Curly hair and frizzy hair go hand in hand - that's what we're taught to believe. While there may be some truth to it, there are many ways to minimize frizz to the point where it's almost non-existent.
If you're interested in learning how to get rid of frizzy curly hair, you're in the right place. In this article, we'll tell you everything you need to know about how to fight frizz so you can enjoy your natural hair to the fullest. Let's get right into it!
How to Get Rid of Frizzy Curly Hair in 5 Minutes
Some quick fixes can help you reduce frizz temporarily. One quick fix is to use a frizz-fighting serum or oil. Apply a small amount of serum or oil to your palms and distribute it evenly throughout your hair, focusing on the ends. This technique can help smooth down the cuticle and reduce frizz.
Another option is to dampen your hair with water and apply a leave-in conditioner or curl cream. Scrunch your hair with your hands, and then use a diffuser attachment on a hair dryer to dry your hair on low heat. This technique can enhance your curls and reduce frizz.
Although, sometimes getting rid of frizzy hair in 5 minutes may not be possible, as it depends on the cause and severity of the frizz. It's important to note that these quick fixes are not permanent solutions, and it's essential to address the underlying causes of frizz by following a consistent hair care routine.
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Know Why Your Hair Is Frizzy
The first step to fighting frizz is knowing why your curls are excessively frizzy. As you might imagine, there are several potential culprits for frizzy hair. After all, our hair reacts to the external environment, topical products, and what we do and don't do to it. Here are some of the main causes of frizzy curly hair:
Excessive Hair Dryness
Curls and dryness are often mentioned together, and that's because curls are prone to dryness by nature. Textured hair is made up of twists, curls, and kinks that make it difficult for your scalp's natural oils to keep the hair moisturized.
People with straight and slightly wavy hair often deal with excessive scalp and hair oiliness because there's nothing stopping their scalp oils from traveling downwards and lubricating their hair. This isn't the case with curly hair.
With excessive dryness comes split ends and damage, both of which can cause your hair strands to pop out in odd ways, contributing to frizz.
Your Natural Texture
Sometimes, frizz is just a consequence of your hair texture. The more textured your hair is, the fluffier and frizzier your hair may look at any given time.
Though some people don't mind it at all, others seek to change that. But natural frizz stemming from your hair texture is not necessarily a problem unless you deem it is.
Your Styling Routine
The way you style your hair can play a substantial part in how frizzy your hair appears. If you are rough with your comb or brush, it could rough up or damage your hair cuticles, increasing frizz.
Chemical Treatments
Many of us like to switch up our hair texture and color from time to time. And at the time, it may seem like a great idea. But the problem that could come up soon after is damage in the form of split ends, brittleness, and a sandpaper-like texture overall. All of these things can make your hair look frizzier than it would if it wasn't chemically processed.
You Sleep Without Nighttime Curl Protection
Without adequate nighttime protection, nighttime can easily turn into a hair nightmare. When your hair rubs up against cotton pillowcases and covers, it can easily get frizzy by morning.
This applies whether you have your hair in a wash-n-go, braids, or any other style where your natural hair is exposed. If you sleep on cotton bedding without covering up your hair, this could be the key to your frizziness.
To protect your curls at night, cover your hair with a satin bonnet or scarf, or sleep on a satin or silk pillowcase, so your hair isn't rubbing against cotton all night.
You're Stressed Out
Stress causes a myriad of issues, including health issues. But did you know that stress can lead to excess hair frizziness? It's true! It can speed up shedding in certain areas, creating unevenness that can lead to some hairs sticking out defiantly.
Note: These aren't all the causes of frizziness, but they are some of the most common.
How to Get Rid of Frizzy Curly Hair
With the causes of frizzy curly hair in mind, let's get into some remedies you can use at home to get rid of the frizz. You'd be surprised by how easy it can be to get smoother, sleeker hair. Keep reading for some practical tips you can try today!
Moisturize Your Hair
Lack of moisture is one of the most common causes of frizz. So, adding moisture back into the hair will provide most with the frizz reduction they're looking for. Here are some quick tips to boost your hair's moisture levels:
Use a Hydrating Shampoo
In case you weren't aware, shampoo can be extremely drying to the hair. It contains often-harsh cleansers that lift away dirt, debris, and other impurities from the hair.
