Today I’m sharing all of my tips and tricks for how I curl my straight hair and get the waves to last all day. I’ve definitely had to “train” my hair over the years, and have put together a routine that works on my hair as well as my friends with similar hair types. It’s important to play around to find the steps and products that work best for you, and my first tip is to start early (not the night of a special event) so you have time to work with your hair, rather than against it. In high school, I spent a whole summer curling my hair every few days, which gave it “muscle memory” that helped the curls to last all day by the time football season rolled around, and have found my hair continues to get more cooperative as time goes on.

how to curl fine, straight hair

try curling on clean, air-dried hair

We all have our hair washing routines, and you’ve probably heard that dirty hair helps “hold” a curl longer, but I’ve found that clean hair is my go-to. While your hair’s natural oils give your hair texture and make your strands more moldable, I’ve found that it does the opposite on my naturally straight hair. The oils weigh my hair down, which makes it that much harder for my hair to hold a curl. Air drying my hair also helps my hair more than when I use a blow dryer, for some reason.

prep your hair with the right shampoo and conditioner combination

Not all freshly washed hair is the same. Skip deep conditioners or hydrating hair masks, especially while you’re in the “training” phase of getting your hair to hold a curl. Clarifying shampoos do a great job of removing all of the product build-up from your roots, but can also dry out your hair a little. That dryness might make it easier to hold a curl, but can also cause damage to already vulnerable hair. I recommend using your go-to shampoo, since your hair is used to it. Now that I’ve curled my hair consistently for years, I can use conditioner without a problem, but I did play around with skipping conditioner (or only applying it to the very ends) since it made my hair lighter and a little more malleable when I first started curling my hair.

One caveat to this is the Briogeo Don't Despair Repair Hair Mask - this is a clean product marketed for adding hydrating to damaged hair, but it always gives my hair so much texture whenever I use it, so I relied on it heavily when I was first training my hair to curl. You can pick up a sample at Sephora to see how it affects your hair; a little goes a long way and too much can be too heavy for fine, straight hair, but it is sometimes the magic ingredient that allows hair to hold a curl beautifully.

pick the right heat protectant

Heat protectants are key for minimizing the damage caused by curling irons, which can reach 400 degrees or higher. I’ve done a lot of research and testing with the various heat protectants currently on the market, and find that fine, straight hair reacts best to a light spray with a fine mist, like the Dae Agave Dry Heat Protection & Hold Styling Mist (which is also a clean beauty product) or the Oribe Gold Lust Dry Heat Protection Spray. Some of the more popular heat protectants are very hydrating and have a consistency similar to leave-in conditioner (like the Bumble and bumble Hairdresser's Invisible Oil), but they tend to weigh the hair down and make it harder for straight hair to hold a curl.

use a curling iron with a clamp

Even though my hair now curls fairly easily, I still struggle to get curls that last anytime I use a clampless curling iron or wand, regardless of the price point or how “nice” it is. Curling irons that have clamps get both sides of your hair, making the curl stronger and helping it hold longer. Having clamp is what’s important, not the design, so don’t get trapped into buying something overpriced - I’ve used the T3, but my favorite is by Conair, which is less than $15.

use a 1” curling iron (or smaller)

Most beach wave tutorials call for curling irons that range from 1 1/4” to 1 1/2” inch, but I haven’t had any luck using them - the curl is barely there or falls flat pretty quickly. Instead, I stick to a 1” curling iron no matter what - any variation in the curl you might see is due to how long I hold the curl, not the size of the barrel. Another factor is the weather; if it’s humid or a rainy day, I will hold the curl a little longer than usual for a tighter curl, because the weather will cause it to fall a little more throughout the day. If you have shorter hair, I recommend starting with a 3/4” barrel to get a similar effect - the curls won’t look like ringlets, and they’ll loosen as the day goes on.

finish your curls with the right products

It took a lot of trial and error, but I’ve found that my fine, straight hair holds a curl when it’s left alone - no hair spray, styling oils, or finishing creams. Those products definitely add a polished look, but they were too heavy and my curls fell within 5 minutes after using them. To tame my roots, I’ll use a lightweight pomade only. If you want to use finishing products, I recommend waiting until your hair cools completely, so the curls have a chance to set. This shimmering mist is lightweight and adds a really pretty shine to your hair without any stickiness or heavy residue.