Most women know how a bad hair day feels (unless you have perfect hair, which in that case, we’re super jealous). And no matter how late you are for work or class or your coffee date, it’s almost impossible to get out the door until you’re satisfied with the situation on top of your head. To help you add those precious minutes spent fighting with your reflection back into your morning routine, we asked the experts to share some foolproof tips on how you can do your hair before you even go to bed. That way, it’s almost completely styled and ready to go when you jump (or, on most mornings, crawl) out of bed to start your day.
If You Want: Bombshell Volume
To get hair voluminous overnight, Oribe Hair Care Educator Adam Livermore suggests first spraying volumizing spray, such as Oribe Volumista on your clean hair and then blow dry. “Then whack a few big hot rollers in it, and kick back and watch ‘Grey’s Anatomy,’ ” says Livermore. Right before bed, take out the rollers and wrap your hair loosely in a high topknot with a cloth elastic (to prevent creasing). When, you get up, shake it out and apply Oribe Thick Dry Finishing Spray.
If You Want: Straight Strands
For long straight, sleek hair come morning, Edward Tricomi of Warren-Tricomi Salons suggests blowing out your hair the night before—but don’t flatiron it. Then, gather hair into a ponytail. But make sure to follow Tricomi’s surprising (yet so genius) trick: Stretch out one or two cotton balls and wrap them around to “pad” the part of your hair that will be touching the elastic. “This will keep your hair from getting the ponytail crease overnight,” he says. When you wake up, take out the ponytail. Prep hair with a heat-protecting product, (we like Oscar Blandi Pronto Dry Heat Protect Spray) and go over quickly with a flatiron.
Yes, this will take a few moments in the a.m., but the reason you didn’t do this the night before, Tricomi explains, is to avoid unnecessary damage by flat ironing twice.Gerard Caruso, celebrity hairstylist and artistic director of RUSK, suggests another way to keep strands sleek while you sleep (if you’re not into the cotton ball method) is to wrap into a loose bun after blow-drying and secure with large bobby pins. Then, wrap a silk scarf around your head to keep hair smooth and in place. Spritz with a finishing spray. Caruso recommends Rusk Thermal Shine Spray.
If You Want: Beachy Waves
The key to beachy waves? Braids. Tricomi recommends washing hair at night and then rough drying a little bit, but not all the way through. Then, either French braid your hair or split hair into two and do two separate braids. Your hair should dry overnight, so that when you wake up and take the braids out, you’ll be left with pretty waves. Flip your head over and blow dry a bit to add some volume. Take L’Oréal Professionnel True Grip and mix it in your hands with L’Oréal Professionnel Volumetry Root Spray and then loosely run through your hair adding volume and texture.
“If your hair is straight and you want to wake up with waves this is the best way to go!” Tricomi notes.If you have natural wave, Livermore says to first smooth a little Oribe Crème For Style into damp hair right before you go to bed. “When you wake up you’ll have a cool lazy wave that might be distorted in a few places,” he says, so fix the worst pieces by quickly wrapping them around a curling iron that’s the same diameter as your waves. Then, with a salt spray such as Nuance Salma Hayek Texturizing Sea Salt Spray, spray up into hair from the ends while you shake it around. “You’ll have super easy, sexy waves and be out the door in five minutes flat,” says Livermore. Sounds like a good deal to us!
