First things first: I have pretty whatever hair. It’s flat and limp and usually requires the perfect cocktail of seven different products to look decent—but if I go for eight, it’s a disaster. Still, most people would never know how much labor goes into my strands. In fact, it’s my one feature I’m most frequently complimented on, if only because I spend half an hour every morning trying to make it look like I couldn’t be bothered to fix it. I’ve officially fooled the world—save for my boyfriend—into thinking I’m low-maintenance.
But two hours into a short weekend trip, I realized I forgot to pack my step four: my sea salt spray—shout out to Kristin Ess for making the best non-crunchy wave spray ever that I’m now 100 percent addicted to—which is basically a recipe for a crappy hair weekend. At first, I figured I’m only in Boston—which isn’t, how do I say, as demanding as NYC—but I still wanted to look good. The nearest drugstore was half a mile away (related: WTF, Boston?) and I usually hate most drugstore salt sprays anyway, so I did what any self-respecting editor does: I DIY’d it.
I’d been down this road before: After John Frieda discontinued Beach Waves in the late-aughts, I began making my own with a little warm water and those coarse Maldon Sea Salt Flakes—and it was better than the expensive stuff. In the winter though, I’d always have to add one secret ingredient to keep my hair from getting staticky as hell: rosewater. Yep: It moisturizes hair enough to keep it from frizzing, but won’t weigh hair down like other conditioners can.
So I grabbed the spritz bottle that was holding spray-gel (not totally necessary, if we’re being honest), dumped it out, and filled it up with a little hot water and Glossier’s Rosewater Spray (sorry, Glossier). I emptied two packets of salt from the cafe downstairs, shook it up, et voila: the perfect DIY salt spray for winter. It’ll make your hair beachy and mussy, but without the annoying crunch-factor—or, my absolute bane of cold weather, static.
More: 28 Creative, So-Pretty Hair Ideas For February
Originally posted on StyleCaster.com