If you, like me, have spent countless hours struggling with your baby-fine strands, begging them to hold a wave, cajoling them into an updo, dreaming that they’ll magically inflate overnight, then consider this your ultimate beauty hack list. I’ve tested these tips countless times and they have never left me—or my pin-straight strands—flat.

1. Stop washing so much.
For years I made the mistake of shampooing my hair every night. Not only was I wasting valuable TV time (I mean, can we talk about The Bachelor for a second here?), but I was stripping the grit out of my hair. Yes, getting rid of residue and oils made my hair look less greasy, but it also zapped some volume that I could have worked to my advantage. Now before bed, I douse my roots with dry shampoo to soak up oils while I sleep, and then in the morning I use a hot tool to add waves to my ends.

2. Make texturizing spray your new BFF.
When I need a pick-me-up after my late morning latte, I spray a texturizer onto the middle and ends of my strands. Then I scrunch. A lot. Basically, I don’t stop until I’ve reached bed-head territory. One of my faves is Dryspun spray from Bumble & Bumble ($30 for 4 oz.; bumbleandbumble.com). It adds hold and volume without the sticky factor.

3. Tease before you style.
Pulling your hair into a ponytail? First tease the roots to give yourself some height at the crown. A hairstylist once told me it was a universally flattering place to add volume.

4. Spray your bobby pins.
Before you tuck pins into a bun or topknot, mist them (liberally) with either dry shampoo or hairspray. It’ll give them hold so they don’t slip right out of that chignon.

5. Drop the blow dryer.
Okay, I might be breaking some healthy-hair rules here—and disobeying my abuela—but sometimes, I go to bed with damp hair. (And I hardly ever wake up with a cold!) Because my strands air-dry in a tousled state, I wake up with more body.

6. Don’t brush so much.
If my hair is a tangled web in the morning, sure, I’ll get at the biggies. But I’ll also leave a few small knots below the top surface to literally give my hair more lift. I’ll often wrap semi-knotted sections around a vertical curling iron for a few seconds to make the waves and volume look more deliberate (and less messy).