How do American teens get waves with heatless braids?

Heatless overnight braids are a popular American teen morning hair routine: braid your hair before bed, sleep in the braids, then unbraid in the morning to find soft waves. No curling iron, no flat iron, no heat damage. The trick spread on TikTok in the early 2020s and is now standard advice in American teen beauty content. Variations include braiding wet hair, braiding dry hair with mousse, or wrapping hair around a soft fabric headband (the “heatless curls” version).

In this clip, a teen unwraps her braids the morning after sleeping in them and tells the camera: “This has been braided for a day. It better look good.” It does.