Why Is My Hair So Frizzy
If you’ve found yourself asking the mirror on the wall, “Why, oh why, is my hair so frizzy?”, we have both good news and bad news. The bad news is the mirror on the wall won’t get back to you, but the good news is there is a reason, or many, why your hair is frizzy, and we’re here to help you determine the cause.
6 Common Causes of Frizzy Hair
Frizz results when hair fibers run in different directions and when the hair cuticle (the outermost layer of the hair) is lifted, enabling moisture to pass through the hair shaft and expand it. While genetics can play a role in your hair type and frizz level, there are many factors that could be disrupting your hair’s cuticle and causing the frizz.
Before you give in and continue relying on hairstyles for frizzy hair, let us explain why this is more good news. You can’t change your genes, but you can change much of what else causes frizzy hair. Get to the root of your hair frizz so you can find the right way to fix it. How to get rid of frizzy hair and which hair products for frizz you should invest in will largely depend on what’s causing it.
So why does hair get frizzy? Let’s dive into the causes below. We’’ll also explain what you can do to combat the frizz in each scenario, from lifestyle changes to using a certain hair product.
1. Overwashing
If you find yourself with too much hair frizz, you may be overwashing your hair. Over-washing causes the cuticle of your hair to stay open, which causes frizz and leads to dryness, which can lead to even more frizz. In addition to the frequency of washing, the water temperature in which you wash your hair is important as well. Warm water will open the cuticle, allowing you to wash away impurities, but you need to seal the cuticle closed with a cool rinse to avoid frizz.
The way you wash your hair matters too. When you gather your hair in a heap on top of your head while shampooing or conditioning, you cause more tangles, damage, and friction to your strands, which, you guessed it, causes frizz. Be gentle with your wet hair because this is when it is most vulnerable.
What to Do: How frequently you wash your hair, the temperature of the water you wash with, and what products you use are all things you can change to see less frizz when you look in the mirror. It’s easier to cut back on washing when you have a shampoo that effectively cleans your hair with every use. Insert our No Frizz Shampoo, a rich lather paraben free shampoo with ingredients that thoroughly cleanse your hair to help repel dirt and oil, allowing you to go longer between hair washes.
You can also take care to seal the hair cuticle. A sealed cuticle enables the hair shaft to retain moisture, making it less prone to frizz. Seal the hair cuticle before stepping out of the shower with a cool rinse.
2. Too Much Friction
When your hair encounters friction, it can become frizzy. There are multiple times throughout your hair care routine where you may be causing excess friction. As we mentioned above, one of these is when washing your hair aggressively. Another instance of friction commonly occurs when drying your hair. If you use a typical cotton towel to dry your hair, the texture is rough and hard on your damp hair, which can cause frizz and even breakage.
Additionally, your hair is prone to friction during sleep. Tossing and turning on a cotton pillowcase causes both frizz and tangles that you will need to brush out, resulting in, yep, more frizz.
What to Do: In addition to washing less frequently, you can swap from a rough cotton towel to a soft microfiber towel that is gentler on strands and even more effective at absorbing moisture when drying your hair.
While you probably can’t consciously choose not to toss and turn in your sleep, you can change how much friction and damage that tossing and turning causes. Wrap your hair in a bun or a loose braid to reduce the friction it incurs, and swap from a cotton pillowcase to a silk version, which is kinder to your strands.
3. Humidity
When the air outside is full of excess moisture, AKA humid, your hair acts like a sponge; the cuticle opens and the hair tries to obtain moisture from the air, causing it to become frizzy. Hot and humid days are a great excuse to embrace your natural hair texture if you’re heading to the beach, but a combination of hair and humidity can easily cause frustration when you’re attempting a smooth style.
What To Do: If you’re battling frizz because of weather, do yourself a favor and stock up on frizz-fighting products. The No Frizz collection, including our No Frizz Smooth Styling Spray, No Frizz Smooth Styling Cream, and No Frizz Smooth Styling Serum can provide effective frizz control and humidity protection for a lasting smooth, shiny, and manageable finish for your hair.
