You might be familiar with frizz and what it looks like, but understanding what exactly causes it is key when trying to prevent and tame it. Allow us to explain: When there is a lack of moisture in your hair, the outermost layer of each strand (called the cuticle) opens up and lets moisture from the air into it. What this does is causes the hair to swell and create the frizzy effect you’re familiar with seeing. So, what can you do to prevent humidity from entering your hair and altering your style midday? Celebrity hairstylist Mark Townsend, New York-based stylist Mark Garrison, and Ursula Stephen, who does Rihanna’s and Kerry Washington’s hair, offer up their expert tricks for fighting frizz.
1. Choose a sulfate-free, glycerin-packed shampoo. Shampoos with sulfates strip and dehydrate your strands, which is the opposite of you want when looking to maintain moisture. Instead, look for one with glycerin high up in the ingredient list (the closer ingredients are to the top of the list, the more concentrated they are), since it helps combat frizz by penetrating the hair shaft and hydrating it from the inside out. It also creates a protective coating over the outside of the hair shaft, so it doesn’t break, says Townsend. Try Honest Deeply Nourishing Hypoallergenic Shampoo and Body Wash.
2. Don’t skip conditioner. It’s all about depositing moisture in your hair, or else the cuticle will open up to let moisture from the air in, turning your hair from smooth to frizzy. Look for a conditioner that contains glycerin as well as other hydrating ingredients (like coconut oil and shea butter), and apply it from midshaft down to your ends, keeping it away from your roots if you’re worried about it weighing down your hair. Try Carol’s Daughter Sacred Tiare Anti-Breakage & Anti-Frizz Fortifying Conditioner.
3. Twice a week, use only conditioner on your hair instead of shampooing it. You might think your hair needs to be shampooed several times a week but it doesn’t. Every two days, apply conditioner instead of shampoo and then rinse it out. Conditioner contains a small amount of surfactants (what shampoo uses to cleanse your hair), so it will clean it without stripping your hair of its natural oils. Garrison suggests using a lightweight conditioner if you have fine hair, like Nexxus Hydra-Light Weightless Moisture Conditioner. If you have thick and coarse hair, you can use a rich formula, like Redken Genius Wash for Coarse Hair.
Honest Deeply Nourishing Hypoallergenic Shampoo and Body Wash, from Dhs33
Carol’s Daughter Sacred Tiare Anti-Breakage & Anti-Frizz Fortifying Conditioner, from Dhs36
Nexxus Hydra-Light Weightless Moisture Conditioner, from Dhs51
Redken Genius Wash for Coarse Hair, from Dhs73
4. Use a hydrating mask once a week. Doing a special treatment at least once a week, especially in colder months, will help fill any holes in your hair shaft that soak up outside moisture and contribute to frizz. Leonor Greyl Masque à L’Orchidée contains glycerin, strengthening silk proteins, and smoothing vegetal ceramides to fight frizz.
5. Let your hair dry 90 percent of the way before you blow-dry. Too much hot air focused directly on your strands dehydrates it, making it frizzy. If you have straight-to-slightly-wavy hair, let your hair air-dry 90 percent of the way, Garrison says, and then use a dryer on it for the last 10 percent.
6. Brush your hair regularly to help distribute its natural oils. Hanging your head upside down and brushing your hair with a boar bristle brush, like Spornette’s, helps distribute the oils from your scalp/roots onto the rest of your hair, keeping your hair hydrated and helping to block out humidity, Garrison says.
7. Keep straight hair from getting frizzy by brushing dry oil through it with a mixed bristle brush. While your hair is still wet, apply a moisture-locking dry oil, like Dove Hair Therapy Nourishing Oil Care, from your ends to midway up your hair shaft; oil acts as a barrier, keeping liquids from penetrating. Once your hair is 90 percent dry, use a round brush with mixed bristles (the plastic ones pick up the hair and pull it into the boar bristles for added tension, which makes the hair super straight) to seal the cuticle for a smooth finish. You can also flat-iron your hair after it’s dry — nothing will seal the cuticle like intense heat, Garrison advises.
