I don’t know many straight-haired gals who don’t wish for wavy locks — and this can come at a damaging price if you’re always using a hot curling iron on your straight hair! Luckily, there has been a wave of no-heat ways to get curly hair lately. Rags, socks, mini buns, etc., there are so many ways you can make your straight hair wavy without damaging it with heat. I recently discovered my method of choice.

I was inspired by this video, but I didn’t want the tight, retro curls this vlogger was going for, so I modified the tutorial a bit to get big, beachy waves.

To get no-heat waves, all you need is a circular headband. You can use anything from a small elastic band to a thick, turban-style headband like I used. The bigger your headband, the looser your waves will be. If you want tight curls, use a small elastic band.

Start with just-washed hair that is pretty much dry — if it’s too damp when you wrap it, it’ll never dry. Place the headband around your head, boho style. Starting in the front, take a section of hair and wrap it around the headband. The smaller the sections you use, the tighter your curls will be. I used fairly thick sections. Pull each section all the way through, and then take the next section of hair and wrap it around the headband. Do this all the way around your head until you reach the other side. When you get to the last section of hair, wrap it around the headband until there’s just a little tail left. Tuck this tail under the headband. You should look like Princess Leia.

Keep your hair wrapped up as long as you like. You could sleep on it, or you could just leave it up for as long as it takes you to get ready, but the longer you leave it up, the wavier the end result.

I didn’t leave mine up too long this day because I wanted subtle waves. I was pleased with the end result!

Do you have any tips for no-heat ways to get wavy hair?

Update: I got my turban from from Lavela on Etsy. Here is the same one, and I wear it all the time! I just rolled it up for this tutorial.