natural hair - how to look chic

[wickedfairy]

My hair is longish and layered with a long fringe. Mainly straight with a kink. I would love to have that artfully natural, wavy look - like the look arty French women have.

However, can only achieve that if I dry and style. If I leave it to dry naturally, it looks crap and a bit frizzy! So the styling is giving me dry ends (and also contributing towards frizziness, I suspect....).

I am a bit rubbish with techniques - can anyone advise please?

Jane Birkin swore by rinsing her hair in coke.

Oh, yes, I want to know how people do this as well. I suspect artfully natural take lots if styling.

Instead of using heat to curl could you put it in rags/those foam rollers into damp hair the night before? A quick spray of hairspray and a short blast with the hair dryer to set it keeps mine curly for much longer than heat styled.

Salt spray then hairspray

Feels crunchy but you get the look of the literature student with an artfully messy barnet

I have this hair, more by accident or genetics than by stylish intention.

I wash my hair early evening every 2nd or 3rd night (I have a sensitive scalp which is at its worst the day I´ve just washed my hair, so I wash every 3 days unless my hair feels dirty). I leave my hair to air dry, then often when it is almost dry I wrap it up in a bun. When I wake up the next morning I comb my hair with a wide toothed comb and rub in either about a teaspoonful of Moroccan Oil (my hair is a little longer than bra-strap length) or a few squirts of Organix Coconut Oil (it´s a liquid spray).

I hope this helps. When I have to have a meeting with the bank manager or other grown ups I blow dry my hair and that makes it fully straight, then people seem to take me more seriously.

I have tried the foam rollers once and ended up looking like Shirley Temple - I obviously wound them a little too tightly! It looked ok a few hours later, once it had dropped and you're right - the curls did last longer. Uncomfortable nights sleep though....

May try again, wound a little more loosely. Or rags. Thanks!

Wickedfairy Don´t put the foam rollers all the way up to the root. Anything from ear to neck length downwards instead (might be more comfortable to sleep as well?)

Try leaving it in low pigtails overnight. Should keep it smooth, but give it a slight wave.