Are we the only ones crazy obsessing over Saweetie's new Instagram profile picture, showing-off the glossiest, most slickest finger waves? It's with good reason, of course, as they look dreamy and are the perfect styling alternative for all lengths of hair but especially short hair. If you're unfamiliar or need refreshing on the art form that is finger waves, then keep reading. They are a hair style that involve moulding the hair into S-shaped waves close to the scalp, creating a retro chic wet-look style reminiscent of the 1920s.
If you’re familiar with this wavy style, you may be wondering how much hair you need for finger waves. Luckily, it can be achieved whether you have long or short hair. In fact, the shorter the hair, the better says Florence Johnson, co-owner of SIMPLYGorgeous. Most importantly, having your hair straight first makes the process of creating finger waves a lot easier.
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“The style is best for hair that is straight as the structure of the waves sit better on straighter hair,” she explains. “Also in terms of achieving and maintaining the style, we’d suggest those with shorter hair.”
The trend it self has always been popular among Black women, originating in the 1920s as a go-to style for many before having an epic re-emergence in the ‘90s thanks to hip hop and urban culture icons like Missy Eliot and Nia Long rocking the look in movies, music videos and on red carpets and the heat hasn’t stopped since. Some of our fav young Hollywood and Pop starlets have been spotted rocking it on and off and it's giving us a whole load of hair-envy.
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"We have had an increasing amount of enquiries [about the style]," explains Johnson. “It’s a great low maintenance options as it’s what we like to call 'a set style' – once it’s styled, there’s very little you need to do to maintain it other than ensuring it’s protected when you’re sleeping.”
On TikTok, the hashtag #fingerwaves features 152.1M views and counting, featuring transformation videos, inspo shots, celebrity compilations wearing the look and you most certainly are not short of how-to, tutorials. Besides the point that watching finger waves being styled is magical and lie ASMR for the eyes, they make it seem oh-so-easy.
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Okay so fan-girling aside, how exactly can we create the look at home? Johnson breaks down exactly what you need to do to perfect the finger waves trend on your own hair…
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Here is what you need to create finger waves:
Here's a step-by-step on how to create finger waves:
- Tools you will need include mousse (we rate The Doux Mousse), a fine-tooth comb, styling strips and a hood dryer to make sure that the style is really set. You can use a regular dryer, but a hood dryer works best if you have one.
- Start on freshly washed hair free of any product other than your leave-in moisturiser. Then apply mousse to your entire hair from roots to ends. Some people use gel but mousse is far easier to work with when it comes to the moulding process needed to create the waves. Add more mousse as and when you need.
- Start from the front of your hair and from one side use your comp to create an S shape whilst using two of your fingers to hold the hair down in the middle curve of the S. Repeat this process all over your hair. As a novice it may be easier to purely focus on the front until you get a hand of the technique. For this option simply smooth the back of you hair back to the nape of your neck.
- Once you’ve got the shape you like now you need to set the hair. This is done by wrapping your styling strips around the circumference of your head and sitting under a dryer. The length of time needed is purely dependent on the thickness of your hair but ensure your hair is fully dryer to hold the style
- Finish off with a light sheen spray (optional).
