Gothic Waves: The Moodier Alternative to the Beach Wave

Beach waves have had a long run, all loose texture, salt spray and deliberate undone-ness. Gothic waves go the other way entirely. They're tighter through the curl, glossier rather than textured, and the movement sits close to the face instead of drifting out towards the ends.

Think an old studio portrait rather than a festival campsite, hair with weight, shine and a bit of drama to it. It's proving to be one of the styling requests we're hearing most for evenings out and events this season, and it's a genuinely different technique from the wave you might already be used to asking for.

How it's different from a beach wave

A beach wave is designed to look like it happened by accident, loose and slightly undone, with the curl loosening out towards the ends and often finished with a texturising salt spray to add grit. Gothic waves are the opposite intention entirely. The curl pattern is tighter and more defined, it's concentrated in the top half of the hair near the face rather than fading out lower down, and the finish is polished rather than roughened. Where a beach wave wants to look effortless, a gothic wave wants to look considered, more Old Hollywood than surf shack.

How the look is actually achieved

The technique starts with much smaller sections than you'd use for a beach wave, curled closer to the root so the wave has definition from higher up the head rather than only appearing lower down. Your stylist will typically use a wand or tong, working section by section and pinning each curl to cool before it's brushed out, since curls that are brushed while still hot tend to drop and loosen far more quickly.

Once every section is curled and cooled, the whole head gets brushed through with a paddle or vent brush to soften the individual ringlets into one connected wave pattern rather than a head of separate curls. It's a slower, more methodical process than a beach wave, which is usually why it's reserved for evenings and events rather than a quick everyday blow-dry.

Why shine matters more than texture here

A beach wave leans on texture, roughness, grip, a slightly matte finish, usually from a salt or texturising spray. Gothic waves ask for the opposite. Once the wave is brushed through, the finishing product is a glossing serum rather than anything texturising, smoothed lightly over the surface to bring out shine rather than grip. That shine is what gives the style its portrait quality, since light catches the smooth curve of each wave rather than scattering across a rough, matte surface. Skip this step and the same curl pattern reads as far more casual, closer to a beach wave than the moodier finish that gives gothic waves their character.

Why a longer or curtain fringe helps

Because the movement in gothic waves is concentrated near the face rather than at the ends, anything happening around the face frame becomes more visible, which is exactly where a longer or curtain fringe earns its place. A curtain fringe that's been curled to match softens straight into the wave pattern rather than sitting apart from it, and it draws the eye up towards the cheekbones and eyes rather than down towards the ends. Without that face-framing piece, the style still works, but it loses a bit of the vintage portrait quality that makes it distinctive in the first place.

Who it suits

This is a length-dependent style. You'll generally need hair at collarbone length or beyond for the wave pattern to have somewhere to build and for the finished look to read as intentional rather than simply "curled." Shorter styles can borrow elements of it, particularly the tighter curl near the face, but the full effect really needs length to work with. It's also, honestly, more of an evening or event style than an everyday one. The smaller sections and the cooling time make it a longer appointment than a quick wand-through, so it tends to suit a night out, a shoot, or an occasion where you've got time booked in rather than twenty minutes before you leave the house.

If gothic waves sound like the change of pace you're after for an event or just a different way of wearing your length, book in with a stylist at Gusto Hair, Oxford Street or Covent Garden, and they can talk you through whether your current length and fringe would suit the full effect or a softer version of it.