Fine Hair: How to Take Fine Hair From Flat to Fabulous

by Julie Redfern Davis (Subscribe to Julie Redfern Davis's posts)
Posted Feb 1st 2010 at 11:45AM

Take your locks from flat to fat. Photo: Peter Buckingham

When you have fine hair, there's nothing fine about it. It's limp, lifeless and lacking serious volume-even after an hour of backcombing (grrrr).

To understand why your hair is constantly battling your body-boosting efforts and continuously falling flat, you need to understand its structure.

Fine hair, by definition, means the diameter of each hair strand is smaller. In other words, says celebrity hair stylist and Hair Basics expert Ted Gibson, "The strand is a little more fine and not as full." And because each individual strand is smaller and more sheer, the hair tends to look thin, go limp and act lifeless.

But despite its delicate composition, notes Gibson, "Fine hair is actually easy to manage. You can create interesting shapes as well as lots of volume."

Really?

Like any hair type or texture, it all starts with the cut. "Keep your hair at a one length shape. It will add strength and volume to your hair," says Gibson. "If you put in a lot of layers what ends up happening is that it has no shape," he adds.

Using a volumizing shampoo is also critical. "It will help to expand each hair strand in order to give you ultimate volume," he says. A lightweight conditioner (preferably one designed for fine hair) is also essential to help keep the hair weightless rather than weighted down.

The fragile structure of fine hair makes it more prone to breakage. Trimming it every four to six weeks will keep split ends to a minimum, while a weekly deep conditioning treatment will help to nourish and strengthen.

When it comes to styling the hair, the more products the better. "You want to use a volumizing product on the scalp to create fullness and something else like a gel on the ends to penetrate the cuticle and give the hair a lot of body," notes Gibson.

During your blow dry, always use a round brush with mixed boar and nylon bristles. "The combination of the two smoothes and detangles, and creates volume," says Gibson. Rotating the brush in a circular motion while blow drying individual sections of hair also helps to increase volume.

Not, about that volume: Watch the video for Gibson's five easy styling tips for making fine hair fab. Click through the gallery below for the step-by-step, and visit our Hair Basics section for more easy hair how-tos.

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Hair Basics: How To Style Fine Hair

To keep you from further flatlining, we enlisted the help of celebrity hair stylist Ted Gibson. Here, he offers tips on how make fine hair less floppy and more fabulous in five simple steps.

Peter Buckingham

Hair Basics: How To Style Fine Hair

Is your fine hair always falling flat? Blame it on its makeup (the diameter of fine hair is actually smaller and more delicate than other hair types), but also hold your styling habits accountable (volumizer should be applied to the roots not the ends). To keep you from further flatlining, we enlisted the help of celebrity stylist and TLC's What Not To Wear's Ted Gibson. Here, he offers tips on how make fine hair less floppy and more fabulous in five simple steps.

Hair Basics: How To Style Fine Hair

The first and most important step to increase volume so hair looks and feels more full is to apply a volumizer. One of the biggest mistakes women make is applying it all over the hair. "You want to spray it directly at the scalp and massage it in," says Gibson. Make sure to work in sections and apply the product to the entire head (scalp area only).

Hair Basics: How To Style Fine Hair

To create even more volume, apply a quarter-size amount of hair gel. "It will penetrate the cuticle and give the hair a lot of body and fullness," says Gibson. Start one inch away from the scalp and apply it all the way through to the ends, completely saturating the hair.

Hair Basics: How To Style Fine Hair

"The blow dry is the ultimate experience in creating volume," says Gibson. But before you start to fully style, rough dry the hair so it's 80-percent dry. Secure the nozzle attachment to the blow dryer to help concentrate the heat and rough dry the hair from the scalp to the ends.

Pro Tip: Look for a blow dryer that's a combination of tourmaline and ceramic. They provide constant heat, which helps with straightening, and cuts down on both frizz and drying time.

Hair Basics: How To Style Fine Hair

Working with one and half to two inch sections (depending on the density of your hair), rotate a round brush in a circular motion to create volume. When you reach the ends, wrap the hair around the brush (almost like it's a hot roller) and add more heat to create curl and wave at the ends.

Pro Tip: Use a mixed boar and nylon bristle round brush. Boar helps to smooth the hair while nylon helps detangle. Together the combination adds fullness and body.

Hair Basics: How To Style Fine Hair

Finish your blow dry with a shot of cool air. This helps to seal and close the cuticle, and lock in your voluminous style.

Hair Basics: How To Style Fine Hair

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