Unfortunately, throughout the process of lifting away the gunk, you often lose a lot of the hair's natural and added hydration. So, choose a shampoo that is gentle and made without harsh sulfates.
It also helps to ensure that the shampoo contains moisturizing ingredients, like aloe vera and coconut oil, that envelop your strands in hydration. You don't have to look far, either. You'll find many natural, gentle shampoos online or at your local beauty supply store.
Shea Moisture, Maui Moisture, and Mielle Organics are a few of the best natural hair product brands; they all have gentle-yet-effective natural shampoos that will get your hair clean without leaving it dry and frizzy.
Use Your Shampoo Correctly
It's not enough to choose the right shampoo for your wash days if you want to get rid of excess frizziness. You need to use your shampoo correctly. here's how:
- Hop into the shower and wet your hair down. It could take a couple of minutes to thoroughly wet your hair.
- Dispense some shampoo into your hands and then apply it to your hair in sections. When you apply the shampoo to your hair, focus it on your roots. This is where the bulk of the dirt and debris will collect. We don't recommend focusing the shampoo on your ends, as your ends are the oldest part of your hair, and they are the main area where frizz develops.
- Massage the shampoo into your hair while smoothing your hair downward. Don't pile your hair on top of your head - that could cause tangles and frizz.
- Rinse the shampoo out.
- Repeat the process as necessary, but only if necessary. It's never a good idea to rewash already-clean hair. That's a surefire way to dry out your hair and cause more frizz.
Add a Leave-in Conditioner to your Product Stash
Leave-in conditioner is one of those products that some naturals don't see as mandatory. But, for many who deal with excess frizz, it's non-negotiable.
Leave-in conditioner has amazing smoothing abilities and can instantly transform frizzy curls into smoother, softer versions of themselves.
Though every leave-in conditioner is formulated a little differently, most of them work as advertised and reduce the amount of frizz you deal with on a regular basis.
Don't Skip the Deep Conditioner
Deep conditioning is often skipped in the interest of saving time. But if you're dealing with curly frizzy hair, make sure you're deep conditioning your hair enough.
Deep conditioners are chock full of hair-loving nutrients that can transform your hair from frizzy and unruly to tame and smooth.
We can't deny that it's usually better to prevent hair dryness and other hair problems than fix them. So, prevent these problems with regular deep conditioning sessions.
Here's how to deep condition your hair like a pro:
- Get in the shower and wash your hair. You can use a clarifying shampoo if your hair is coated in product or if you have buildup. It'll remove whatever is on your hair so that it can absorb all that the deep conditioner can give.
- Dispense some deep conditioner into your hands and then apply it to your hair. Focus the conditioner on the ends of your hair and then move the product toward your mid-lengths and roots. If you struggle with volume issues at the crown of your head, don't apply the deep conditioner all the way up to your roots - stop at the mid-lengths. You may need to separate your hair into several sections to ensure that all of your hair is covered.
- Comb the deep conditioner through your hair either with your fingers or a wide tooth comb. Either will help with product distribution.
- Allow the deep conditioner to sit in your hair for as long as indicated on the deep conditioner's packaging. Sometimes, you'll be instructed to keep the conditioner on for 5 to 10 minutes, and other times, the instructions will suggest leaving it on for 30 minutes or more. You can put on a plastic cap to trap the heat from your scalp and open up your hair cuticles to maximize the benefits of the deep conditioner.
- After the time is up, rinse the conditioner from your hair and then proceed with the rest of your hair routine.
Be Careful How You Dry Your Hair
Drying your hair with a typical terry cloth towel can rough up your hair cuticles, leading to unnecessary frizz. Besides that, when you dry your hair roughly, regardless of the material of the towel, your hair will frizz up.
So, be selective with your drying towel, and choose one made of microfiber. Microfiber is a super absorbent material that won't rough up your hair cuticles or cause frizz.
Pat to dry the hair at the crown and lay the towel on your hands, and gently squeeze the rest of your hair to dry the mid-lengths and ends. There's no reason to rub your hair vigorously to dry it.
Don't Brush Out Your Curls
The more you brush or otherwise manipulate your dry curls, the more frizz you'll create. After you set your hair, for example, if you have to separate any curls, try not to be excessive. Stop before you go overboard.
Once you over-separate your curls, you'll have to wet your hair again or apply more curl-defining products to tame the frizz.
