How to keep curls frizz free. When I was little, all I wanted was curly hair. Instead, my hair was straight with a small wave. No matter how much I tried, it hung around my face. One summer when I was about 13, I took matters into my own hands. After washing my hair, I took a round brush and started curling it. What I wound up with was a rat’s nest on my head, with a brush hanging out of it. Hours of pain and tears later, my mom managed to get the brush out and I only lost one or two handfuls of hair, no cutting was involved thank goodness. That didn’t stop my quest, however, and later a friend showed me her trick by scrunching mousse into her hair. I figured this would be a lot less painful and while it was, the mousse didn’t hold my hair for more than a couple of hours.
After that I resigned myself to having long hair with a slight wave. Years later, I made the decision to chop it off and as soon as it was layered and hit my shoulders instead of my waist, my hair started to curl. By this time I was all about having straight hair. The way I see it is that you just can’t win.
The one unifying criteria, however, has been getting rid of the frizz. If there’s one thing I don’t love, whether my hair is long, short, curly or straight, is seeing it full of frizz.
HOW TO KEEP CURLS FRIZZ FREE
(THIS APPLIES TO STRAIGHT STRANDS AS WELL)
Moisturize. Hair gets frizzy because it’s dry and if you have naturally curly hair then it’s probably even drier. If you find that you are constantly battling with frizz then try switching to a more moisturizing shampoo. Focus on cleaning your scalp without over working the shampoo into your strands. Follow up with a nourishing conditioner.
Don’t rub. Most stylists that I go to use paper towels to gently dry my hair. They pat my hair dry rather than rubbing it and this is the key to helping eliminate frizz. When you rub your hair with a towel it creates too much friction and the cuticles become rough instead of remaining smooth.
Use a leave-in conditioner. Before your hair is fully dried, apply a light leave-in conditioner or a hair oil. My favourite at the moment is Shu Uemura’s Oil in Cream.
Define your strands. If I’m going for a less curly, more wavy look then I’ll run a wide comb through my hair, which de-tangles my strands while helping me evenly spread out the product. If I want more curls then I’ll take small pieces and wind them around my finger, which I’ll either pin or let hang loose.
Use a finishing product. No matter how much I try to keep that frizz at bay, sometimes it creeps in so then I might use a light oil that I pat on top of any flyaways or spots of light frizz.
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