After a truly epic homemade pupusa recipe fail today (I’m officially leaving that one to the experts!) I decided to scrap a dinner post in favor of sharing a fantastic tip for adding tons of volume to otherwise flat hair via, what else, Pinterest.
I realize this is primarily a food blog, but hey, variety is the spice of life! Pun intended.
A Ridiculously Easy Way to Add Volume to Flat Hair:
(Pardon the fuzzy iPhone pic!)
Backstory:
I have the most ridiculous hair in the world (is it just me, or does every girl feel this way?!) Each hair is fine, but there’s lots of it, and my mane will hold a curl for approximitely 13 seconds before becoming flat and stringy. Therefore I can wear it straight, straight, or – wait for it – straight.
Because of my hair’s texture, it’s also really hard for me to achieve volume at the roots and crown of my head without a wicked teasing sesh and barrage of hairspray. It works, I suppose, but then I’m walking around with crusty hair all day, ya’ know?
Anyways, last week I was surfing Pinterest when I came across a post for giving straight hair, lasting volume. The post (which I can’t find now) was great, but a lot of the tips had to do with blow drying your hair upside down. This worked really well for the gal in the post, but I have wicked baby hairs and flyaways that stick straight up in the air all day if I blow my hair out upside down.
Still with me?
The moral of the story is, there was one tip in the post for achieving epic volume at the roots of your hair that I had never heard before, and was positively giddy to try.
The Tip:
Shampoo your hair with volumizing shampoo, then rinse clean like normal. Next, condition your entire head – roots to tips – with volumizing conditioner. Before you rinse the conditioner out, squeeze a bit of shampoo into your hands, then add a little water and work it into a lather. Work the lather into just your scalp, then rinse the shampoo and conditioner out. Blow dry and style like normal.
I am telling you, with no other changes made to my hair routine, I have gone from nearly no volume at the roots and crown of my head, to this (which is a lot of volume, for me!)
(Pardon the same fuzzy iPhone pic!)
I was leery about putting conditioner into my roots, because I’ve always heard it weighs hair down creating the dreaded flat-head effect, but from just this one, teeny-tiny change in my shower routine, my hair now has oomph like it’s never had before. Plus it lasts all day! I just had to share. 
While we’re on the topic, I had some people ask what products I use on my hair after my last KCCI appearance. For shampoo & conditioner I use TRESemme’s 24 Hour Body Healthy Volume line, which is like, $2.50 for a giant bottle of each at Target.
After towel drying my hair, I work a pump of Pantene PRO V’s Split End Repair into the hair at the crown of my head, and onto the ends.
Lastly, I work in a squeeze of Pantene’s Triple Action Volume Mousse for Fine Hair into the roots at the crown of my head before blow drying.
Like I said – the mousse kind of gave me some volume on its own, but the simple conditioner all over + shampoo just at the roots tip really amps things up. So easy, right?!
Outtakes!
Who knew it was so hard to take pictures of your own hair?! Meet creeper eyes, half-nose mcdoogle, and Cousin It.
~~~~~
Do you have “challenging” hair? What products and tips do you love?
I am obsessed with Aveda’s Air Control in the winter. It’s got that perfect Aveda smell, and completely takes care of the wicked static problem my fine hair experiences in the winter!
Sorry to hear about your recipe fail. I was just telling Hubster the other day that I’m wildly impressed that you post a good recipe every day! I happen to like a good non-recipe post, so thanks for the tip!
For volume in my super fine, limp, half wavy/half curly (read: NAPPY) hair, I use a blow dry/thermal spray- right now I’m using Wella- and a mousse, right now RUSK Plumping. I blow dry with a round brush… usually just the the crown area, mostly bc I’m lazy and use my hands or a vent brush for the rest. Then flat iron with another thermal/protecting spray- used to use KMS, but they discontinued my favorite, so Ive been using Kenra thermal spray for that. After that, use a teasing brush. Works wonders. A little Kenra #25 hairspray. Vwaa-laaa!
If I want to curl/wave my hair, it holds best on the second or third day. (Remember HS dances when your stylist said don’t come with clean hair? Same theory applies.) Use a little dry shampoo (I like like TIGI Catwalk)- takes care of any greasiness and help hair to hold. I’ve been doing my waves with a flat iron lately, just quicker and I like the looks I’ve been getting.
