layla (not pictured) asks:
I just had a question about what kind of styles suit people with fine hair. Even before I was natural, I’ve always had fairly fine hair, so when I stopped the relaxer (1 year ago), I began searching for a style that would make it seem big, thick and fabulous! I find that it mostly looks this way if I wash and go, but as I’m transitioning, many pieces of my hair are still straight or loosely curled. Anyway, the reason I ask this is when I attempt twist or braids outs, the curls look great, but the hair looks really piecey or flat. Are there any hair styles that can make my hair seem big and thick without the frizziness of a wash and go?
I, like many other naturals, can relate. I don’t have really thick hair and I often have to work with my hair to make it look bigger and fuller. My hair is medium density and a mixture of fine and medium-coarse strands and it’s not thick at all. When I used to relax my hair, my hair would look thinnish. Not really “thin” but not thick at all – think Zoe Saldana density. Healthy, pretty but not thick. I’ve talked about my fine hair woes before here: how can i make my natural hair look thicker?
Since you are transitioning and working with relaxed hair, it’s good that you are doing styles to blend your two textures. A tip for you is to let your hair air dry 50% after washing and detangling and THEN do your twists or braid outs. By letting your hair – mostly your new growth – shrink up some, you’ll have what will seem like “thicker” hair to work with. Don’t tease or fluff up your roots with a comb – that does not work for curly hair like it does straight hair and you risk ripping your hair out.
As for styles that cut down on the frizziness, braid outs are often less frizzy than twist outs because the hair gets “smoother” in the prepping process and the braid pulls the hair tighter and straighter than a twist would. You can also try flexi rod sets and curl formers. Keep in mind though that frizz is a part of the curly girl’s life so less cutting down on it some, there is really not much you can do about it.
Make sure you are using oils like jojoba, extra virgin olive oil and adding aloe vera gel or juice to your regimen – you can mix them in with your butters or styling creams. These products will help to seal the cuticle of your hair to keep the humidity and water in the air out – which is what causes the frizz in the first place. You may what to avoid castor oil since it’s a heavier oil. Some fine naturals don’t like it for their hair, others do. Also, be sure to check out the SO FINE series by cassidy of natural selection. She goes into great details about product and styling and I’m sure you’ll find answers to questions you’ve not even asked yet!
What say you fined haired bellas? What do you think are some good hairstyles for fine frizzy hair? Got any tips or advice for Layla?
I have either fine and mildly thin hair (in my opinion) or fine and mildly thick hair (according to several hair stylist and my mother and many others). When I first went natural I tried a twist out (on dry, tangled hair @_@) which did NOT go well.
Needless to say that I avoided twist out for a while after that. I tried again several months later, on wet hair, making smaller twist. This was an improvement, but only just. It was awful and piecey and oddly stuck out.
Last weekend I deep conditioned and detangled my hair and twisted it into 15 or so large-ish twists, wrapped it in my silk scarf. The next day I undid each twists, not expecting much. Before giving up on the style and deciding to sport a WnG, I chose to carefully separate each twist and- voila! Apparently I could do a twist out on my hair after all!
My technique has gotten better, and I've realized that to maximize the fullness of my hair, I have to NOT SLEEP on them (so my hair is best on days where I have time to wash my hair in the morning and let it dry) so that my twists are squished. Also, opening it while its slightly damp gives it the opportunity to expand a it (at the price of a little bit of definition, but we have to pick out battles) so that I have an awesome chunky twist out!
My hair isn't very thick either. To make my hair look fuller, i use very little product in my hair.
After washing and conditioning my hair, i add Shea Moisture Deep Treatment mask to my hair while it's soaking wet, then do about 10 to 12 two-strand twists. Once it's completely dry (usually the next day), I release the twists, separate by shaking my hair, then grab the blow dryer and (using the cool shot) blow air through my hair, flip the head upside down and continue blowing the cool air through the hair, especially focusing on the roots. This helps to further separate the twisted clumps and create volume. At night, I retwist the hair adding a very small amount of water to each section to smooth out any frizz that occured during the day. The next morning, I untwist and shake. As long as I retwist every night, this typically last about 5 to 7 days. If I find that my hair is starting to get too big, I add a little Curl & Style Milk to the sections at night as I'm retwisting.
I find using very little product and oil in the hair keeps my hair full and voluminous, because it's not weighted down.
the so fine series was a really goodone. it was nice to look back through them all at once. my hairs are fine. i'm trying to get away from having to do twist outs. i'm revisiting how i can master a wash & go.
I too have fine strands and have run into this issue as well. I just did a Twist and Curl over the weekend and yeilded wonderful volume!
First, I washed with a moisture based shampoo, then deep conditioned, avc rinsed, then added my leave in. After that I twisted with Qhemets Burdock Root butter cream and EVOO. I rolled up my twist with rods and let them air dry over night. I took them out the next day and fluffed the roots using my fingers. I gently pulled from the roots out half way until I finish all of the areas around my head and great voluminous results! Oh, also remember to put a little oil of your choice in your hands while taking out the twists…I used Evoo. Love the stuff!!! Hopes this helps!
My hair is fine but it's very dense and gives the impression that it's thicker than it is. I've tried two-strand twists, but like the look of braidouts better on my hair. I braid with a leave-in/water mixture and seal with a mix of shea, castor oil & almong oil; but I find that almost any oil mixes well with shea butter. I also mix shea & EVcoconut oil.
One of the most elegant hairstyles which will improve fine hair instantly is having your hair cut short with layers and a long side fringe put in.