5 Tips for Fabulous Hair in Any Climate
It takes a day with terribly drizzly weather to remind me how hard it can be to keep your hair cute, no matter where you go to school. I made the transition from the dry air of Colorado to the ridiculously humid East Coast, and totally appreciate how tough it can be to revamp your hair styling habits.
Here are some of the tricks I’ve learned over my college transition to keep hair looking fab, no matter the weather.
Photo: JustJared
1. Let gravity work for you: There have always been general rules about thick haircuts versus thin haircuts–if your hair is thick, get lots of layers so you’ve got some movement and so that it doesn’t feel as heavy. If you’ve got thin hair, keep it closer to one-length so that your hair looks fuller. However, these rules can cause problems in humid areas.
- If the weather in your area is wetter, keep your layers long–short layers are more likely to become flyaways. If it’s a particularly wet place, keep hair at all one length so that the weight of the hair will help keep frizz and puffiness under control.
- If you’ve got a super-thick mane, tell your stylist to thin hair out underneath and closer to the ends.
2. Learn the lingo: Have you heard of humectant styling products? What about humidity resistance? There are certain words to look for on your products that are especially suited to challenging climates. A humectant is a product that will pull in moisture from the air and embed it in your hair strands. These are great for gals in dry climates. Try Suave Humectant Conditioner. An anti-humectant, conversely, will block moisture from affecting your hairstyle. This is ideal for curly gals, or people who live in humid areas. Aveda makes a nice anti-humectant product. You can also try humidity-resistance hairsprays like Sunsilk Hold Me Forever, although I find that too much of this kind of spray can make hair look crunchy (not cute!!).
- Thin-haired gals, take note: too many products will make your hair look limp and sad. Try a lightweight serum like got2B Smooth Operator Smoothing Satin Drops, and maybe work a small amount of mousse into your roots for some volume, but stay away from gels, pomades, or heavy cremes.
3. Change up your routine: Winter means dry skin and a dry scalp for me, no matter the climate, so I make sure to change up my shampoo and conditioner to suit the season, too. In winter, I switch to a moisturizing shampoo with tea tree oil, like Nature’s Gate Tea Tree Calming Shampoo, or just to Head and Shoulders for a few weeks if my scalp starts to get itchy. Fittingly, you’ll probably want to work an extra-heavy moisturizer into your ends during the winter as well. My favorite mask is the Bumble and bumble Creme de Coco masque, but I’ve also heard great things about using Vo5 Hot Oil treatments on your ends.
- Added bonus: gentle shampoos and rich conditioners will help keep your hair healthy and prevent those dreaded split-ends!
4. Fight static: My nemesis during the super dry winter months in Colorado was static. You’d be going from indoor dry heat to a dry cold and back to heat again – static-y hair was practically inevitable. If you’ve changed up your routine to include more nourishing, moisturizing products and are still experiencing static and flyaways, keep a travel-size hairspray and a dryer sheet in your purse. Rubbing a dryer sheet (lightly!) over static hair will help to balance out the electric charges in the air, and a quick fix spritz of hairspray will help put your hair back in its style.
5. Don’t fight nature: Even with the best hair products in the world, curly girls are going to have a tough time, no matter what, trying to straighten their hair during a monsoon. (Straight-haired gals are going to have trouble holding curls in humidity, too.) So go easy on your hair follicles and consider embracing your natural hair texture during extreme weather–everyone looks like a wet dog sometimes!!
Photo: IMDB
What are your favorite tips for fabulous hair in humidity? What kind of climate do you live in? Tell us in the comments!
Posted on on September 30, 2009 / Filed Under: Beauty & Hair / Tags: Annalynne McCord, Anne Hathaway, Hair, Hair Products, Hairstyles, How To, Tips, Weather
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OMG!thank you for this post!i live in singapore, where it is VERY HUMID.and ive never found such comprehensive advice.:D
Christi
Great article. Thanks for the tips and product recommendations!
