Remember when waves went out of trend? No? Well, we don’t either. These hairstyles were super popular, and they still are. The best part about them is that you can style them in hundreds of patterns and give yourself a new style every day.
But we understand how it could be challenging to start a new wavy haircut if you’re not familiar with waves. That’s why we’re going to teach you how to get waves.
This article will be filled with tips and tricks on getting the best waves hairstyle for you. There will also be a ton of methods to help you out.
So, what’s it going to be? Are you actually ready to embrace the power of the waves? Then dive right in!
Table of Contents
How to Get Waves Step by Step Guide
Preparing Your Hair
The first thing that you should do is prepare your hair. Hair preparation is an important step, and you can’t disregard this one bit. There are a few steps involved in preparing your hair.
Address Scalp Issues
People are going to see bits of your scalp through the waves. So it’s a given that you probably don’t want them to see gross dandruff or dry skin. This is why it’s important to prepare your scalp well before you attempt waves.
You can do this at home if you would rather not go to the salon, with a couple of specific shampoos, or even hire a professional for this. A healthy scalp is definitely going to be the base for your cool new hairstyle.
Time for a Haircut
Now it’s time for you to get a haircut before you get waves. Depending on the skill level of your barber, they would know what length should suit you for waves. Usually, waves only look good on short hair.
So if you’re keeping long hair, you should know that it’s time to compromise if you truly want those waves. You can grow it back long again if you don’t like waves after a couple of months.
Ask your barber to style your hair short. Tell him that you want to get waves soon. This should automatically display a picture in his head as to how long he should keep your hair.
Another thing that would make the waves process better is an edge-up. Once your waves start to appear, this edge-up would dramatically enhance your haircut.
Prepare Yourself for Commitment
You can never get good waves if you’re not committed. Achieving the best shape of waves for your hair involves a lot of perseverance too. You should know that hair care won’t come cheap either.
A ton of patience is necessary, among other things. You can’t just get a haircut and hope to get clean waves in a week. That’s just being super unrealistic. It would help if you did better than that.
If you give up midway, you’re never going to end up getting decent waves. You shouldn’t even think of quitting halfway. There are so many people that give up too soon and then speak badly about the process. But those who make it through know that what they did was absolutely worth it.
Training the Waves
This is the step you have to live by for the rest of your journey to waves. You can precisely start this after getting a haircut and a healthy scalp. This step can either be easy or hard, depending on how much time you spend on your hair.
Getting a Waves Shampoo
Using a shampoo for wavy hair can dramatically affect your journey to get waves. It’s important to pick the right shampoo for men. If you don’t want to spend extra, you can skip this step.
But this doesn’t mean that the shampoos are useless. These shampoos are usually filled with proteins and have higher conditioning capabilities. You can also expect these to bear some herbal attributes.
If your regular shampoo already has these attributes, you can use that for your journey too. You may wash your hair with shampoo more often than two times a week. Well, it’s time to change that routine.
That’s right. The oils in your hair are essential for the waves to generate, and washing them away frequently with shampoos is definitely going to be counterproductive.
But make sure to use a compatible conditioner every time you wash your hair with shampoo. And if you absolutely dread shampoos, you can just go with a conditioner rinse which should be great too.
Brushing Is the Key
If you were looking for the most crucial step of them all, then here it is. You must dedicate the next few months of your life to brushing your hair to form those waves.
When it comes to training your hair into wavy patterns, brushing is the most effective technique. You can opt for different brushes, but the technique remains the same.
You need to brush your hair after you take a bath. Make sure to pat your hair half-dry after you’ve rinsed it with water. Then the brushing should begin.
It’s important to start brushing your hair from the crown of the head. Start by brushing your forehead from the crown. The best way to do this is by folding your hair into multiple sections.
For your side parts, you have to brush down and forward. You must ensure that you get every part of your hair. You wouldn’t want some parts of your hair to miss out on the waves, would you?
This brushing process certainly needs a lot of patience. You can’t just brush for a couple of minutes and jump back on your lazy butt. It’s important to keep brushing for around fifteen minutes.
The Hot Towel
After you’re done brushing, shampooing, and conditioning, not necessarily in this particular order, it’s time for the hot towel treatment. Place a hot towel on your head and apply pressure. This added step would allow your hair to be more prepared for the following step if done correctly.
Moisturizing Is Important
Since you would be brushing regularly for quite a long time, you can expect damaged hair follicles. No one wants that. That’s why it’s crucial to use the correct moisturizers after the rigorous brushing process.
If you’re confused about which moisturizer to get, try something that involves essential oils and shea butter. These moisturizers are usually lighter than regular pomades. The pomades might be harmful to your rejuvenated scalp.
Even the lighter ones can cause the same effects if you’re overdoing it a bit. So try to limit your moisturizing routine to two times a week. Even once a week should be quite effective for most guys.
Ever Thought About a Durag?
You might have seen people who are into the wave journey using a Durag. Durags are super useful for many hairstyles. And they’re quite effective for locking in the moisture for waves too.
It’s important to keep it on whenever you can. We recommend you keep it on whenever you’re at home if you can. But the least recommended time is half an hour after you’re done brushing — the Duraglocks in the moisture into your hair to keep your waves in place.
So which type of Duragdo you opt for? You can go for satin or velvet. Even the polyester ones are quite popular nowadays.
Once you’re done with the rigorous steps of shampooing, conditioning, brushing, moisturizing, and covering your head with a Durga, you should start to see waves appear sooner or later.
But can you keep these waves? You definitely can if you follow the steps below!
Maintaining The Waves
It’s crucial to follow these steps if you like what you see after the rigorous process that you’ve gone through. So here are the steps for you to follow if you want to keep your waves.
Continue to Brush
Always keep brushing, just like on day one. You can’t stop this at any cost. Remember when we told you that this whole process would take a lot of patience? Well, you need to be patient if you like what you see.
Most guys stop brushing their hair after they’ve gotten satisfactory results. That is when their hair starts to hit back. So you have to continue to brush your hair if you want the waves to stay.
Backing Things Up with Regular Haircuts
Haircuts at regular intervals are necessary for you to cope with growing hair. You have to keep your hair short to keep up with the waves. Try getting a haircut every three weeks.
Longer hair can show waves too. But the length needs to be manageable. Just inform your barber that you want your waves to be super clean even after the haircut. If he’s trustworthy, he should know what to do.
Don’t Wash Too Much
Excessive washing may lead to your waves disappearing. Rinsing is a better option in most cases. And keep up the excellent work with the shampoos, conditioners, and moisturizers.
Final Words
That’s it for “how to get waves?” if you can follow the steps mentioned here, you should be able to see waves in a couple of months at max. But don’t lose patience, as patience is definitely the key.