Frizz out of control? Whether you have curly or straight hair or something in between, frizz can quickly turn a good hair day into one you’d rather forget. But what causes frizzy hair?
Nothing’s worse than being on holiday or out and about and feeling like you have no control over your manic mane. Knowing what makes hair frizzy can help you build up a defense to stop it from happening.
What causes frizz?
Our hair’s extremely sensitive to humidity, which is water vapour in the air. When there’s high humidity, our hair’s first to know about it. Who knew our hair had such a sensitive side!
Hair reacts to humidity by curling or frizzing. Straight hair becomes wavy, wavy hair curly and curly hair, well, even curlier! But what is frizzy hair and how can you stop it?
Your hair has a natural ‘shape’ (this is what it looks like if it’s left to dry totally naturally with no styling at all). The shape of each strand is usually slightly irregular, which is why loads of us want to smooth, straighten or style our hair so it all looks sleek and perfect.
When it’s humid, and there’s lots of moisture in the air, water molecules enter the hair strand and bind to the proteins inside. This process causes your hair to ‘forget’ its styled shape and go back to being ‘au naturel’. When that happens in varying degrees over your head of hair, the result is frizz.
The thing is, if your hair is already dry or damaged, it’s so much more susceptible to frizz. Damaged hair has a rough outer layer (cuticle) which makes it much harder for the hair strands to lie neatly against one another. Hair strands that bend in a different direction create – you guessed it – frizz!
So, how do you fight the frizz? Now you know what’s behind it, check out our tips for reducing damage and choosing products that will seal the hair cuticle and keep those pesky water molecules out.
Top tips to stop the frizz
- Treat your hair with the right products. An intense moisturising treatment will smooth that cuticle and restore your hair to its happiest. Our Calm the Frizz 3 Minute Miracle deep treatment, with Australian Hemp Seed Extract, will put a smile on your dial thanks to frizz-free hair. Use our Calm the Frizz 3 Minute Miracle deep treatment to help detangle and protect strands.
- Towel dry your hair. Once your strands have soaked up all the nutrients, gently dry your hair. Before you grab a towel, beware! Rough towel drying can also damage your cuticle and can even create static so your hair strands repel one another. It’s frizz city. Dodge the damage by patting or wrapping your hair in your micro-fibre towel until all the excess moisture has been absorbed and then leave to air dry.
- Use a comb. While your hair’s damp, gently comb through it to remove any tangles. Be careful not to pull on strands. Your hair is especially vulnerable to breakage when it’s wet, so use a wide-tooth comb and run gently from root to tip. If your hair is particularly knotty, begin by detangling the ends of your hair and then gradually work your way up to the root, until you can easily slide the comb all the way through.
- Avoid heat styling. Hydration’s key to avoiding frizzy hair, so don’t over-style your hair with heat. It’ll make the frizz worse as your hair gasps for moisture.
- Use a serum. Keep your locks in place with a hydrating serum like Aussie Miracle Oil. Once your hair’s combed through and tangle free, apply the oil and let it soak into those tresses, smoothing the cuticle and helping your strands to lie neatly. It’ll also keep your hair’s moisture levels up in between washes. Your hair will love you for it!
Calm the Frizz with Australian botanical extracts
Infused with Australian hemp seed extract, our Calm the Frizz collection will give you hair so smooth it should be illegal.
Hemp is known for its repairing properties. It’s packed with essential oils, fatty acids, antioxidants and rich omega, that hydrates and are easily absorbed by skin and hair.
These benefits were too irresistible for us to ignore, so we launched our own Calm the Frizz collection, with Hemp Seed Extract. It’s for hair so smooth it should be illegal.
Hemp seed extract - It’s an Australian (a-beauty) hair secret we just couldn’t keep quiet about.