Air Dry Instead of Blow Dry
Yes, blow drying saves you time when styling your hair. But there's one enormous benefit to air drying your hair - less frizz. Hair damage, which we already mentioned as a huge contributor to frizz, is an unfortunate consequence of blow-drying your hair with heat.
So, we urge you to air dry your hair whenever you can. And whenever you decide that blow drying is a better option, use a heat protectant beforehand.
Though heat from blow drying isn't as hot or directly applied as heat from a flat iron, you should still take steps to protect your hair from the heat.
Use the Right Frizz-fighting Products
Frizz is a universal problem for people from every background and with every hair type. So, hair care product companies all over have formulated remedies to this issue in the form of a wide variety of products. Here are some of the biggest frizz fighters you'll find at your local beauty supply store or online:
Anti-Frizz Spray
It's a no-brainer, anti-frizz spray is a hairspray specifically formulated to reduce frizz and smooth your hair. Sprays like these may take the form of a leave-in conditioner, and others take the form of a holding spray.
To get the benefits of an anti-frizz spray, you'll spray it onto your hair either after washing your hair or right after styling your hair as a finishing spray.
Firm-hold Gel
Most naturals know about the power of a firm hold gel. It's tough enough to whip any stray hair into submission, and it does so in seconds.
To make your firm-hold gel work for you, you'll simply slather it onto any parts of your hair that tend to get frizzy and then smooth it in with your fingers, a brush, or a comb. After smoothing in the gel, you may want to do additional styling, but that's up to you.
Hair Serums
Hair serums are liquids formulated to coat your hair in a protective film. This film may add shine, increase manageability, or (you guessed it) smooth away any flyaways. The majority of hair serums have anti-frizz ingredients, so it won't be hard to find one to help with frizz.
Don't know how to use a hair serum? All you'll do is part your wet hair into 4 sections, apply the serum to each section with your hands, comb through with a wide-tooth comb, and then move on with the rest of your hair styling routine.
Most people use hair serums before heat-styling their hair, but before you apply heat to your hair, take a moment to verify whether it has heat-protectant properties. It should say so on the packaging.
Anti-Humidity Spray
Have you ever gone out in the rain and got instantly poofy hair? It was probably the humidity in the air that caused your hair to frizz up like that. Anti-humidity sprays were designed to stop this from happening. To get the benefits, you'll simply spray the product onto your hair before going out in humid weather.
Note: Every anti-frizz product is a bit different. So, if the instructions on your particular anti-frizz product differ from the instructions above, follow them. You're much more likely to get the results you're going for if you use the product the way the manufacturer recommends.
Turn Down the Heat
We touched a bit on how heat can lead to hair damage and, consequently, frizz. So, it makes total sense that turning down the heat on your heat tools can give you healthier hair with less damage-related frizz.
Before you use heat, always make sure that you use a heat protectant spray, and try to set the heat tool to the lowest effective temperature.
That doesn't mean the lowest temperature - it means the lowest temperature that will work for your hair. Also, it helps to minimize the number of times you apply heat to your hair.
Trim Your Hair Regularly
Split ends are often to blame for overly frizzy hair. So, if you take a close look at your hair and realize that you've got split ends, it's imperative to get rid of them with a trim. There's no other way to get rid of split ends.
If you'll be doing your own split-end trim, be sure to use the right scissors - hair-cutting shears. If you use your kid's school scissors, you won't get clean cuts and can actually jumpstart more split ends.
Learn How to Shingle Your Hair
Shingling is one of the newer curl-defining techniques that requires defining your hair curl by curl. And it's as time-consuming as you might think.
But, as evidenced by YouTube videos and blogs everywhere, the technique will virtually eliminate frizz and define your curls to the max. To shingle your hair, you'll do the following:
- Wash, condition, and detangle your hair.
- Part your hair into 4 or more sections.
- Put a large hair clip on each of the sections.
- Release one section and carve out a small horizontal section within it.
- Generously apply styling gel, defining cream, or moisturizer to the section.
- Smooth the product through the subsection in tiny sections at a time.
- When you finish the section, carve out more hair and shingle some more.
- When you're all done shingling, allow your hair to air dry.
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So, there you have it - all you need to know about how to get rid of frizz in curly hair. We hope you found all the information you were looking for, and we wish you the best with your hair!
