You’re not going to believe this, ladies (and gentlemen with long hair), but you can easily style your hair overnight without any need for heat-powered products (that use a ton of energy) or chemical applications (that do a real number on your health). That’s right — from the simple to the slightly-more complex, there are several ways to style your hair without the need for all that blow-drying and flat-ironing if you don’t want to (and who wants to, anyway).

Read on for ideas:

1. Braid It

This one is simple enough, but it’s tried and true. For easy beachy waves in the a.m., shower the night before, air dry (should be almost dry), spritz your hair with a mixture of 1 cup water plus a tablespoon of sea salt, and then place your hair in two braids. Sleep on this and remove the braids in the morning. Beautiful beach hair, in easy breezy form!

2. Pony It

If you’re opting for a straighter finish, all you have to do is shower the night before, allow your hair to air dry, and then place your hair in a pony tail that lies low at the nape of your neck. Then, secure a second pony tail halfway down the shaft of the pony tail. This works best with loose binds, so opt for a scrunchie-type of hair tie or keep the hair tie slightly loose so as not to create obvious “dents” in the hair. If you do end up with some dents, you can always run a flat iron through your hair quickly in the morning — I happen to think the dents make the hair look more natural, though.  This method will keep your hair flat and fairly straight through the night. If you add a little bit of natural hair oil before pony-tailing, too, this will add shine.

3. Curl It Up

This is the most complicated of the tips here, but it’s totally worth it. Trust me! Using this strategy, you can awaken to hair that appears curled with an iron — with no iron in sight. It’s amazing! For this method, you’ll need a tight headband, ideally at least an inch in width.  You’ll also perform this method on nearly dry hair the night before. Add a light coat of natural oil (like argan) to your ends before curling. You basically wrap your hair upwards and in to the headband to form a ring around your head, but, because this one involves a little bit of finesse (but is so very easy to do once you get it), you’ll want to watch this video for the how-to. Honestly, though, this one is a life saver — so it’s worth the few minutes of time.

Last time I checked, even the most manicured of women enjoy a little extra time in their day, and these sorts of easy DIY hair styles that require little time, no heat energy, and very little investment are just the trick to getting one thing done the night before (and, as we all know, the hair can take the longest of all). So, please give these a try, and let us know how it goes!

Image source: Katy Brady/Wikimedia Commons