Thick-haired gals are very familiar with the struggle of styling their hair. While we are here for the volume and fullness, thick hair can sometimes be hard to style. And even if you manage to pin your hair to get the look you want, your locks eventually come loose from their hold.
Also, thick hair often comes hand-in-hand with frizz. Frizzy hair also tends to be more damage-prone than straight hair. Frizz is a sign of dryness. The lack of moisture in the hair makes it brittle and breakable, resulting in dull-looking hair.
Since you want to avoid further damaging your hair, dry hair becomes even more difficult to style. Luckily, you can still achieve your #hairgoals, as long as you invest in high-quality tools.
In our Ultimate Guide to Managing Thick Hair, we’ve listed the products, tools, and accessories you need to fight frizz and damage. Here, we’ll discuss tips on how to style frizzy hair without damaging it.
Let’s start with the proper technique for straightening frizzy hair.
How to Straighten Frizzy Hair
There are various ways to straighten your hair without causing damage. Below are some easy-to-do straightening tricks that don’t involve high levels of heat:
- Brush wet hair until it dries. It’s best to comb curly hair while it’s still wet to avoid frizz and flyaways. Use a wide-toothed comb or a detangler brush to prevent breakage.
- Use the lowest setting on your hairdryer to achieve a frizz-free look without using too much heat.
- Blow-dry in the right direction. Notice how stylists pull your hair upward when drying it at the salon? This isn’t just some fancy trick. The upward motion helps create volume at the roots. After drying your roots, blow-dry the strands downwards, going to the tips. It helps set your hair in a straight, but not stiff, style.
Don’t ever use regular styling tools on damp hair. There’s a reason there are special wet-to-dry tools – it’s because they are designed to whisk water out of hair instead of pressing it together and damaging it.
As you can see, the styling tools you use can greatly contribute to your hair health.
So, apart from knowing the right straightening techniques, you also need to use the correct tools. Below are a few straighteners to add to your arsenal:
- Ionic Hair Dryer: Compared to a regular model, an ionic hair dryer dries your hair much faster. It exposes your hair to minimal heat while straightening it fast, making it the perfect wet-to-dry hair styler for every thick-haired girl. Plus, drying your hair with an ionic hair dryer can make any style last longer. Check out InStyler’s TURBO ionic dryer, which dries hair up to 2x faster.
- Hair Straightening Brush: STRAIGHT UP MAX is one of the best straighteners for thick, frizzy hair. This tool quickly straightens your hair while simultaneously removing tangles. This ceramic hair straightening brush that delivers instant, even temperature, giving you maximum straightening power minus the heat damage.
If you are following all these tips, make sure you also use frizz-taming hair products beforehand. There are plenty of shampoos, conditioners, and hair masks that smooth down frizz and flyaways.
Low-quality hair tools with inconsistent heat are the number one enemy of thick, frizzy hair. Be sure to invest in high-quality hair tools that allow you to get the style you want without damaging your hair.
Apart from straightening your hair, it’s also a good idea to learn how to curl your hair with minimal heat. This way, you can enjoy beautiful beach waves every day without risking heat damage.
How to Get Damage-Free Curls
There are plenty of methods to curl your hair without exposing it to damage. We’ve rounded up some of the easiest ways to get damage-free curls below.
- Put your hair up into a tight bun while it’s still damp. Wait for it to dry completely, spritz some hair spray, then release the bun. Your hair should fall into loose curls, perfect for a model-off-duty look.
- Hair rollers are a popular way to get heatless waves. There are different types of rollers that give you waves, curls, or ringlets, depending on your preference. But the mechanics for each are similar. Simply section off your hair and wrap each portion around a roller. You can keep them overnight for some added hold. Use hairspray to keep everything in place.
- Use a damage-free curling iron. InStyler’s CERASILK Curling Iron offers 92% heat damage protection, so you can get beautiful curls and waves without compromising the health of your hair.
Of course, you won’t always have the time to style your hair. It’s best to have several quick hairstyling tricks up your sleeve for when you’re pressed for time.
Easy Hairstyles for Frizzy Hair
One of the biggest blessings of having thick hair is the wide variety of styles you can create. From braids and updos to half-up styles, you can relieve some of the bulk for a put-together look that seems sophisticated, but only took five minutes to create.
Here are some of our favorite hairstyles for frizzy hair:
- Low Ponytail: The best thing about a low pony is you can dress it up or down, depending on the occasion. You can tease the top portion a bit to give it some volume. Let a few strands fall out on the sides to frame your face. A simple pony is enough, but you can make the look more fun by adding a hair scarf around the hair tie or some barrettes on the sides.
- Half Updo: If you want your hair to look thinner, half-up hairstyles are perfect for you. You can put the upper half of your hair in a bun and leave the bottom portion unstyled. You can also braid the upper section for a touch of elegance.
- Braids: Braids always look fancier and more luscious when they’re thick. Go for a quick French braid, classic fishtail, or even a unique Katniss braid. You can loosen each plait to give more texture to the look while making it appear effortless.
Of course, these styling tips and tricks should go hand-in-hand with proper hair care to minimize damage to your tresses. Determine your hair type and find out which ingredients and products work best for you. Follow a regular hair care regimen to make sure your locks stay healthy, making them easier to style and manage.
If you’d like to find out more about styling frizzy hair, visit our tutorials page for easy-to-follow tips and tricks, or check out the styling tools you can use to tame frizzy hair.
