THE FRIZZ GIMMICK
I know, I know, we’ve all fallen for it at some point. The beauty industry is a billion dollar industry and the promise of a frizz-free life and the hopes and dreams of thicker, fuller hair doesn’t fall on deaf ears over here. I can do a whole other blog post about the hair growth industry, don’t get me started (more on that later) but all I’m saying is, I get it and I’ve done IT AAAAAAALLLL. After doing hair for 21 years, I see the product industry in a whole different light and I’m here to help you sort through the B.S. LET me TELL you, there is a lot of B.S. out there. Don’t fall for the frizz-free gimmick! All these products promise that you can slap on this product in any way…wet or dry and POOF your frizz will be gone! It WON’T unless you educate yourself first. I’m gonna break it down for you but first, we need to put frizz into two categories.
There is frizz when it pertains to straight hair and there is frizz that pertains to curly hair. First, Iet me break down frizz in the curly sense.
I teach all my clients that each curl on our head has about 15-50 hairs per curl and you have to think of those 15-50 hairs as a “curl family.” Now if your pain point is frizz and the mission is to reduce frizz then we need to help each hair to find its curl family. The curl families are never the same. It’s like a family reunion where people show up but pair off to hang out in different groups. That’s ok as long as they find a family to group with, we aren’t gonna be too picky about it. That’s just how curl pattern is. It’s one day one way and another day, laying in a slightly different way and that’s ok. In order to help each hair find their “curl family” we need to assist the hair with products to form those families.
I say this all the time…..don’t fall for the FRIZZ FREE gimmick! 90% of the time it’s an application problem, not a product problem.
Frizz is just curls that haven’t found their curl family yet. If I am describing you and your hair type then you need to grab your curl cream or gel and get to scrunching, plopping, twirling, raking or diffusing. (More on these methods at the end of this blog post).
Whatever your preferred method of getting those curl families together is, you need to put in a little effort and do it! It’s gonna take you about 10-20 minutes from start to finish but you need to do it. The most annoying phrase to a stylist is “wash and go”. The only time you are gonna get a “wash and go” style is if you have curly hair and you throw your curl product in right after the shower and just let it air dry after scrunching your product in. If you don’t like the way that looks then you are gonna have to put in a little more effort and for gods sake, put in a little more effort! Other than that, get “wash and go” OUT of your vocabulary!
Now let’s talk about frizz in the straight hair universe. Most of the time people that have frizz issues are usually people that have curly or wavy hair in some aspect. They usually don’t know they have curly hair and never try to style it curly. I recommend trying some of my methods down below for activating your curl if you aren’t sure but you do have a frizz problem. Sometimes I do come across clients (like 5%) that are mostly straight with a frizzy texture. It’s not common but does happen. If I’m describing you, then you need to apply said “frizz free” product and get comfortable blow drying it straight because most of these products are heat activated. Then you can hit it with a curling iron or flat iron if you want more of a style to it. Most products are heat activated unless it’s a finishing product or one that is versatile and can be used to air dry or use heat with it. I’m sorry if that bursts your “but I’m lazy” bubble you were trying to make your life mantra. If you want to have that beautiful hair you see on TV then you are going to have to get into a hair routine. I mean if it were was easy then Jennifer Aniston would have a “wash and go” style and would be doing it HERSELF!
Listen, I don’t want you to beat yourself up. I don’t want you to take your graveyard of hair products under your sink and start chucking them into the garbage. You might have been susceptible to some marketing but you didn’t know, you had a pain point and you were trying to resolve it and I applaud you for that. I wish, as a puffy, frizzy haired teenage girl myself, that someone would have dropped this knowledge on me.
So, where do we go from here? I like to get my clients to buy a sister product that goes with something you already have so you can use up your own stock. Take a picture of all your products to your stylist, that way you don’t have to buy 6 new products, you just start with one new one and couple it with some you already have. Then you can apply what you learned today and apply product with purpose. My top 6 products that I think everyone should own are
1. Color safe sulfate free shampoo (if you have color)
2. Color safe conditioner (if you have color)
3. Leave-in conditioner (more coarse or dry textures)
4. Gel or curl cream (if you have curly hair)
5. Hair oil (more courser or dry textures)
6. Finishing hairspray
Last, let’s chat the application that I have been spouting off about this whole time. There are multiple ways to apply your “frizz free” product to maximize its potential. I also have some drying tips to aid in the application techniques because they really go hand in hand.
