Fashion & Style

Tips and tricks to tame frizzy hair.

Curly hair can be the bane, or blessing, of your existence. It is up to you to decide. Not all of these ideas will work on all types of hair; but at least one of them will work for most people.

First, take a look at your regime for washing and conditioning your hair. Or more accurately, conditioning and washing your hair. For some people, washing their hair every other day, rather than every day, helps with the frizz because you do not strip the natural oils from your hair as often. Another thing you can do in this realm is to wash every other day, but condition every day while in the shower. If you must wash your hair every day, then try putting conditioner on the tips of your hair and anywhere else it tends to get frizzy, rinse it, then use your shampoo and conditioner. This protects the hair to an extent, and allows you to clean your scalp daily if you need to.

Choice of shampoo and conditioner are very important. Make sure you buy products applicable to your hair type, whether it be coarse and dry, thin and brittle, or oily at the scalp and dry as a bone on the ends. Most hair products’ sections at the local grocery or pharmacy offer a wide range of product choices, making it more affordable to use quality products on your hair. Choosing two different brands and mixing it up a little (alternating weeks, etc.) also helps.

Secondly, there are an increasing number of leave-in conditioners on the market. You might think that a leave-in conditioner will leave your hair greasy and flat; but this is not necessarily true. The fact is, if you are having a frizz problem, it is most likely due to lack of moisture in either sections or all of your hair. You apply these leave-in conditioners ONLY WHERE YOU NEED THEM. In other words, if the hair close to your scalp is behaving itself, there is no reason to put a leave in conditioner on it. Save the conditioner for that pesky middle section of your hair, or the dry ends. Supplying different parts of your hair with what they need will help even out the texture.

Next is the importance of a decent cut for your hair. It is a good idea to try to find a regular stylist that is accustomed to working with your type of hair (There are stylists out there who specialize in long, curly hair, for example.) and when you find one you like, stick with them. If you have thick, unruly hair, a good stylist may very well thin it out. This may be intimidating, but it’s a very effective way to gain some control of an unruly mop.

As far as styling goes, in the frizz control department, blow-drying is generally a bad idea. There are diffusers you can use on a blow dryer to help with frizz control, but honestly the easiest and most effective way to keep frizz from invading is simply—don’t blow dry your hair! More products available these days are hair “serums” that you put in your hair while its still wet, but after you have shampooed and conditioned. These can work well also. Try not to brush and comb your curly hair more than you have to in order to remove knots and tangles. Brushing whips air into your hair and contributes to frizzing.

Finally, the single most important thing you need to do is to learn to love your hair for what it is, and test out different combinations of the above listed techniques and products. Fighting with your hair on a daily basis just causes damage, which causes more frizz, and a never ending cycle of using more brutal treatments to straighten your hair, causing damage which creates more frizz, well, you get the idea. You sort of have to work out a deal with your hair, and work out a compromise between what you can live with, and what your hair can give you. My hair has never looked better since the day I tossed my hair dryer and curling iron, and learned to gently convince my hair it wanted to curl softly, without masses of frizz. That does not mean, of course, that there are no bad hair days, but they are severely reduced in frequency and I do not feel like I am preparing for battle every morning before work.

Good luck and remember having curly hair is a give and take relationship, and you should be just fine.

Written by Shae Hart – 2002 Pagewise