8. De-frizz wavy hair by putting it in a bun after it’s dry or defining your waves with a curling iron. After you’ve shampooed, conditioned, and applied the dry oil from ends to midshaft, blow-dry your hair, and either put it in a bun if you want looser waves (the frizz-fighting happens as your hair cools, when your cuticle locks into place) or define your curls with a barrel iron. Townsend says the heat will keep the frizz at bay.
9. Use a cream hydrator and a diffuser for thick, coarse, and curly hair. After you’ve shampooed and conditioned your hair, while it’s still wet, apply a cream-based product (Stephen uses Motions Natural Textures Hydrate My Curls Pudding on her clients) from root to tip. When you apply the product, instead of rubbing it in, warm the product between your palms and fingers, and squeeze it onto your hair. Then, wrap your curls around your fingers to shape them exactly how you want, and let your strands air dry. You can also use a diffuser on low speed, high heat (aiming it downward to keep it from ruffling the cuticle) to dry it.
To smooth textured hair, after you apply the cream formula, section your hair into quadrants and blow one area at a time dry. Use a boar bristle brush since it gives you the best tension for straight strands.
Leonor Greyl Masque à L’Orchidée, from Dhs238
Spornette DeVille Cushion Oval Boar Bristle Brush, from Dhs91Â
Dove Hair Therapy Nourishing Oil Care, from Dhs40
Motions Natural Textures Hydrate My Curls Pudding, from Dhs51
10. Throw a product in your purse for touch-ups. Individually wrapped hair sheets, like the Ouai Anti-Frizz Hair Sheets are light and easy to toss in your bag for whenever you need them. If you have thicker, coarse, or curly hair, and are wearing your natural texture, Stephen recommends a quick-drying foaming wrap lotion, like Motions At Home Foaming Wrap Lotion, since highly textured hair needs a lot of moisture to keep the cuticle flat and the hair hydrated. If you’ve blown your textured hair straight, a frizz serum is another good option for touch-ups. Apply from root to tip to tame flyaways. Try John Frieda Frizz-Ease Expert Finish Polishing Serum.
11. If you get caught in the rain and your hair poufs out, try a dry conditioning spray. No matter how good your blowout is, once rain or crazy humidity hits your hair, frizz is bound to set in. Thankfully, the five-oil blend in the new quick-drying Living Proof No Frizz Instant De-Frizzer was created for this very scenario and works to bring your hair back to its original state.
Ouai Anti-Frizz Hair Sheets, from Dhs66
Motions At Home Foaming Wrap Lotion, from Dhs33
John Frieda Frizz-Ease Expert Finish Polishing Serum, from Dhs33
Living Proof No Frizz Instant De-Frizzer, from Dhs106
12. Use hand or body lotion to tame a frizzy ponytail. If your hair is in a ponytail and the sides start to frizz up, smooth them down with hairspray. But if the back of your pony turns into a frizz ball, squeeze some lotion into your palms, rub them together, and gently run your fingers through your hair to make it look polished, Garrison suggests.
13. If the underside of your updo tends to get frizzy, pack bobby pins to help tuck away your flyaways. Keep a travel-size hairspray in your purse. Whatever you do, don’t try to smooth frizz with serum because it doesn’t hold, Garrison says.
14. Put product in your hair prior to your workout. The sodium in your perspiration can dehydrate your hair so it’s always a good idea to apply a leave-in condition to your strands before working out. Spritz on Schwarzkopf Liquid Silk Repair & Gloss Treatment. Also, if you have textured hair and normally work out in a silk scarf, swap it out for a cotton handkerchief, since cotton absorbs moisture and you want the fabric to soak up the sweat, not trap it in, Stephen says.
15. Sleep in a silk scarf if your hair is super textured. To keep your cotton pillowcase from sucking up all the moisture in your hair, wrap it up at night in a bun, and then tie on a silk scarf, which will retain moisture, says Stephen.
H/T Cosmo US