Tame Frizzy Hair with These Easy Steps

Super Easy Ways to Tame Frizzy Hair

Put your hand up if frizz is an enemy that you battle with daily. It’s something that affects most of us! Frizz has an annoying habit of taking whatever look you’re going for and wrecking it. But does it have to be this way? Is there nothing you can do to tame the beast?

Understanding what frizz actually is is an essential step to beating it. Frizz isn’t something that just emerges for no reason because your hair hates you. It’s what happens to hair follicles in particular environments.

Frizz isn’t just one thing either.

It’s several.

One variety of frizz occurs when the electrical charges in your hair (like static electricity) push individuals strands of hair apart from one another. Your hair looks like its billowing outwards like some sort of ghost returning from the dead to spook you out.

Split ends cause another type of frizz. This is the kind of frizz that you typically get around the tips of your hair. It makes it look less sleek, supple, and healthy than the rest of your hair.

The third type of frizz comes from the environment. Sunlight, air pollution, chemicals in shampoos, and hot irons can all damage the surface of the hair and make it more brittle. This brittleness then leaves your hair less willing to flow together thus giving you that messed up look.

Finally, some people have curly hair that doesn’t always want to go in the same direction. The curls bounce off each other in all directions and require serious effort to tame.

Want to know one of the easiest ways to tame frizzy hair? Keep reading to find out!

Stop Applying Heat

All of your hair follicles are covered in something called a cuticle. It’s a thin layer of flexible tissue that protects the brittle interior of the hair from damage.

The cuticle makes practically all of the stretchiness and waviness of each strand of hair possible. Without it, your hair would be a lifeless, brittle lump.

The problem, however, is that many modern hair care techniques actually damage the cuticle. Slowly exposing the brittle layers of hair underneath.

We’re not just talking about straightening irons either. Even blow-drying and hot water in the shower can damage it.

So what’s the answer? Well, there are two, actually. The first is to expose your hair to less heat. That means turning down the temperature of shower water and using the medium heat setting on your blow dryer.

The second is to apply heat to your hair less often.

Most people don’t need to wash their hair every day. It just doesn’t get dirty that fast (unless you’re down a coal mine). If it starts looking a little limp by the third day, tie it back and leave it.

You’ll soon notice that when you do eventually come to wash it, it’s much healthier than before and less prone to frizz.

Moisturize Your Hair

Just like your skin, your hair needs regular infusions of moisture. Moisture is what keeps it supple and able to bend and twist naturally. Without moisture, your hair won’t flow, and you’ll end up with a nightmare frizz halo.

So how do you moisturize your hair and tame frizzy hair? Let’s take a look at some of your options:

Moisturizing Shampoo: While many shampoos contain agents that strip moisture from the hair, some manufacturers are looking for natural ways to add it back in using natural ingredients. If you can find an Argan oil shampoo that actually works, it can work wonders for your hair. The natural oils of the Argan tree find their way into the hair strands themselves, giving them a shiny, radiant appearance as if the cuticle was in perfect condition.
Leave-in Conditioners: Leave-in conditioners are a type of conditioner that you usually keep in your hair all day (although some you have to rinse out). The idea is to give the conditioner time to penetrate the hair. People with frizzy hair can benefit from these types of conditioners enormously. Simply because of their unrivalled ability to tame stray strands and provide a sleeker overall look.
Hair serums. Hair serums are specialist products that you usually apply to damaged hair. Like conditioners, they get into the hair follicles and artificially restore the hair’s suppleness. This conditioning effect can be quite intense. It’s especially beneficial for people with frizz caused by overly dry hair.

Start Eating Foods For Hair Health

While it’s tempting to reach for the nearest cosmetic product to sort out frizzy hair, all you need to do is take a trip to the produce aisle.

It’s no secret that, as a nation, our diet is poor. We eat way too many fried foods and not enough fruit and veggies. It turns out, however, that a poor diet can have an adverse effect on your hair.

A lousy diet not only limits hair’s access to the nutrients it needs but can make it age faster, making frizziness more likely.

Research suggests that one of the most powerful ways to combat frizziness is to include more omega-3 fats in your diet. The body uses these fats to construct the cuticle around the hair and give it its stretchiness.

The less you have in your diet, the worse off you’ll be.

Most people don’t get enough omega-3 fats in their diet. What’s more, a large proportion of people get too many omega-6 fats – the type that you commonly find in cooking oils.

So how do you restore the balance? While you could go down the oily fish route, many people now prefer to either eat milled flaxseed on their cereal in the morning or take algae-derived supplements.

This plant-based omega-3s help to improve the way your hair feels over time and can even allow it to change colour as the cuticle thickens.

Don’t Sweat It

While you might hate your frizz halo, one of the best things that you can do to combat it is to leave it alone. Many women see their frizz in the mirror and conclude that they need to do whatever it takes to get rid of it.

In the process, they end up damaging their hair and making their frizz worse.

If you suffer from frizzy hair, then you know what we mean. You see the frizz, take out the nearest curling iron, and try to use heat to get it to go back into the right position.

The problem with this strategy, of course, is that it damages the hair, even more, making future frizz all the more likely.

We’re not saying that you can’t do things to reduce the frizziness of your hair – you certainly can. But it’s important not to let your desire to rid yourself of the frizz monster cause it to come back worse than ever.

If you notice that you have frizz, then patience is a virtue.

Eating well, applying minimal heat and regularly conditioning your hair with Argan oil will all have a significant impact. In the meantime, nothing is stopping you from enjoying the curls you have with confidence.

Usually, it’s only a matter of time before the hair settles down and you get that sleek, wavy look you cherish.

Brush Your Hair From The Inside

Brushing damages your hair. It’s one of the reasons why so hair care specialists think that frizz is always worse on the outside layers of hair than the inside. When you brush, you damage these outer hairs the most.

The current advice, therefore, is to brush from the inside out, either with a comb or fingers. Tilt your head to one side to allow the hair to fall and then sweep into it from the scalp down to the tip with the bristles facing outward.

You can also buy special brushes designed to be kinder to your hair.

Most modern hairbrushes have small rigid bristles that literally rip hair into shape or pull it out in the process. There are, however, older types of hairbrushes with far softer bristles.

While you may need to brush more times, these kinds of brushes can help you avoid damage.

Layer Your Hair

Sometimes you have to work with your frizz to make it work for you. One of the best ways to do this is to put layers in your hair.

The reason layers work has to do with the length of the strands of hair themselves. When you get layers put in your curls, you’re effectively trying to make them all the same length, no matter where they sprout out of your scalp. Layered haircuts, therefore, are fundamentally different from regular cuts.

What’s more, because layering hair requires more regular trips to the hairdresser, you can remove split ends and damaged outer layer hair strands before they mutate into a frizzy mess.

Do you have any additional ways to tame frizzy hair?

Let me know, til then–cheers m’deres!

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Nancy Polanco

Nancy Polanco is a freelance journalist, lifestyle content creator, and editor of Whispered Inspirations. She is a proud Mom to Gabby and Michaela and partner and best friend to Darasak. Having worked as part of a health care team for almost a decade, Nancy is happy to be back to her passion. She is a contributor to the Huffington Post, TODAY’s Parents, and an Oprah Magazine Brand Ambassador.

Tame Frizzy Hair with These Easy Steps