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 half a can of hairspray. It works, I suppose, but then I’m walking around with crusty hair all day, you know?
Anyway, 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. :)
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Do you have “challenging” hair? What products and tips do you love?
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!!
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 :)
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!
Just saw this on pinterest too… maybe this is the site you saw it on? Thanks for sharing.
http://www.pinkpistachio.com/category/Beauty/
I have curly hair that is a pain!! If someone were to see the amount of hair products I use everyday I would considered obsessed! I completely agree on using only Salon products, it makes a huge difference. After many years I finally feel that I have a handle on my once very uncontrolable hair. I use mostly Redkin products, love them!!
I am trying this tomorrow, I have very fine blonde hair that I really struggle to get volume on. I have found that Aveeno Volumizing Shampoo and Conditioner work great, along with Redken Guts Volumizing Root Spray are fantastic.
That’s an awesome tip! I’m sure it would work for people who get greasy easy as well.
My favorite volumizing product is Kevin Murphy’s texture master. You should try it! They sell it at Moda Salon in Des Moines. (used to be Halo)
I agree the Kevin Murphy styling products are great. Salon Revolution in the east village area of Des Moines sells the full line of Kevin Murphy products.
eek! I NEED to try this trick pronto! And maybe try the shampoo you use. I have lots of fine hair too. I want it to look lush and full. I hate when it looks weighed down and stringy.
My friend and I recently discovered this wand that will make any type of hair hold a curl. It is only 30 bucks too!
I have the same type of hair, fine and lots of it. I have tried everything and just 2 months ago discovered a product that has given me Brigitte Bardot volume! It’s Bumble & Bumble Brown Powder, it is a dry shampoo that gives an insane amount of volume. I am addicted. It’s pricey but worth every single penny. I can go 3 days without washing my hair and it is full of volume and definitely not greasy looking. You can buy this at Bella Salon at Valley West Mall.
I have the same hair type… so annoying. When I’m in weddings I have to have each curl individually bobby pinned since they won’t hold. I do condition most of my head because honestly, nothing has helped in the past, so I may as well have well conditioned hair! I’ve never thought to add a bit more shampoo to the roots before rinsing out the conditioner. I’ll definitely be trying that tonight! Unfortunately I rarely blow-dry my hair. It’s so fine it breaks just looking at a blow dryer!
Oh, and to add – I’ve tried drugstore shampoos/conditioners as well as salon recommended stuff. Normally I can’t tell a difference. (Except, Pantene Pro-V and Dove make my hair very waxy and almost oily)
Re – the drug store brands, I completely agree. I have had the same probs with Dove and Pantene. Garnier works great though.
My mom has super straight hair that she perms so that it will look like mine… curly and ridiculous. I would KILL for straight flat brown hair over my frizzy poofy red hair.
HOWEVER… I’m psyched that Disney/Pixar has decided to use a frizzy redhead in their new movie… It warms my heart :-)
What a great trick. Can’t wait to try this. I have fine hair with a little bit of wave, enough to hold a curl (at least on one side). I have been using Herbal Essences Slightly Tousled Shampoo, Conditioner and Mousse for awhile, because it’s just enough for my little bit of wave. I also use Bumble & Bumble Thickening Spray. Pricey, but it lasts a LONG time. AND I use a round brush dryer. I think it’s Conair (from Target) basically a round brush on the end of a hair dryer, because I am apparently one of the only people who is not coordinated enough to use a round brush while I’m blow drying…. :)