Control Frizzy Hair
Frizzy Hair Tips

	Control Frizzy Hair

You can control frizzy hair if you know what causes frizz, and if you understand your hair type and how to keep it healthy.

Curly hair styles are especially prone to frizz and need more help.

Frizzy hair is annoying and frustrating because it manages to spoil the line of every hair cut, every hair style, every hair make over you try.

Just when you think you've achieved a sophisticated, well-groomed look, out springs this halo of frizz that catches the light and draws eyes away from your carefully styled lines, into the unruly mist and fog of frizz.

If frizz is a problem for you now it probably always has been. It's part of your hair type - but there are things you can do - and things you can stop doing - that will help to control frizzy hair.

First you need to understand your hair, and what causes frizz.

Frizzy hair is dry hair. Because it lacks moisture its strands become brittle and break easily. Short, broken strands easily escape from any attempt to style them - every breeze, every swing of the head, every step you take makes them spring up.

Dry hair lacks weight. It has nothing to hold it down. And if your hair is curly as well as frizzy, its natural inclination is to sit away from the scalp.

Curly hair frizzes more than other hair types because it tends to be dry and brittle - and this is due to its shape - curly hair doesn't sit on the scalp but lifts away from it - so the scalp's natural moisturising oils and sebum don't get a chance to penetrate and coat curly hair shafts.

Control Frizzy Hair by Not Doing These Things:

... or cut down on them at least, if you can.

Smoking. Drinking alcohol and coffee. Dieting. Eating junk food. Shampooing. Brushing. Pulling your hair back tightly. Lightening or bleaching your hair. Towel-drying. Blow-drying. Heat styling. Using even more products to weigh down your frizz.

Control frizzy hair by not smoking. They say every cigarette takes a day off your life. It adds a day to your age, too. Look how dry and wrinkled a smoker's skin becomes. The same thing is happening to their hair - it's drying out, breaking, thinning, frizzing.

Control frizzy hair by cutting down on alcohol and coffee. These two drinks are diuretics. They make you lose more fluids than you take in. They reduce the total amount of water in your body - and that means less moisture for your hair, more damage and more frizz.

Control frizzy hair by eating better. Junk food and processed foods don't give you a balanced dose of the vitamins, minerals, proteins, water needed by all parts of your body, including your hair. Without proper nourishment your general health declines, and your hair is one of the first visible signs of this. It becomes dry, dull, lifeless, broken and, of course, more frizzy.

Dieting throws your body out of balance. It puts your system into a panic. With fewer and less balanced resources coming in, it directs nourishment where it is most needed, like the vital organs, and away from peripheral systems - like your hair. Hair is one of the first casualties of extreme or repeated dieting. Frizz.

Control frizzy hair by cutting out shampoo. Shampooing is a terrible thing to do to your hair. The chemicals that make shampoo lather rip the moisture and protective coating from your scalp and hair. This leaves your hair shafts dehydrated and exposed to even more damage from the elements. More damage means more frizz.

If you must shampoo, don't shampoo the ends of your hair - just do the roots. And consider a low poo product.

Read about shampoo, no poo or low poo here.

Chemical treatments - colouring, bleaches, peroxide, relaxers and perms, all damage hair - they get rid of the oils and nutrients that keep your hair not only looking good, but healthy.

So does heat. So control frizzy hair by not heating it. Avoid hot blow dryers, flat irons, hot rollers, curling irons and any tool that uses heat. Air dry your hair when possible. Or try finger drying (run your fingers lightly through your hair, squeezing the water out gently), and pat your hair dry with an old cotton T-shirt rather than towel.

Then let your hair finish drying by itself.

When air drying isn't an option, at the very most use a diffuser on the roots, not the shafts of your hair. The more heat you apply to your hair, the more frizz you'll create.

Control frizzy hair by not brushing. Brushing is an absolute no-no for curly hair in particular - it's just too rough. It disrupts the natural shape of curls and snaps hair shafts, creating frizz.

Control frizzy hair by not pulling it back tightly. Every time you pull your hair back into a tight pony tail or bun, the pressure breaks hair shafts all along your hairline. The short remnants of broken hair pop up as - frizz.

Control frizzy hair by not lightening your hair colour. It will make your hair drier and more frizzy. Going lighter always means taking something out of your hair. Curly hair has more sheen when it's dark, and shows less damage than fair hair.

Control frizzy hair by keeping your hands out of it during the day. Playing with your hair will increase damage, disruption and frizz.

Control frizzy hair by not weighing it down with even more products. Every chemical you dump on your hair does damage and that, ultimately, adds more frizz to the hair you're trying to control.

You'll have more success trying to control frizzy hair if you use less product and fewer tools.

Control Frizzy Hair by Doing These Things:

... or try to do some of them. They will help.

Control frizzy hair by eating well. Have a balanced diet. Drink lots of water. Use leave-in conditioner as often as you can. Deep condition your hair once a week. Massage your scalp with moisturiser or oil. Put your hair in a bonnet at night.

Your hair is like the rest of your body - it requires the nourishment that comes from a balanced diet - fruit and vegetables, fish, lean red meats, olive oil, raw nuts, lots of water.

If you're eating well and getting all the proteins, minerals, vitamins and natural fatty acids that your body needs, it will be directly reflected in the state of your hair - frizz will naturally reduce as your hair's strength, moisture and protective coating improve.

Leafy green vegetables provide natural iron, which your hair also needs.

Control frizzy hair by protecting it at night. The simple movement of your head against a pillow slip will break hair strands and add frizz. You can avoid this damage by encasing your hair in a silk bonnet while you sleep.

Control frizzy hair by adding the moisture it needs, instead of artificially weighing it down with products, which will only increase frizz in the long run.

Frizzy hair resists moisture. Leave-in conditioners help reduce frizz by rehydrating your hair during the day.

Wash your hair less often to allow it to distribute its natural oils. Between washes, use lavender mist to revive curls.

Use cool water to rinse your hair after washing, and add a leave-in conditioner while your hair is wet. Distribute it gently with a wide-toothed comb, then let your hair dry naturally. Pin the top curls up while they air dry - this adds height to your hair.

Let the hair dry by itself to minimise damage.

Once a week, deep moisturise your hair. Massage your scalp with oil. It increases blood flow, stimulates the oil glands in the follicles and strenghtens the roots.

Oils you can use include coconut, jojoba, olive, almond, jasmine, rosemary or sage.

Then use the rest of the oil on your hair itself - the whole length. To help your hair absorb moisture and vitamins, wrap your hair for 30 or 40 minutes in a towel dampened with hot water. Wet the towel again whenever it cools down.

If you can leave the oil in overnight it will help. When you wash your hair, fill it with conditioner first, leaving it in for at least 20 minutes.

A deep moisturising treatment like this, once a week, will see much more success in your attempts to control frizzy hair. And your hair will love you for it.

That's a lot of frizzy hair tips.

But don't be overwhelmed because it's quite simple, really - the way to control frizzy hair is to care for it properly, and have healthy hair.