So there’s a way to get beachy hair *without* the crunch factor

Nothing says summer more than beachy, tousled waves that give off the vibe that you’ve just sauntered in from a morning swim.

It’s a carefree look we’ve always loved, but there’s one major thing that stops us reaching for salt sprays more often than we do.

And that’s how a salt spray makes your hair feel. Yeah, you know - that icky, crunchy texture that takes over your hair immediately after the spray dries.

It ain’t nice, and it has us running to wash our hair at the first opportunity we get.

So we were pretty stoked that while frolicking around backstage at Tigerlily’s show at Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Australia in Sydney, Goldwell Guest Artist Creative Director and Co-founder of Headcase Hair, John Pulitano, gave us *all* the deets on how to create those lived-in, salty-looking waves that we all crave… without the crunch!

Here’s the beach-babe-but-make-it-glam hair that was happening at Tigerlily:

Pulitano created the look with a nod to Hollywood stars of decades past. 

“It’s an ode to ‘40s and ‘50s screen sirens. The thing we liked about that [look] in particular was the beautiful wave they used to have in the front of their hair. So we wanted to recreate that, but bring it back to now, and bring it back to Tigerlily. So instead of creating softness, we wanted to create a bit of a toughness to the look, so we decided to go with a wet texture,” says Pulitano.

And the star product used to create the crunch-free beach hair? 

Goldwell’s Curly Twist Surf Oil.

Pulitano says he loves it because even though it gives you the grit of surf spray, it softens strands much like a hair oil would, minus the oily texture, that is.

“You can blow-dry it out, but if you left it in curly hair, it gives you the moisture that surf sprays don’t have. That is why most people hate [salt sprays], because they make their hair so crunchy. So it’s a little bit more moisturising than that,” says Pulitano. 

Clever – all the beachy texture of a salt spray but without the stiffness! There’s nothing we like more than a product that lets us have our cake and eat it too.

To avoid a slicked-to-the-scalp look, Pulitano says he used Goldwell SS Double Boost Root Lift Spray to enhance the hair’s natural volume. To finish, a little bit of wax was added to give a “greasy texture” to the hair before finishing with a stack of our fave hair accessory at the moment - clips – and lots of ‘em!

If you’d like to check out more of the beauty action from MBFWA 2019, take a look at this new pastel eyeshadow trend we spotted.

What do you think of this summer hair look? Let us know in the comments.

Main image credit: @emrata