Non-damaging styling products for fringe/bangs?

[kittenface]

I couldn't find any threads about this; if there are any that I overlooked, please send them my way!

I've been thinking about it for a few months, and I've decided that I want to cut a longish, sideswept fringe. But here's the problem: when I had a fringe before, to make it stay in place and look nice I would style it with products that I suspect are pretty bad for your hair if you use them on a daily basis (hair wax, hairspray and so on). Even thought it's "just" the fringe, I'd rather not start doing that again. So, any suggestions for less damaging things to style my fringe with, that will still get the job done? Is that even possible? I'd prefer if the products are as "natural" as possible, but I'm open to anything, really.

(If it matters, my hairtype is around 1c, average thickness, and I think fine? It's not super mega delicate but when I look at/touch the individual strands of hair they're a lot finer than my friends' hair.)

[Firefox7275]

Are you blow drying with a round brush or just finger styling? That makes a difference to what you can use - for a brush you need slip but TBH brushing wet hair repeatedly (mechanical damage) is likely as or worse than a modest application of alcohol based hairspray. There are natural gels like flaxseed, okra and aloe but these may go sticky and snaggy so not best suited to brushing.

On the Sciencey Hairblog there is a post about hairspray, no damage was seen under the microscope until the hair was saturated IIRC. On the same blog there may be a list of proven heat protectant ingredients: the author definitely has one on the Wavy Hair Community.

A styling product containing some hydrolysed protein may be worth considering: this can give body, strength, very light hold for waves, some heat protection and tends to work well for fine hair.

[turtlelover]

I use an alcohol free hairspray made my Loreal. I've never noticed it drying/damaging my bangs. I believe it is called EverStyle.

[patienceneeded]

I understand what you're saying OP, but I just do what I want/need to do to make my bangs look nice. I don't worry about damage there. In fact, I wash them daily with shampoo, blow-dry, and flat iron (bangs only).

[Weewah]

What I do with my bangs is blow dry with a round bbb and they stay in place without me needing to use any styling products. Make sure your bangs are completely wet even at the roots before blow drying them, so they go/stay in the exact shape you want them to.

I'm not concerned about damage on my bangs since the constantly getting trimmed anyways. I've never seen a split ends on my bangs ever.

[ositarosita]

I use a flat iron and a tiny bit of coney serum .. keeps the shape, the volume and keeps them in place for me