You have straight hair, but wish you could just wake up and have a beautiful, voluminous curl? Then you've probably tried one or two methods to get curls overnight. But getting beautiful curls without heat is not that easy. It can even be more harmful than using a curling iron if you do it wrong.

But don't worry: we'll show you the gentlest and best methods for curls without heat and what mistakes you should avoid.

Get beautiful curls without heat

If you want to do curls overnight, you should definitely not go to bed with wet hair. This is one of the biggest mistakes with overnight curls: even though wet hair is supposedly easier to shape, it damages it more than it gives a beautiful result.

Wet hair is very fragile and will break much more easily than dry hair if you twist it into tight chutes or braids and then also rub it on the pillow all night.

Especially if you have thick hair and tie it up when it's soaking wet, it may not dry all night in some places. The waterlogging can cause scalp irritation. It also swells the hair and makes it extra brittle.

The solution for getting your curls to hold without heat anyway: dampen your dry hair very lightly and use a mousse or a Curling Cream.

To further protect your hair and get a frizz-free, shiny curl, you can use a silk pillowcase - or alternatively a silk hood.

Not only does the material feel cool, smooth and gentle, but it also protects your hair and skin from moisture loss and friction.

Methods for overnight curls

We want to introduce you to three gentle methods to get great beach waves or overnight curls.

Overnight curls with braided hairstyle

A French braid or even several small braided braids are probably the classic for beautiful waves overnight. If you work your hair with a mousse beforehand and lightly wet it, the waves will last all day.

Curls without heat with hair band

You can find this method everywhere on TikTok or Youtube. Either you attach a wide hair band around your forehead and wrap your hair around it strand by strand. This creates beautiful, small curls. However, it's not that easy to wrap your hair neatly around the hair band, so these curls without heat can look messy the next morning.

Curls without heat with scarf

An easier alternative for overnight curls that gives neat, big and defined curls is the scarf method. put a scarf over the top of your head and let both ends hang down. Then wrap your hair strands around the ends of the scarf, always crosswise. You can also use a towel, but the coarse texture of the terry cloth can damage your hair. It's best to use the softest and smoothest material you can find.

Overnight curls for an event

Whether it's for Christmas, New Year's Eve, a birthday or another important event, you should always test overnight curls on a normal day beforehand if you need the perfect result at a particular event. Not every method works for every hair type. So be sure to try out what works best for you beforehand.