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This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at Purdue chapter.

For most of my life, I’ve considered my hair “straight” but with too much frizz to look good. It usually ends up being bent in weird spots. To my frustration, the nice waves and spirals I see when my hair is damp quickly turn poofy once it air dries. Thanks to TikTok and YouTube videos, I’ve recently learned: my hair is likely just mistreated wavy hair, waves are considered a curl pattern, and they should be cared for as such for best results. Curly hair care always seemed so overwhelming, laborious, and much more expensive than my shampoo-condition-air dry routine; but, I just got a haircut and decided to use my last paycheck to buy a diffuser (I didn’t even have a hair dryer), new shampoo and conditioner (I happened to be out of those too), and any other products I would need to complete a curly hair routine.

I went to Ulta with an absolute maximum budget of $100 and was able to find everything I needed comfortably within that limit. First was the hair dryer with a diffuser attachment. If you already have a hair dryer, you can buy a diffuser attachment separately. There were pretty budget-friendly options dryer options available, starting around $30, so I chose something in that range. If you’re working on your Christmas or birthday wish-list, there were also plenty of options in the hundreds of dollars range that I plan on splurging on some day.

Then I needed shampoo and conditioner. I also wanted to find a light leave-in conditioner or a heat protectant, since I would be blow drying it. I’ve tried using leave-in conditioners before and they’ve always left me with a greasy, clumpy mess of hair, but I’ve only used formulas on the heavier side. I was able to find this Not Your Mother’s Leave In Conditioner Spray, which includes heat protectant for only $8.99 at Ulta. The spray is really light and did not leave my hair feeling greasy at all (I applied on wet-damp hair). For shampoo and conditioner, I don’t know if it makes a huge difference exactly which kind you get, but I ended up sticking with the shampoo and conditioner in the same Not Your Mother’s Curl Talk line, because they were affordable options. Lastly, I needed gel. A super affordable option that I’ve seen a lot of people using is this ECO Style gel, only $3.32. Gel is another thing that intimidated me because I didn’t want my hair to look wet or feel crunchy. Fortunately, diffusing and scrunching my hair up after it dries got rid of any gel cast (crunchiness). My hair held the curls and waves from the gel, but it still felt really soft (like there was nothing in it).

I’m still experimenting with my process and definitely need to practice operating the hair dryer, but my general procedure is as follows:

  1. Shampoo and condition like normal
  2. Squeeze/scrunch out excess water
  3. Apply leave-in spray and scrunch hair up
  4. Apply gel and scrunch
  5. Tie up in a t-shirt/microfiber towel
  6. After getting dressed/waiting 10-15 min, take hair out and diffuse until 80% dry (I used cool temp and half power)
  7. Let air dry fully (another 10-15ish minutes, finish getting dressed, have a snack, etc)
  8. Scrunch hair up to break the remaining gel cast

I’ve been really happy with my results – there’s a noticeable improvement each attempt I’ve had at styling it and the waves have been holding until the next wash day! Hopefully this encourages those of you with secretly wavy hair to experiment with different products and styles and let your waves shine.

Katherine Raykova is the President at the Her Campus at Purdue chapter. She’s been a part of Purdue’s Her Campus chapter since fall of 2020! She oversees chapter meetings, brand partnerships, a monthly chapter newsletter, and general maintenance to keep her chapter afloat. Her favorite areas to write about are fashion, books, plants, and all things witchy. Katherine is currently a senior at Purdue University, double majoring in Mechanical Engineering and English with a minor in Intellectual Property Law for Engineers. She has completed a year of industry experience working in aerospace consulting and is currently an undergraduate research assistant for the Department of Mechanical Engineering at Purdue. Outside of classes and Her Campus, Katherine is also a writing tutor at Purdue’s On-Campus Writing Lab (OWL) and a mentor for the Women in Engineering program. She hopes to attend law school next year to become a patent attorney. When she gets the chance, Katherine reads and spends as much time outside as possible. She loves listening to music and going on long walks around campus and nearby nature centers – even in the winter. Most days, she practices yoga, plays with tarot cards, and drinks multiple cups of tea. When she feels inspired, Katherine writes fiction or takes on a sewing/knitting project.