How to Add Serious Texture to Stick-Straight Hair

When the messy bedhead look, with its cool, undone texture, skyrocketed to the top of every must-try beauty trends list, we were all excited. Among the most excited? The girls who wake up with that natural texture on a daily basis—with just a spritz of texturizing spray, they were set. But those with fine, stick-straight tresses were decidedly absent from that wash-and-go group. However, super-straight hair can achieve roughed-up texture—it just takes a little more coaxing. We enlisted celebrity hairstylist Jen Atkin to show us how it’s done.

Scroll through to see our step-by-step tutorial on how to add serious texture to even the straightest strands!

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  PHOTO: Justin Coit

  Before

  Start with damp hair. Freshly washed is fine, but if you just lightly dampen second-day dirty hair, you’ll have a little more natural texture to work with.
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  PHOTO: Justin Coit

  Step One: Part

  Part your hair down the middle. Use the tail of a comb to get the most precise, straight part.
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  PHOTO: Justin Coit

  Step Two: Sea Salt Spray

  Spritz sea salt spray all over, getting the roots through the ends. Atkin is a fan of Sachajuan’s Ocean Mist ($28).
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  PHOTO: Justin Coit

  Step Three: Dry and Scrunch

  Use a blow-dryer to rough-dry your hair, scrunching the ends as you go.
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  PHOTO: Justin Coit

  Step Four: Smooth Dry

  When your hair is almost completely dry, finish blow-drying with a boar-bristle hairbrush to evenly distribute the product.
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  PHOTO: Justin Coit

  Step Five: Add Bends

  In small one- to two-inch sections, add horizontal bends down the length of your hair with a flat iron. Take one piece of hair and roll it under (towards your scalp) with the flat iron. Release the iron. Then, pick up where you left off, this time bending the iron in the opposite direction—up, away from your head. Continue this process, alternating directions down to your ends. Finish the ends by smoothing them straight down.
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  PHOTO: Justin Coit

  Step Six: Spiral Curl the Front

  Wrap a few face-framing pieces of hair in the front around a one-inch curling iron. Hold the iron vertically to get the downward spiral. Leave the ends out, and don’t clamp down on the curling iron to get the most natural curl.
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  PHOTO: Justin Coit

  Step Seven: Fix and Finish

  Lightly finger through the ends, pulling apart any sections that are stuck together or look too finished. Atkin says you can scrunch in dry texture spray for more texture, or add a small amount of pomade to the ends for even more piece-y separation.
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  PHOTO: Justin Coit

  Done!

  These steps work on any hair type and hair length. If you have long hair, the only difference is you’ll need to add a few more bends as you go down the length of your hair.
  
  Photographer: Justin Coit
  Hairstylist: Jen Atkin

  Makeup Artist: Roxy
  Producer: Jenna Peffley
  Model: Corrie