Sorry for the earful- I used to be a hairstylist (sahm now) and I never get to share my tricks
kenra 25 is the best hairspray invented
I use Bed Head – the Superstar varity – and I LOVE it! My hair is also really fine and this stuff gives me so much body and makes my hair feel so much thicker! After I towel dry my hair, I spray some Superstar-queen for a day & Superstar-leave in conditioner in the crown of my head and massage in. Then I also work in from root to tip some Superstar-blow dry lotion. I don’t use this stuff everyday, but when I do I get compliments on the way my hair looks! I’m telling you, this stuff is magic!!
Oh no! I was waiting after you said you’d attempt the other day… I was looking up some of my own, and may attempt. What happened?!?!
Ugh – EVERYTHING! They were tough and tasteless. So sad!
I just tried making pupusas yesterday (after becoming hooked at Tortilla Cafe in the Eastern Market in DC – featured on Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives!!)…same problem as you!! Tough and tasteless. I put my griddle on the highest temp and STILL couldn’t get that crispy brown crust – they were absolutely terrible. I used the masa I found at my regular ol’ grocery store, and after online investigation, I think that’s where the problem lies.
I’m so glad I read this before washing my hair tonight! What a great, super-simple trick. For product, I use DermOrganics Argon Oil. My hair is fine and tends to look greasy easily, but the Argon Oil left my hair hydrated and protected.
I can completely relate to you on the fine/flat hair issue and I’ve never heard of this trick before so I’m excited to try it! Another product I really love for keeping those crazy baby hairs at bay (and the winter static to a minimum) is Lanza Hair Serum.
I tried this today and will admit I was very skeptical. I have the exact same kind of hair as yours- mine is much shorter right now though. I was AMAZED!! My hair had so much more volume!! I could not believe it. I love it and thank you so much for sharing! I live in Missouri— another Midwest girl like you and love your blog! Thank you so much for your positive posts and great recipes!! I look forward to reading them each time:).
I enjoyed reading your tip and also all the commenters’ tips. I am really hoping flat hair goes in style sometime! It would save me a lot of time in the mornings to not have to mousse, fluff, tease, etc.
So, one thing that helps me with volume is to keep my hair wrapped in a microfiber towel (more absorbent then a a typical bath towel) while putting on makeup and doing other steps in my morning routine. The drier my hair when I start blowdrying, the more volume it has.
I’ve got flat hair too, and when I was still straightening my hair, I found that Suave Professionals Volumizing Mousse worked better than anything else I’d used, including Big Sexy Hair and the Pantene brand. Maybe try it out once the Pantene is finished.
A friend recently started washing her hair like normal, but after blow-drying/styling she sprayed Suave dry shampoo on her roots. I noticed last night that her hair still had volume, and she said she did it at 5 am!!!
Going to try both tricks and see if it helps this life-less hair!
Thanks!
Love the variety in posts! I can totally feel you on the “why does a curl stay for 17 seconds before dying” thing, I’ve been trying to curl my hair for years with no success. I thought I was destined to live as a straight haired girl for life.
Then I found Amy from Karmin’s YouTube video on how she curls her hair (Love Karmin’s music, her hair tutorial was a fun bonus!). It is the only thing that has ever worked for me, so I thought I’d share!
So I have the exact same hair type as you…. fine but THICK! For my whole life my hair has never kept a curl well, but I have found a tried and true method that works time and time again. First I spray my (clean or dirty– this works on both) hair with beach spray (like Bumble and Bumble surf spray– you can make your own for much cheaper… I found the recipe on where else, pinterest), then blow dry it as it will be slightly damp. This will give volume and texture. Then I brush my hair and spray a little dry shampoo all over as well. Next is what really makes the difference… a curling wand. You can buy them on amazon and they are amazing! I take 1” sections, wrap around the barrel, hold for 8 seconds then release. when my whole head is curled and cooled I lightly pick through it with a wide tooth comb and spray it upside down then right side up with loreal elnet hairspray. Sorry for such a long comment, but trust me this really works. The best part is now that I’ve gotten the hang of the wand I can do my whole head in under 10 minutes! Be careful though because I burn myself EVERY time I use the wand and it sure hurts. Good luck!!!