Here’s something odd that I’ve found: I have fairly “wavy” hair and typically I curl it, shake the curls a little bit and go. In a humid environment or even when it’s raining I found out this style obviously doesn’t work well. I was always told to “work with” my hair and when if did that in a HUMID climate it would get crunchy curly (not ideal). I found during a recent trip to Florida that oddly enough if I actually straightened it it worked best! It didn’t frizz and the humidity caused just a few soft waves to form. It was funny to me that I actually went against the natural texture and found success!
I understand this doesn’t work for everyone (and yes, most of the time I would say it’s best not to fight your natural texture) but I thought I would share in case any other girl with wavy hair might want to try it :)
LM
Haha, I do the stubborn thing and I fight my wavy hair. It’s expensive but I get a straight perm every year or so (they’re supposed to be redone every 4-5 months but they last much much longer)… perfect hair every day, no frizz, no flyaways, it’s sleek and shiny and I love it to death!
Kellie Huish
I’m so glad you emphasized working with your natural hair texture. All through middle school and most of high school, I would wake up early to straighten my hair. It wasn’t until the end of my senior year when I realized that all that ironing was taking a toll on my hair and my precious sleep. It took some practice but I found a routine that works great on styling my curly hair. Now my morning routine is much simpler. I rock out my girls and save the hair straightener for special occasions or when I have tons of time! Great article!
morfelisia
I think curly girls need super-moisture. So humactants in products is a good thing.
But be careful with the glycerin if you live in a dry climate. Glycerin works by attracting the moisture, if the weather is humid, great! It’ll attract the moisture from air to your hair. But when it’s dry and there is no moisture in the air to “feed” the glycerin, it will suck up your hair’s own moisture and thus leave it dry. ;)
Isabelle
I stopped fighting my curls at the age of 21 and I have never looked back. Great article, I loved it :)
Chelsey
My story’s very similar to Kellie’s. I straightened my hair alll through high school. It wasn’t until senior year I managed to learn how to work with my curls. A lot of girls hate having curly hair (as did I in high school), but I think more than half of them hate it simply because they haven’t figured out yet what works best with their curls. Once I found a great leave-in conditioner and anti-frizz serum, I loved my natural curls. Great article!
Charlotte
don’t hate me, but unlike the East coast and the South, where I live in California we have dry heat (very low humidity) so the hair problems above aren’t much of an issue for me. ( <3 California)
Gina
I’ve got very curly hair and live in central Florida. It seems to me that the humidity here is my hair’s enemy. I always thought that in humid climates, curly hair frizzed more. Any thoughts?
MCR
One thing that works really well for me is to spray static guard on my hair brush and run it through my hair to keep it from going crazy.
myvogue
Oh I live in extremely humid climate in Dallas, TX and that was a huge issue for me trying to make my hair straight all the time. I tried lots of different products, but you are right – we can’t fight the nature. So I just gave up. Every time I need to wash my hair I check the weather website, if it is going to rain I just don’t torture my hair and make it curly with some muss and that’s it! Nice post!
Lauren
I love when yo do articles like this!!<3
Well i live in ky sooo….it was really humid this summer and i found it best to just put mousse in my hair (i have naturally curly) It was quick and easy. During the winter i usually straighten cuz that works best for me. :) Oh and if its rainy i also do the mousse cuz it i straighten it, it will kink up!!
<3
Cara
Any tips for a girl with lots of long but very fine and somewhat oily hair who is experiencing humidity, frizz, and an odd wave for the first time? How do I restore (for more than half-an-hour) the sleek, shiny, naturally straight strands I had at home in Austin, Texas? Is my only choice to scorch my poor hair with a straightening iron or just give up and look fuzzy ’round the edges? Help, please! I can’t stand the eternal “bedhead” look one day more!!
Christine
I’ve read everybody’s posts and to be totally honest with you. I’ve lived in CA and Texas. During the humid months in TEXAS there is nothing that will keep curly hair from frizzing up or going back to it’s natural state. Plus, you have to limit any kind of lightning to the hair. I’m not a chemist but water binds to water. The hair is made up of water, protein and dead cells. If your hair is course or dry. It’s going to be unmanageable in humid weather. Plus the heat mixed with humidity will pull any type of moisture out of the hair and make it drier. In other words protect your hair. No alcohol based products. CA weather is very dry, condition, condition, condition! Hope this helps!