1. Scrunching
2. Twirling
3. Raking
4. Air drying (drying method)
5. Plopping (drying method)
6. Diffusing (drying method)
Scrunching:
Your hair must be very wet, You must hear the squishing sound while scrunching your curl or frizz product in. I like to keep my curly hair products in the shower and just after I wring all the water out of my hair I flip my hair hair upside down and take a quarter size of product and scrunch it into one half of my head. You are holding your hair in your hand and pushing it up to the root of your hair then making a fist and squeezing until you hear the squishing sound. Then I take a quarter more of product and scrunch into the other half of my hair. Then I take a dime more and do the front fringe area of my hair and scrunch, scrunch, scrunch. Again make sure you are hearing that squishing sound. The you are done! You can air dry, diffuse or plop at this point. Keep reading to learn what those are.
Twirling:
This method takes more time and I don’t think it’s practical for a whole head. I like to use this to address the straighter pieces of the hair. Your hair has to be very wet. After you apply your product, You simply take your finger and twirl where you want to achieve a curl. You wrap a piece of hair and twirl it around your finger or a comb and twirl in a circular motion until you have a curl. Some people do this with all of their hair, if they really want to set the hair to last a few days. I like it to help with the straighter pieces that need a little extra help finding their curl family. Then you will air dry, diffuse or plop as your drying method.
Raking:
After the hair is wet and you have applied product, you take a comb and rake it through each section of the hair. The product and water combines and evenly distributes it through the hair. then you shake the hair and scrunch the hair to activate curl. Then you will air dry, diffuse or plop as your drying method.
Air drying:
A lot of people like to air dry their hair instead of blow drying their curly hair because it is less effort. All you need to do is put in the product in and after you scrunch, twirl or rake, you are just going to leave it alone and let it fully air dry for 3-4 hours. The VERY important thing about
Letting it air dry is you CANNOT touch it for that whole 3-4 hours. The reason is because it will go through a very frizzy ugly phase like 1 hour in and this is where most people mess it up. They will look in the mirror during that frizzy point and start trying to make it better by touching it and it only makes it worse. You have to leave it alone! You have to let the cast form on the curl. The cast is the hard feeling you get on the hair when the curls are setting into their curl family. Think of a cast on your arm when you break it, it’s hard. That is what you want. The product is the cast for the frizz. Once it’s fully dry you can fluff it a little at the roots and you are done!
Plopping:
This is a term that became popular about 4 years ago. Some people don’t like to leave their hair hanging down their neck and back wet to air dry, I am one of those. So people starting plopping their hair. So first you are going to put your product in. Then what you do is you take a microfiber towel turban (the one that has the button in the back.) Another thing you can use is a long sleeve cotton shirt and wrap it around your head. What this does, is it allows the hair to have a little drying area away from your face and back. You would obviously need to do this on a day around the house where you aren’t doing anything. After you take it out after 4 hours or so, you would then fluff and go. Sometimes people say they might have to hit a few pieces with a curling wand that dried weird but most people like this way of drying.
Diffusing:
This is my favorite way of drying. To me, you get the styling over with in 10-20 min and it has the most volume and will last the most days before washing again. After you put your product in, you grab your blow dryer with the diffuser attachment for curly hair (the round space ship looking thing) and start hovering it over your hair and pulsing the diffuser from the ends of your hair to the root of your hair. It’s like the scrunching method but with your dryer. So many people do everything they can to not have to use a blow dryer but I’m telling you, it never takes as long as you think. You get a much better result, You will be so glad you did it! Dry it 80%-90% of the way (to save on time) and let it air dry the rest of the way. After about 1 more hour of air drying, fluff and enjoy your amazing hair!
Stay tuned for a video link to show you how to apply all of these techniques. My next blog post will be about my favorite curl products, so be on the look out for that. Products are great and I’m addicted to them but again it’s not just about the product, it’s about the application!