4. Hair Texture
Hair type and texture can also determine the amount of unwanted frizz you see in your strands. If you’ve ever asked yourself “Why is my hair frizzy?”, you’ve likely looked at your parents’, grandparents’, or siblings’ hair and noticed a similar hair texture somewhere in the family. After all, hair texture and color can be passed on from generation to generation. Unfortunately, some hair types are more prone to frizz. Because frizz is the result of hair fibers running in different directions, the more curly the hair, the frizzier it can sometimes be.
What to Do: Even if you are born with it, there is something you can do about it. You can embrace your natural, beautiful hair texture without the frizz that comes with it with the right products. Before beginning your haircare routine, determine what product is best for your hair type. For example, if you have fine hair, consider our No Frizz Smooth Styling Spray to provide frizz control and help prevent static and flyaways. If you have medium hair, use our No Frizz Smooth Styling Cream that conditions your hair from root to tip for a long-lasting, shiny, and soft finish. For thick or coarse hair, choose our No Frizz Smooth Styling Serum that can help reduce frizz and add an instant boost of shine for a polished look and feel.
5. Harsh Ingredients
The types of products and ingredients you’re using in your hair care routine could be what’s causing your frizz. Watch out for sulfates in shampoos especially. When sulfates are used in lathering, cleansing products, they can deplete hair of its natural surface oils, leaving it feeling rough, dry and brittle. Sulfates can also deplete the scalp of its natural oils, leading to dryness, irritation, and frizz. So if you’ve been asking “Why is my hair so dry and frizzy?”, sulfates are a likely culprit. Common sulfate ingredients that can be stripping include: Sodium Lauryl Sulfate, Sodium Laureth Sulfate, and Ammonium Lauryl Sulfate.
What to Do: Our No Frizz Shampoo is sulfate-free, so it gently cleanses hair and protects against frizz while it is at it, leaving strands polished and frictionless and hair feeling nourished and moisturized.
6. Damage
When hair is damaged, the protective cuticle layer itself is often damaged or even gone, which leaves the hair shaft exposed and makes frizz almost inevitable. Damage can result from a number of things, including the use of heat styling products, constant coloring, sun exposure, and excessive friction.
What to Do: Although damage is often unavoidable, it is possible to repair your hair with the right hair conditioning treatment. When learning how to fix damaged hair, you can supply dry hair and damaged hair with much-needed moisture and repair using a powerful hair mask. Your hair will not only feel smoother, shinier, and healthier, but look it too, and the appearance of frizz will be hugely diminished. Our No Frizz Intense Moisture Mask will transform damaged strands. It provides maximum protection from frizz by restoring healthy hair’s natural protective layer. After just one luxurious use, it’s possible to see 70% reduction in breakage.
To stop damage and frizz before they start, consider incorporating a heat-protectant spray before using any heat styling product, which will protect against heat that damages hair and could cause frizz in the future. You can also switch to an ionic blow dryer which uses modern technology as opposed to older versions that rely on extreme heat to quickly dry hair. Using a heat protectant in your routine alongside a hair mask can help prevent and treat frizzy and damaged hair. Additionally, you may consider using a hair repair treatment that helps restore your hair’s outermost protective layer or a bond builder to help strengthen your hair and reduce signs of damage like split ends.
What Next?
Once you know what is causing your frizzy hair, you can begin to address it and say goodbye to frizz forever. Solutions to tame frizzy hair can range from finding hair repair products that help control some of the unwanted frizz, or finding styling products or hair oils that help to manage the frizz. Consider a few of these small lifestyle changes to diminish how much frizz you are met with in the mirror; a simple towel or shampoo swap can go a long way.
Tame Frizz with Living Proof
Another tip for controlling frizzy hair is trying a line of shampoo that is created with different hair types in mind. Different types of shampoo serve different purposes. For example, a curl shampoo might help with frizz for curly hair or full shampoo can help fine hair achieve fullness without the frizz. Additionally, equip your shower and beauty cabinet with the frizz-fighting technology in our No Frizz Collection to see both instant and lasting results and help your hair look and feel its best. Once you find the right hair products online, you’ll never have to ask, “Why is my hair so frizzy?” again.