Master Effortless, Cool-Girl Beach Waves in Just 6 Steps

Updated on 1/16/2016 at 9:00 PM

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This year, trade your flat iron for a curling wand! Our friends at Mane Addicts spoke to celebrity hair stylist Laura Polko about how to achieve the model-worthy style in just a few short steps.

If there's one thing that's on our 2016 bucket list, you can bet it's perfecting the beach wave. This simple look that seems so effortless in photos can seem nearly impossible when we try it on ourselves at home. Although she's a city girl, hairstylist extraordinaire Laura Polko looks the part of the mega beach babe, so we enlisted her to teach us a thing or two.

Before

Start on air-dried or blow-dried hair. This look works great on clean or day-old hair.

Step 1

Starting in the back, split hair down the middle and draw large sections forward in order to wrap around the iron. Don’t worry about getting it too perfect in the back, as the front is what will really matter!

Step 2

Hold your curling iron open, wrapping hair around the iron. Start the curl a couple inches from the root and hold on to the ends so that they stay free from the heat.

Step 3

Once the hair has been heated through, remove the strand and pull on the ends to relax the curl. Quickly run the iron through the lengths of the hair to relax the wave.