DIY sea spray

I had the pleasure of earning my nail technician's license 16 years ago and with that, I get wholesale beauty products.  Since then, I have spent hundreds of dollars on things from files and waxing products, to conditioning and curling.  Here's just the beginning of my current repertoire.

I've been looking at summer beach curls in all the magazines and decided I'd give it a whirl, so I headed off to the beauty supply for some sea spray.  I saw the $20 price on this 5 oz bottle by Paul Mitchell and almost choked.

But determined to get my beach curls on, I bagged it up and brought it home.  I washed my hair and woke up the next morning, misted my hair with a squirt bottle, sprayed in some Awapuhi, and scrunched.  Nothing.  So I sprayed about 1/4 of the bottle more and scrunched.  I let my hair completely dry and curled it with my 1.5" curling iron.  It wasn't exactly the look I was going for and was certainly lacking texture.  Then I realized every time I wanted beach curls, it was going to cost me $5.  Not smart in this economy.

Determined to look more like this,

I read the ingredients on the back of the bottle and decided, why not make my own?  I googled sea spray and realized people all over the country were making it too.  I got excited.  After doing a little research, I grabbed a few things I already had around the house and mixed up a concoction.  

DIY Sea Spray

8 oz warm water
3 Tbsp sea salt
1 Tbsp firm hold styling gel
1 Tbsp leave in conditioner

Mix the warm water and sea salt together until salt is dissolved.  Add the conditioner and gel, and mix until dissolved. 

8 oz of beach curls for ten cents.  That problem solved.

Next problem.  I've been curling my hair for the last few years with no heat protectant and my hair started breaking off, especially in the front.  Not smart, and not cute.  Now I'm really trying to be good about nursing my hair back to health, using as little heat as possible.  So I tried to see if I could pull off these beach curls with no heat. 

I let my hair dry about 90%.  Then I took 1" sections of  hair and misted them with sea spray.  I loosely twisted them away from my face, wrapped them around my fingers, and pinned them into place.  Please excuse my morning face.

Make these little pin curls all over your head.  Let them dry for an hour or so or blow dry with light heat if you're in a hurry, and here's what you get. 

You can do this before you go to bed and sleep in them as well.

A couple of pointers.  It's important to leave about 2" of the ends out of the pin for that beachy look.  Also, if you take out the curls and they're too tight, lightly mist them with sea spray and pull them with your fingers to loosen them.  Big, loose curls is what we're going for ladies. 

Here's another secret.  The salt absorbs any oils my hair might collect so I go about 4 days with this look without my {shampoo in a can}.  Before I go to bed, I wrap the crown of my head in loose pin curls to maintain some body and sleep on them.

One bummer....salt isn't the best for our hair.  It's drying and not the greatest on color so I use a leave in conditioner on my hair right out of the shower, before the sea spray.  I also use coconut oil conditioning treatments regularly to help my hair from drying. 

Coconut oil conditioning treatment
Heat approx 2 T coconut oil.  On damp hair, evenly distribute the oil from your scalp and massage into the ends of your hair.  Wrap hair up in a hot towel and let it sit for about 45 minutes.  You can put it in a shower cap and sleep on it too.  I LOVE coconut oil!

Send us your ideas for summer hair.  We love 'em!