I have similar hair issues – you may also want to make sure that none of your hair products contain silicone which attaches to fine hair like glue and weighs it down. I found this out when using a friend’s shampoo / conditioner at her house. My hair was fluffy, I thought it was the water but it was the silicone free products. Thanks for the tip!
This works! Thanks for the tip and love the blog.
Sadly I am also cursed with fine hair. But there are some tricks I’ve learned that have helped. For the most volume I do the following:
I use Big Sexy Hair volumizing mouse, blow dry, and immediately put my hair in velcro rollers. (It is best to use velcro rollers right after blow drying because the heat makes it last longer.) After getting a section of hair ready I tease the roots, add a little bit of hairspray at the roots and then quickly roll it up. I put rollers on my entire head for better volume. After taking the rollers out I use more hairspray to set it. The longer I leave the rollers in, the better volume I get. So, if there is a Saturday evening event and I have the time to leave the rollers in for a few hours, I have great volume.
Other than that I’ve tried tons of products, teased, blow dried with my head upside down, etc. I have yet to find a miracle solution but the one I described works best for me.
P.S. There are different sizes of velcro rollers. The small ones are great for a wavy style but I usually use the bigger size (about 2 inches in diameter).
[...] This tip from Iowa Girl Eats on a ridiculously easy way to add volume to flat hair. [...]
[...] was too short then to do my whole head, so I need to revisit the idea now that it’s longer. Not that it’ll hold, but still…it could be cute for the first 17 [...]
I have thin, flat hair that has always gotten greasy fast, so I have pretty much never used conditioner. However, after some pretty serious bleach/dye jobs and almost daily flat-ironing, my ends have become fairly fried. I started loving soaking my ends the SHielo Hydrate Conditioner. When I saw the amazing reviews on the Shielo Hydrate Conditioner, I thought I would give it a shot–wondering if it would be perhaps TOO good (read: heavy, greasy) for my fine hair.
I was happily surprised after my very first use– the conditioner was so thick and creamy and my hair was sooooo soft and shiny and smelled delicious! I absolutely can’t stop running my fingers though my hair after using Shielo Hydrate Conditioner, it’s like silk. Split ends even seem mended! I have literally never noticed as significant a difference on my hair after using any other product. Does NOT weigh my hair down one bit or feel greasy at all, even when I sometimes use it sparingly on my whole head and not just the ends.
SECRET TIP: I even use it on my legs for and amazingly close and moisturizing shave (just be careful because it does turn the shower floor into a slip and slide!)
I have flat hair as well. Most of the time I don’t comb my hair just letting it dry on its own so it won’t look as flat.
i have very long straight string hair.when i wake up its in a frizzy knotted mess.my sister has straight long hair as mine but her hair has bounce to it. when we went for our half updos for my wedding,even the owner of the salon who was doing our hair was shocked at how hard my hair was to curl. well to keep it is virtually impossible.however he did the best he could and i had alot of product on my hair to try to keep the curl in.it turned out nice enough and the curl lasted,but my sisters hair was so much better with lots of bounce.my was stiff and glued to my head.i alternate with different shampoos.however to date the only one that seems to come close to making my hair nice is pantene.ie tried every shampoo and conditioner out there and have spent a fortune.ive read and done every tip to no avail.pantene still isnt the best but for me better than most.my hair also gets knotted so much through out the day.if i dont keep brushing it a huge ball of tangled mess.my hair is no better short or mid length.been there done that.just sits there flat stringy and boring. over the years ive tried different cuts and have paid minimal amounts to huge amounts for cuts.most hairdressers have a very difficult time curling my hair. twice ive had perms done at salons that did not take and they had to do it a second time. at this point, i truly give up.
You should try Big shampoo & conditioner from Lush cosmetics, I will never go without it now! Also I use their Roots treatment before shampooing and have never had so much volume in my hair! I use it at least once a week now.
OMG i loved this post cause my hair is just as straight as yours!!! there was nothing ont the world that could make it last on the hairstyles and it always look so so so flat!! people says it’s shiny and nice but sometimes I want to get out of the same hairstyle and look a little different, for once!! I’ll try to do what you’re suggesting and see if it works, cause i’ve tried everything and had no good results
Thanks for sharing!