Thank you
I have used a sea salt spray before and it does give you beachy waves but the one I used made my hair sticky/heavy.
I’ve tried it in the past, but didn’t quite get the look i wanted,
Some products that I am sure will help my hair Must look out for them
I’ve heard of these..
I’ve tried Bumble and Bumble a few years back but it didn’t work, I will look into it again though.
I was recently gifted a sea salt spray product but I haven’t tried it yet. My hair is already very dry and I’m concerned that it might make it straw-like.
Hope it works well for those who try. Not for me though.
Love my sea salt spray from Schwarzkopf, but definitely need to check out some other brands!
It’s hard to find a salt spray that doesn’t make my hair crunchy, will have to check these out!
i might try this!
I just bought the VS Sassoon wand in the rewards room. Can’t wait for it to arrive.