7 Expert Tips for Volumizing Fine or Thin Hair

Anyone with fine, thin hair knows what a struggle it can be to achieve a voluminous blowout or a full ponytail. But bouncy hairdos shouldn’t be reserved only for those with thick hair. With the right products and techniques, you can give thin hair more volume and achieve the coveted fullness you are after. Learn how to add volume to fine hair with these tips and tricks.

How To Add Volume to Fine Hair 

Does your fine thin hair need a boost? These tips are easy to implement, and when you stock up on a few key products and master a couple of techniques, you’ll be able to get voluminous hair quickly. 

1. Start with Shampoo 

The journey to voluminous hair starts in the shower. A volumizing shampoo can work wonders to add volume to thin hair. Try our Full Shampoo, a gentle yet thoroughly cleansing shampoo that helps to transform fine, flat hair to look, feel and behave like naturally full, thick hair. This sulfate-free shampoo targets the culprits of flatness: residue, buildup, dirt, and oil. By removing and repelling these volume attackers, the shampoo ensures your hair is prepped and ready for maximum fullness. It’s the essential first step to add volume to fine hair.  

Don’t skip conditioner. Fine hair is susceptible to hair breakage, so it needs all the moisture it can get. Just use a lightweight option that nourishes strands without weighing them down. Better yet, use a conditioner formulated specifically for fine hair, such as our Full Conditioner. Always give your hair a good rinse so as not to leave any product behind. Even if you do nothing else, you’ll begin to notice your once fine, flat hair begin to look, feel and behave like full, thick hair.

2. Blow Dry Your Hair Upside Down

It may seem silly to hang upside down for a few minutes, but embracing the head rush is important when it comes to hair volume. Blow drying your hair upside down equals more lift at the roots and volume all over. It’s basic physics. While upside down, gently rake your fingers through your hair as you dry, aiming the nozzle at your roots. If you have curly hair, attach a diffuser nozzle to the hairdryer so that you can blow dry without untangling the curls. Gentleness is important here—you want to dry your hair without damaging it. 

After giving your strands a rough dry and when your hair is about 80-90% dry, flip back to right-side-up and blow dry with a round brush. For the ultimate volume, use the brush to pull the hair directly up from the root. Continue using this method to dry each hair section—it creates incredible body.

Keep in mind that too much heat from the blow and other heat-styling tools can damage hair. Before heat styling, apply a heat protection spray to prevent damage. Over-styling can also lead to thinning hair, so give your hair a break from heat styling once in a while.

3. Prep Your Hair with Volumizing Products

Blow drying your hair upside down is great and all, but it can be even better if you put the right products in your hair before you reach for the blow dryer. Fine-haired folks need a little help from hair products to achieve the same voluminous blowout as your thick-haired friends. Just as they need a little help from products to achieve a sleek chignon. 

Start with a root lifting spray. Ours is powered by a blend of three polymers that provides lift at the roots and heat protection without feeling tacky or leaving a filmy residue. Spray it at the roots of clean, damp hair and comb it through. After blow drying, you’ll be left with flexible fullness, movement, and softness.

Before blow drying, apply this Thickening Mousse to the lengths and ends of your hair. You already tackled your roots with a root lifting spray, and you don’t want to weigh them down with more product. The mousse makes fine hair look and feel thicker. Plus, it protects your hair from heat. 

4. Enlist Velcro Rollers

Using velcro rollers adds volume to fine, thin hair. Velcro rollers are great to achieve bouncy curls or Farah Fawcett waves. They can also give you the look of a smooth blowout if you use large enough rollers. 

Wondering how to style thin hair with velcro rollers? To master the look, blow dry your hair until it’s nearly dry, and then wrap sections of hair from the ends to roots and pin the rollers in place. Spread the hair evenly across the roller and roll it away from your face for the best results. Then, when your hair is completely dry, remove the rollers to reveal a full style that will last. 

5. Finish with Texture Spray

Once you’ve worked hard to achieve a bombshell blowout, the last thing you want is for it to fall flat. To ensure your style lasts, reach for a texture spray. If you have fine hair, you need a spray that won’t weigh it down, and we hate to break it to you, but most volumizing sprays out there do. 

Why? Fine hair has its own distinct challenge when it comes to adding volume: it can’t hang onto the added body boost. That’s because finer hair fibers tend to have less structure and are smoother than their thicker counterparts. While this makes hair shiny and soft, it also leads to less overall fiber interaction compared to thicker strands, resulting in less natural body and texture, not to mention less ability to hold onto it. That’s not the end of the story, though! Anyone can have any style with the help of a little product. 

Enter Full Dry Volume & Texture Spray, featuring our Volumizing + Texturizing Molecule that actually increases the space between individual hair fibers for long-lasting volume and texture that won’t weigh down hair. It’s formulated specifically for the challenge fine hair girls face, and it will leave you with weightless volume and texture that lasts. 

Wondering how to use texture spray? Use it when you’re styling your hair, whether you’re infusing life into a limp fringe or bringing bounce to a high pony. Simply shake it up and spray it in short bursts wherever you want to create more volume and texture—be it at your roots or on your curls.   

6. Get Clean Without Getting in the Shower

Thin hair is prone to show signs of oil and dirt more than other hair types—and oil and dirt are major culprits of flat hair. Instead of jumping in the shower at the first sign of grease, you can save your strands from damage and extend your style by using dry shampoo. 

Our Perfect hair Day™Advanced Clean Dry Shampoo can actually clean your hair, ridding it of impurities weighing it down. With a few spritzes, you can get that just-washed look and feel without ruining your blowout. The formula balances sebum levels so you can go even longer between washes. In addition to your volumizing products and texturizing spray, this is a must-have in any fine-haired girl’s hair toolkit. 

7, Switch Up Your Style

A fresh cut or even just a different part can help add volume and texture to fine hair too. Try switching which side you part your hair on or going from a side part to a middle part. If your hair is used to falling a particular way, shaking it up creates a surprising amount of lift. 

If a new part doesn’t sit right, consider going to your stylist for a fresh cut. The shorter the cut, the lighter your hair will look and feel. Before you commit to a chop, discuss your frustrations with the pro—she may suggest light layers to add more texture and movement to your style or encourage you to opt for a shorter cut, like a lob or bob. Trimming also encourages hair growth and gives the appearance of thicker hair, especially if you choose a haircut that adds texture to your hair. Stylists have scissor skills that shouldn’t be overlooked. They can wield them to breathe new life into flat strands.  

Take these seven tips and use them to add volume to fine, thin hair whenever you want. It’s more achievable than you think.   

Sources: 

https://www.byrdie.com/how-to-style-fine-hair-4686868 https://www.schwarzkopf.international/en/haircare/stressedhair/hair-myth-regularly-trimming-the-ends-stimulates-hair-growth.html