Sorry I have been a little lax in writing here. Sometimes life just gets in the way of a blog. But, I am back, and hopefully on a weekly basis again. The topic today is thin, fine hair and what to do with it. A friend of mine has a friend who has very thin and fine hair; she cant do anything with it. So, I am going to go over some tips, hints, and some cuts that you could use to help you get yoru fine hair, well, FINE.
When a stylist says fine, they are talking about how big each hair strand is. Thin refers to how many pieces of hair there are on your head. Most peole who have fine, thin hair know they have fine, thin hair; and people who have thick, coarse hair ( ie, me ) know it, most people, however, fall in between.
If you have fine or thin hair, or a combination of both, you have some unique styling challeges. These challeges are easily over come with the right products and know-how. Most fine hair hangs flat and limp with a few flyaways. Because the hair is so fine it is easily blown out of place or slips out of pins or ponytail holders. This, of course, can be frustrating, but, before you ever get to the point of styling you hair, you need to make-sure you are cleansing and conditioning it right.
Many people with this type of hair think that they should not use conditioner as it will wear the hair down. They are partly right. The key is to use the proper kind of conditioner and to rinse, rinse, rinse!!! I cant stress that enough. The only way conditioner will weigh down your hair is if it is not rinsed out properly or if you are using a totally wrong conditioner for you. You want to find a shampoo and conditioner combination, not a 2-in-1, that is made specifically for fine, thin hair. Don't go for something designed for 'limp' hair. You need to see the words " Fine" and/or "Thin" on the bottle. Anything that says " volume, bodifying " may also work. L'oreal Professional has an excellent shampoo and conditioner line called " Volume Extreme" as well as the Matrix "Amplify" Line works really well. If you are finding that you just cannot seem to rinse the conditioner out enough, look into a spray, leave-in conditioner.
With fine hair you are going to have to do some styling to it. Most fine, thin hair is not a wash and wear type of hair. Before you blowdry, use a good mousse, but nothing to heavy feeling. The mousse should feel less like the dessert and more like bubble in a bubble bath. The " Amplify" bodifying mousse is a great mousse for this, one of my favorites. Mousses are great for this type of hair because most of them are a light styling product and will not weigh hair down. They also give a good hold, without that crunchy feeling. If you have longer hair, get yourself a great round brush, preferably a natural bristle brush. Do Not Use Plastic, please. Plastic bristles create more static and that is never a good thing. When blow drying your hair, pull the hair up and the opposit direction you want it to fall. This creates the volume. You want to concentrate your blow drying at the roots, as this is where you build your base from. If there is no volume at the roots, there is no way you are going to maintain volume thoughout the rest of the hair. After the hair has been dried with volume in it, adding a little bit of strategic back combing in places is ok, to hold the volume in place. Always put the back combing under the top layers of hair, otherwise people are going to see it. If you have shorter hair, get what is called a vent brush or a denman brush. The brushes are great for shorter, fine hair as they allow you to lift the hair, but are not a round brush. Lift the hair with the brush from the roots and pull up. When the hair is dry, run a light cream wax or a spray wax throush your hair and place where you want it. For any hair style with this type of hair, a light misting of a moveable hair spray may be needed.
Another very important part of getting this hair type to work for you is the cut. One length, long hair styles are not going to work, as the weight of the hair is going to pull the hair flatter, no matter what you do. If you want to keep your hair in a longer style, layers, layers, layers. You need to have layers. Some people are good with having short layers, this can really help give volume to fine hair, but be careful with short layers. Sometimes, if there are too many layers on the top, the bottom layer looks thins and straggly. Use the shorter layers if you are looking for a good amount of volume, Get some longer layers if having lots of volume is not your priority. Another trick is creating a zig-zag parting. This adds volume at because the hair is not sitting where it wants to.
The inverted bob is a great idea for a shorter look. This allowe for great volume at the crown and is a beautiful, sleek look that is always in style in some way. It is an easy style to work with. Another great cut for fine, thinner hair is a crop cut, something short and fun that you can mess up. These cuts are great because they give the illusion of more hair and they can be very fun. You can do something asymetrical with it, or very short. There is not end to what you can do with a basic crop.
.
There are lots of options for fine, thin hair. The key is to getting a good cut and some great products to help you work with it. Get those two things and you will enjoy your hair a lot more.
Until next week, hair good hair days.
