How to: Finger Waves

Method 1
Equipment:
-Hair gel
-Water in spray bottle
-Tail comb
-Hair clips

Step by step:
1. Run hair gel and water from the root to the ends so that all the hair is saturated.

2. Use your fingers and a comb to smooth the hair to comb the hair backwards.

3. Use smaller end of comb the hair, hold on the top of the hair with your fingers flat against the head.

4. Comb the hair backwards just underneath and push the hair upwards.

5. Place the fingers on the ridge and then comb the hair underneath the other way.

6. Continue to use this technique in a line down the head, taking the hair the opposite way each time to create a continuous wave. 

7. Use a hair dryer to dry the hair so that the waves set completely.
8. Carefully take the hair grips out so that the waves stay in place.

I am really happy with how this came out, especially as it was my first time! I found it confusing at first when I was writing my notes down; however once I tried it for myself a couple of times I got more confident with the technique. I found it more difficult the further I got down the hair and I think that's because I started to make them tighter which made it more fiddly. I am really happy with the top three curves, but I think the waves further down look more messy because all the hair isn't going in the sae direction. Another thing I found difficult was doing the waves in a specific sections because I felt I couldn't control how much hair I included in each wave; this is why I didn't include the front strip of hair. I also didn't know how big I wanted the section to be so I initially left the hair down next to where I was waving it; however I soon realised this wasn't a good idea as the sections of hair did not look even. I therefore sectioned off the sections of hair I didn't want to include in my wave so that the sections were neat and straight. I used hair grips to secure the waves to hold them in place; however this is because I didn't have any bigger hair clips. I noticed that the hair grips left marks in the hair so hair clips wold have worked a lot better.


Method 2
Equipment:
-Hair gel
-Water in spray bottle
-Tail comb
-Hair clips

Step by step:

1.  Run hair gel and water from the root to the ends so that all the hair is saturated.
2. Comb the hair to make sure it is smooth and knot free.
3. Place your fingers on the top of hair to hold in place, comb hair going backwards.

4. Place your finger at the point where you want the hair to turn back the other wave to create the wave and place the hair grip on the at this point.
5.  Keep your finger where the hair grip is and comb the hair going forwards, towards the face.
6. Place your finger where you want the next wave to be and place a hair grip there.
7. Continue this wave technique down the hair to create continuous waves. 

8. Use a hair dryer to dry the hair so that the hair sets in the wave shape.
9. Remove the hair grips from the hair carefully so that hair stays in the same shape.

I am happy with how the technique turned out; it isn't as dramatic as the first method. It is very quick and easy to do and gives you soft waves. I like how smooth the hair looks and how it is all flowing the wave neatly; I manipulated these waves with the comb to make them look smoother. I used hair grips instead of hair clips because I didn't have any with me; however the hair grips left marks in the hair so I will definitely use hair clips next time to avoid this happening again. I could have combed the bottom of the hair to give a more clean finished look so I would style the ends of the hair if I was doing a full look. 

Method 3
Equipment:
-Curling tongs
-Pin tail comb
-Hair grips

Step by step:

1. Make sure the hair is completely dry and put it in a middle or side parting.
2. Comb the hair upwards in a wide section starting at the parting, use the tong to curl the hair horizontal to the head and away from the parting.
3. Secure each curl with a hair grip so it is clipped out of the way and sets in the curled shape.
4. Continue to do this down the head in a straight line, making sure they are all the same size.

5. Once the hair has all cooled down and set, brush the curls together with a comb to create one big section.

6. Manipulate the front of the hair with the pin tail comb so that it looks like soft finger waves. 

I was confident with curling each section and I think they looked neat and even; however when it came to combing the curls together and positioning them I started to struggle slightly. I brushed the curls together lightly and made sure to smooth the ends together with my fingers to stop any frizzing which I was happy with. It took me a long time to understand how to manipulate the hair and I think that was because I was trying to fight the natural wave of the hair instead of working with how it naturally fell. However I am really happy with how it turned out because the wave looks so soft and pretty at the front, framing the face beautifully. The bottom part of the hair wanted to flick outwards which I didn't like so I held it down in this photo. If I were to fix this I would either curl the bottom part separately or try to add hair spray to help it set hanging down slightly more.