How To: My Everyday Hairstyle | Casual Waves

Products used / Loreal Elnett Heat Protecting Styling Spray in 'Curls' / Tresemme Keratin Smooth Protecting Spray / John Frieda Frizz Ease Shape & Shine Hairspray / Loreal Elnett Volume Hairspray / Batiste Blonde Dry Shampoo / Tigi Bed Head Dumb Blonde Smoothing Stuff / Schwarzkopf Got2B Powder'ful Voumising Styling Powder

Firstly, apologies about the lack of my face in this post.. I do hope you can forgive me. I'd got up early, hadn't applied a great deal of eye-makeup and didn't feel at all spritely this morning to say the least. Nevertheless, because I love you all so much, I thought I would take the chance to take a few photos of my daily hair routine since I had some spare time on my hands. Quite a lot of you asked me about my hairstyle in my Christmas Face of the Day post (here) and so I thought I'd give you a little run through of how I achieved it and the products I use to style my hair everyday. This has been one of my 'signature' styles since I was at school - and I find making my hair wavy this way is very quick if you're in a rush, or are just lounging around the house but want your hair to look half-decent. The beauty about it is that it turns out slightly different every time you do it, and the longer you spend on it the more control you have over what it turns out like. Personally, I like my hair to look a little 'undone' and a little dishevelled, so if i'm being completely honest I don't often take too much time or care in doing it! It's a very versatile little method and one that I will continue to use until i'm old and grey and resisting temptation to get a perm...

Step 1 | This step is optional, but being a massive fan of volume I take my teasing comb and backcomb at the roots lightly. My hair often gets quite dull in the winter months so I also tend to spray some Batiste dry shampoo in 'Blonde' at the roots to lift the colour slightly. This is also a fabulous way to add texture to 'just washed' hair - it takes away the fly-away feeling and helps to achieve volume. I just generally give my hair a bit of a tousle and a fluff up to prep for the further steps.. (you may notice one side of my hair is already curly - I decided half way through my hair-routine to start this tutorial so concentrate on my other half of my head)

Step 2 | To make my hair wavy, I use my trusty Remington straighteners. Yes, you may gasp in horror that I don't use GHD's but my trusty age-old ceramic Remingtons do the job perfectly fine (and until they run out of juice i refuse to throw money at more heat appliances as I have a drawer full of them - eek!). I either use the Elnett Styling Spray or the Tresemme Keratin Smooth for my heat protectant. For daily use I find the Tresemme works wonders on my hair as it keeps it soft and manageable and doesn't weigh it down. If I need my style to last for a night out I will use the Elnett Styling Spray. This is a little heavier and feels a bit more like a hairspray when applied - it has a slight sticky feel to it that helps to keep the style in your hair for longer.

I take 1-2 inch sections, varying as I go around my head but I never go smaller than this. The bigger the sections the looser the curl. This step is a little difficult to explain (definitely need to start YouTube!) but I place the straightener where I want the wave to begin - usually about 3 inches down from the root. After this you need to move fairly swiftly to avoid lines in the hair. I turn the straightener as shown so that the hair is wrapped around the 'barrel' bit. I turn it just under 180degrees (the further you twist the straightener the tighter the curl).

Step 3 | I then move the straightener down to the ends of my hair as smoothly as I can. If you aren't used to curling your hair with straighteners then I will warn you this bit takes a bit of getting used to (especially if yours are square edged like mine - but don't worry if they are, you can't tell at all if you do it correctly). I repeat the process all around my head - I dont section it off - I just do as I please as it adds to the 'undone' look I'm going for. But I do concentrate more on the two front sections.

Step 4 | I then take John Frieda's Frizz Ease Hairspray. If you're after a really good setting spray then this is wonderful. You don't need much at all. I spray 2-3 sprays on each side and lightly tousle the waves I've made. I don't scrunch it! This will make it frizzy and ruins the smooth shape you've created.

Step 5 | Again this step is optional. I don't always do this but I find it helps if I'm having a flat hair day. I take Schwarzkopf's Volumising Powder and use a small bit rubbed into the palm of my hands to lightly mess up the lengths. This adds volume to the lengths of the hair - if your hair is like mine and all the layers have grown out (my hair is mostly one length), it can be difficult to achieve volume - especially if it's long as it weighs the curls down. This gives the style texture and plumps up the hair. Again, I do this lightly and use more of a 'lifting' motion as opposed to scrunching the hair.

Step 6 | After all of that styling and 'plumping' sometimes some hairs can get out of place and if I'm having a bad hair day it can sometimes look a little frizzy (damn you, wintery weather!) If this is the case I take a pea sized amount of Tigi's Dumb Blonde Smoothing Stuff and very lightly smooth down the frizzy bits. I do this bit so lightly that I almost don't touch the majority of my hair - just the flyaways!

Step 7 | This step is just general shifting and perfecting. I use my fingers for this. I pull my fringe down properly and lift up the roots to bring back the volume I added at the start of the process. I sometimes give it a quick once over with Elnett's hairspray - it's really light and just seals in the style without making it crispy and overdone.

It goes without saying I use volumising shampoos and mousses when I blow-dry my hair (John Frieda's Volume Shampoo and Mark Hill's VaVaVoom Mousse to be precise) so I give my hair as much help as I can to achieve the volume. And there we have it! Simples! If I ever start YouTube I shall definitely do a little tutorial on this in video form. I'm also planning on doing some more in-depth photograph tutorials on my blog over the next few months using my waving wand (my favourite for nights out) and various curling tongs - I often switch up the heated appliance I use and each provide slightly different looks. So keep your eyes peeled for those!

What is your everyday hairstyle?

♥