When I'm in the mood for waves, I do a damp bun.  When I want a bit tighter waves, I do ropes.  When I want tighter curls, I do braids.

My curls/waves will last through the day if it is not humid.  My hair will lose it's curl quickly in damp air.

I try to do as little as possible to my hair when I have waves or curls - primarily just finger combing.

The most natural-looking waves came when I did a double-half crown braid, like the one in my avatar. I parted the hair into four sections - a circle on my crown, the lower half, and a center part dividing each in two. Starting the braid at the part in back, I braided around, and when I reached the front part, instead of continuing around on my hairline, I switched to the crown section on the opposite side. When I got to the back, I braided down to the end, then repeated the process on the other side. This resulted in the braids crossing at my front hairline. I wrapped the tassels around the bottom of the braids, put an extra elastic to keep them in place, then looped the braids and pinned them up.

Important: I got caught in a rainstorm. Everyone was drenched, umbrellas or no, though I was the only one who had every hair in place all day.

When I finally took down my hair the next day, the waves were amazingly deep, and there was no straight section at the top, as I had braided right up to my center part. I got so many compliments on that.

Damp bun. I leave it in all day, the bun is still damp when I take it out. The wave seems to stay in my hair until I do something to remove it. Not only does damp bunning give me waves, one time I got a couple of groovy curls. BTW, and this may be upsetting to some people, but as I am perfectly happy with the straight hair I was handed out in this life I've never actually *tried* to get waves. It is just a side effect of putting my hair up wet  .

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I've done it, with my straight hair, and here's how it works:

You twist two (or more) strands in the same direction, then cross them in the opposite direction. You have to twist quite tightly in order for it to stay neatly. There's a lot of twisting and crossing involved, and it's tricky. Then, it looks good for about half an hour, as the ends pop out and the rope gets really hairy.

It might work for you. I find it works much better on kinky synthetic hair than on my own.

..."gets really hairy"!! LOL That's funny
Thanks everybody! I especially like the aloe vera gel idea Also, I don't understand the majority of people in the world, who want their hair to be something it isn't... If people loved their hair just the way it is, maybe then they could grow to love themselves too. Kudos to you Gollan for loving your straight hair!!

Anais

Wow, lots of great advice here! I looove my straight hair though, and usually am more concerned about keeping it nice and straight than curling it. It does hold a wave pretty easily though, and when I want it wavy I usually just sleep with damp braids.

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That's an awfully good question...I wish I knew!

Scrunching is just taking handfuls of hair and squeezing them together and upwards, it encourages curls rather than waves. I usually sit at the computer while my hair is drying so I do it automatically now.

/Kate