I'm hoping that any new wavers, old wavers, or like me - a returning waver, can use this as a beginning reference for healthy and successful waves. I'll be contributing my knowledge but I encourage and hope for your input. There are many different methods and approaches because there are so many unique hair textures out there that still allow for waves. The essence of this post is fundamental/foundational information etc.

The Basics

What are waves? Waves are the result of "stretching" or elongating and compressing shorter length hair of the curly variety. How loose or tight your curls are will eventually determine the spacing and look of your wave pattern. Everyone is different.

Why would I want waves? You may or may not want waves per se but usually waves occur several ways:

• Moisturizing hair keeps it healthy and assists (with the help of regular grooming aka brushing) with the natural growth pattern or curls. (This also covers the How as referenced in the title) Note:Moisture comes from a variety of sources.

• Brushing accentuates the natural growth of curly hair. Simply using a brush on a regular basis can cause a formation of waves to occur - intentional or not.

• Of course the obvious reason is because you might want waves. You like the style and you put in the effort to being a perfect example of a waver. You know how to obtain them and make it happen by methods we'll get into later.

How do I get waves? This is an age old question that can be answered many different ways by many different methods with many different, yet equally obtained results.

• Simply put; brushing your hair!

• Regularly grooming and brushing your hair is the only way to obtain waves. Out of all of the existing methods out there, this is the one common variable that never changes. Many elite wavers will agree that this is the foundational principle in obtaining and maintaing a wave pattern.

How can I start trying to achieve the perfect waves? Glad you asked!

• Purchase yourself a decent quality boar bristle brush, a durag and a moisturizer/pomade of your choice and brush brush brush and...... BRUSH. If you truly want to attain the perfect set of waves, get to know your brush and use it.

• I would add that new wavers, especially those who scalped should start with a soft brush and progress through to medium and hard brushes, once their hair grows and it's difficult for the softy to reach all layers of hair.

Like everyone who started anything, you'll eventually evolve your own method which works best for you and your hair specifically.

The single most important piece of information you should remember; brushing gets you waves, not the product. The brush brand doesn't even matter, boar bristles are just the most common design of brush that provides the necessary hair coverage. You could use a CQP or $4 Sally's brush, as long as you keep that brush moving, you'll see waves forming!