hair

SOFTENING UP A WAVY BOB

Ooh la la! As mentioned many other times here on TBD, I have always found major hair styling inspiration in the perfectly undone style of French women, particularly French women in the 60’s, 70’s and 80’s. I mean, to be fair, I find lots of inspo in many types of women, but there’s something very special about how effortless women in France look just strolling around casually – as if they’ve carried this look on for generations. The look, of course, is totally polished – but never like they’re trying too hard. If you’re jonesing for a perfectly undone way to style your bob, try this trick (which ironically, totally and completely involves effort).  

Let’s begin with a few key tools:

• THICKENING SPRAY 
• BLOWDRYER (this one comes with a diffuser attachment – and it’s on SALE!)
• UNIVERSAL DIFFUSER ATTACHMENT (if you don’t already have one for your own dryer)
• CURLING IRON  
• SETTING CLIPS 
• TEXTURE SPRAY 

1. Spritz your THICKENING SPRAY or apply MOUSSE  on damp strands and blowdry. We used a THIS round brush for added volume.
2. Begin curling hair in alternating horizontal sections with a curling iron. The size of the section should correlate to the size of the iron. We used THIS 1” iron on Nora’s bob. For medium lengths, use a 1 1/4″ or 1 1/2″ for long hair. Insert the iron into the section midway, roll down to the root and then gently open and close the barrel just a little as you continue to rotate it, which slowly feeds the ends into the barrel. This technique creates volume at the root, rather than just the ends. After releasing the curl, gently roll it back into place and insert a setting clip.  
3. The sections on either side of the part are curled downward, towards the face.
4. As we move down the side of the head in vertical sections, we alternate directions – this curl placement is up away from the face.
5. Once you reach the crown of your head (the top few inches of hair that will fall over the back), curl these pieces horizontally back, as shown in the image. Make sure you hold the section straight up from the scalp for maximum volume before inserting the iron.
6. Once the front of your hair and crown are curled and clipped, curl the back in the same manner, but don’t worry about clipping it in place. The back of your head has more hair than the sides, so if the underneath hair is less curly, the overall look is more uniform.
7. Remove setting clips in the same order you put them in.
8. Lift your hair up in sections and add in some texture spray like THIS one to give it a little lift off the root.
9. MY SECRET: grab the DIFFUSER and set it to low heat, medium wind. Begin flipping your hair around while inserting the blowdryer from ends to roots. Just hold for a moment, then move on to the next section. The goal here is for the heat to break up any patterns, giving you a more undone look.
10. Once you’ve diffused, you’ll be left with soft, alternating waves without a distinct pattern. Give it a light veil of hairspray if you need it!

**The finished look from the profile. A subtle, bouncy wave that’s not too curly or cutesy. This technique works great on long-haired girls too! Just make sure to use a larger curling iron. It’s a gorgeous way to fake a pro blowout.

Don’t forget to tag us @thebeautydept in your pics on INSTA when you’re flipping your soft waves back and forth!