Five Tips For Looking After Fine and Straight Hair

image source (edited)
If like me you have fine and straight hair, you'll probably know that it needs all of the help it can get to do anything other than lie flat to your head. While straight hair has the perks of looking sleek and shiny, I find mine can quickly start to look soo scraggly, and without a bit of extra help just hangs there. But no need to give up on your straight locks, here are a few things I've found that can make fine hair look a bit nicer and stop it from looking so boring and limp.

1. Keep It Conditioned
This is important for any hair type, however with fine and straight hair there's nowhere to hide. Curly and wavy hair will hide a multitude of sins including split ends and dryness much better than fine or straight hair. When you don't have masses of full hair to work with, it's important to keep what you do have in the best condition possible. Light oils, deep conditioning masks and regular trims will keep it at its best.

2. Style For Volume
Left to its own devices, straight hair tends to be pretty flat, in order to give it a boost the aim of the game is to make it look like you have twice as much hair as you do. Things like backcombing or adding curls and waves will definitely do that, but moderation is important as your fine hair isn't going to stand up well to loads of teasing and heat styling every day. Volumising sprays can also work well although skip anything that's too heavy or oily, also mousse is a total waste of time on naturally straight hair and all of the scrunching in the world sadly wont give you waves. If you have fine hair you probably already know to avoid any product from going anywhere near your roots at the top of your head, or it's hello oil slick.

3. Get The Right Cut
If you have fine hair, then straggly ends are going to make it look much worse. Both short and long fine hair can look nice, it's much more about keeping the ends nice and straight and avoid it tapering out too much at the bottom which is going to make it look even thinner. I'd personally advise against too many layers (which is probably against any advice you've heard when it comes to fine hair)- I know that layers can make the hair look textured and more volumised, but from my experience the more layers you have from the top the thinner it looks at the ends.

4. Address Any Hair Loss
Hair loss is worrying for anyone, but for those with finer hair it can be even more problematic simply as hair loss will show quicker. It's normal to lose up to one hundred hairs per day, but if you're experiencing significantly more than that for any length of time or are noticing thinning of the hair you may want to check in with a doctor or trichologist (hair expert). There are also a number of hair replacement systems available as well as products and supplements that claim to reduce hair fall, which you'd find at your local pharmacist.

5.  Use Extensions
If all else fails, invest in a decent set of extensions. Even if you only use them for nights out and special occasions, sometimes it's nice just to have a bit more hair to work with and style. They can help you get through a bad haircut and provide a boost if you're waiting for your hair to grow out too. They can be a bit of a pain to put them in every day (clipping them in adds a good fifteen minutes to my getting ready routine) but I wouldn't be without them!

What issues do you have with your hair?