As a follower of (read: slave to) beauty bloggers and everyday hacks, I have been attempting to perfect the beachy wave look for longer than I would like to admit. After trying many products like Bumble and Bumble’s Surf Spray and TRESemmé’s Perfectly (Un)Done collection, I was just about ready to pick up my flatiron and give up on my perfectly-tousled dreams…that is, until I got wind of model/actress Suki Waterhouse’s go-to tip.
Waterhouse, known for her perfect blonde tresses and enviable ex-boyfriend—she recently split from Bradley Cooper, for those of you who are new here—spilled in an interview that her beachy waves don’t come naturally. The model said she swaps shampoo for Coca-Cola and swears it gives her the perfect amount of volume and texture…think: the morning after.
Being that the Coca-Cola rinse is a new trendy beauty hack, I just had to try for myself, no matter how strange it may have seemed. When I told my friends of my plans by asking them to help me pour bottles of Coca-Cola onto my hair, to say they were confused would be an understatement. Some were concerned about the natural oils in my hair, asking things like, “Have you seen what soda does to your teeth?” and “Why would you put it in your hair? It can strip rust off of metal surfaces!” Others were as intrigued as I was, wondering if it really could be possible to achieve Suki Waterhouse status hair with just a few bottles of soda. Eventually, though, once my friends all saw that hoards of other bloggers have experimented with this hack without having their hair fall out, everyone was excited to see what would happen.
Disclaimer: My natural hair is relatively flat and straight, depending on the day. This is my hair after showering at night and going to bed with it wet.
To really test the effectiveness of the Coca-Cola rinse, I did it on two different occasions. The first time I did it, I stood in the shower and had my roommate soak my hair with the soda. I let it dry for five to ten minutes, then got back in the shower and rinsed it all out (then scrubbed all of the soda off of my body). It was a pretty messy experience, but once it was rinsed out, the smell of the soda was gone. I let my hair air-dry and slept on it overnight. When I woke up, it felt much more voluminous, from root to tip. It was surprisingly soft and required no other product.
I felt good about the way the rinse worked but thought that I might have rinsed it out too soon. My hair wasn’t dramatically different looking, so the second time around I changed a few things up. I took two 16oz. bottles of Coca-Cola and put my head in the sink. I carefully poured the soda into my hair, making sure it wasn’t just running over my hair and straight down the drain. Once every strand was soaked, I put it in a bun and let it sit for thirty minutes.
It was decently sticky, but I knew this time it would work much better. It was already looking bigger and curlier, so I had high hopes. I rinsed it in the sink, then took a shower without getting it wet. I went to bed with it only partially dry and woke up pleasantly surprised. My hair was much more tousled than the first time I did the rinse and had a lot more texture to work with. It was not as soft as it was the first time, but I think the grit of it is what holds in the texture so well.
Overall, I was much happier with the rinse the second time around. It definitely was much wavier than the first time, and really felt like it had texture. I would absolutely do the rinse again to get tousled hair this way instead of wasting any more money on expensive products. Suki Waterhouse may have a whole hair and makeup team working for her, but this trick is easy enough for anyone to add to their own beauty regimen. Maybe I’ll even get a call from Bradley Cooper next time I do it…*sigh* a girl can dream.