Learn to Love Your Curly Hair - Styling Fine Hair Tips

Clients often ask about the best way to style fine, wavy hair.  It does not need to be a challenge!  Here are some answers to a few of the more common questions asked by clients at my salon.

What can I do if my hair is flat and oily at the root when I wake up in the morning and I feel the need to shampoo my hair?

Here are two possible solutions that could work great for you.  First, avoid using shampoo.  Often, shampoo dries out the scalp and causes scalp glands to produce more oil creating an oily scalp and a potentially unhealthy scalp condition.  Try using conditioner to cleanse instead. Gently massage the conditioner into your scalp with your fingertips, and rinse.

If after two weeks your scalp does not seem less oily, then try this second approach. Apply conditioner to wet hair from the mid-shaft through the ends of hair only. To the roots only, apply sulfate free shampoo and massage gently into the scalp.  Rinse out shampoo and conditioner together. This will protect the ends of your hair from getting overly dried out while more effectively cleaning your scalp. Cleansing every other day is another good option to consider.

How do I get more curls out of my wavy hair?

Here is what you do.  During your shower, do not rinse out conditioner.  How much you leave in will depend on how much frizz you normally have. While your hair is still dripping wet, use fingers to comb through the divided top and bottom sections of your hair. Apply a styling product like Surface Jump Mousse, Wella Curl Craft Mousse, or Biolage Medium Hold n' Mousse. You could also try Sculpting Cream by Oribe or Biolage Deep Smoothing Leave-In Cream. Use your fingers to apply product to the hair in divided sections. I recommend using twice the amount of product you normally use because some of the product will be removed during the drying time. 

To dry your dripping wet, product-laden hair, bend over with your head pointing toward the ground. Use a smooth pillowcase to gather hair not a bath towel if possible. While still bending over, push and scrunch hair in the pillowcase making an upward motion toward your scalp. When your hair seems sufficiently dry, stand upright and clip the pillowcase around your neck to keep your wet to protect clothing from wet hair as it dries. Avoid the urge to wrap your hair up in a towel. This will take the wave out. Most importantly, DO NOT touch hair as it dries. This will cause frizz and take the wave out as well. 

Is it okay for me to blow my hair dry if I am in a hurry or cannot stand walking around with a wet head for hours?

Of course, you can blow dry your hair.  The best way to blow dry wavy hair is use a deep-dish diffuser with prongs inside the dish. The prongs help encourage more curl in wavy hair.  I recommend using a hair dryer on the medium setting for both heat and air flow.  Do not use high heat.  It can damage and dry out your hair, causing frizz and removing curl.

The best technique is to once again bend forward with head hanging toward the ground.  Dividing into sections, pile hair into the diffuser cup of the hair dryer.  Push all hair in all the way to the scalp and then hold. Try to dry each section as thoroughly as possible and avoid moving the diffuser around the head too much. This should work great.