Living with high humidity?

[going gray]

Hello!

I was wondering if anyone is having trouble handling their hair with terrible humidity. "I look like Madeline Kahn from that old Frankenstein movie!" Any advice for my very coarse, 2b,c, salt & pepper, ii hair! That's me in my avatar but I was using big rollers & living in Colorado, which is a very hair friendly state. I have tried many, many products, but feel I must be doing something wrong, nothing seems to doing the job, I don't brush, can't comb it, it doesn't even feel dry, just looks extremely frizzy. My only choice right now is to wear it up constantly. Don't want to use heat or a straightening procedure that would only ruin my hair.

Sorry if this topic has been covered before, but thought it was worth a try asking again..........



Thanks ladies.

[Arctic]

Some things that come to my mind are to keep your hair moisturised, to avoid strong humectants, to use antihumectant styling products, and keep an eye on weather report, so you can plan good days to wear your hair down (when the air is drier).

[Wildcat Diva]

It's my norm. I live in a high humidity area, so I don't know any difference.
I do have a problem when it gets close to 100 percent, like during thunder storming.

I'm 2C. There are times where my hair looks scraggly and frizzy, and I think it's damaged. Then later I have an awesome day where it's very moist looking on the ends.

I try triple conditioning and the LOC method.

I'm also experimenting with greenhousing. I bun my hair and don a plastic shower cap around the house (super sexy look). After an hour my hair is moist in a good way. There are even tiny moisture droplets clinging inside the cap.

Adding moisture attracting products may help to a point.

ETa: wait, which is it, add or avoid moisture attracting products? Maybe I'm doing it wrong?

[Arctic]

I might be wrong in saying to avoid humectants, as I don't have personal experiences of living in high humidity area. But that's what I have read. There are probably a lot of YMMV there too.

[Nadine <3]

My hair turns into a man eating monster when it's humid. It turns frizzy poofy, and it tries to eat my head and surrounding victims. I like to oil it while it's damp from a shower, and just bun it when it's dry. This way it doesn't get a change to hurt anyone or get to frizzy and nuts.

[Wildcat Diva]

Honestly I don't know either about the humectants. I use some and it doesn't seem to give me problems.

http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/showthread.php?t=123443&highlight=High+humidity

Here is my thread for interest.

Nadine, pix, posted there, or it didn't happen.

[Nadine <3]

Honestly I don't know either. I use some and it doesn't seem to give me problems.

http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/showthread.php?t=123443&highlight=High+humidity

Here is my thread for interest.

Nadine, pix, posted there, or it didn't happen.


Haha, I'll have to wait until we get a good humid day and snap a photo. I usually try to avoid cameras on those days! :p

[Wildcat Diva]

Come on, I did it! Now your turn. Help me feel more normal by posting pix so I don't feel so depraved (Lol not sure that alone is gonna quite do it haha).

Seriously, though OP read that thread because I have taken some decent notes so far on my experience. Normal for us here is above 59 percent humidity on up.

[going gray]

Honestly I don't know either about the humectants. I use some and it doesn't seem to give me problems.

http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/showthread.php?t=123443&highlight=High+humidity

Here is my thread for interest.

Nadine, pix, posted there, or it didn't happen.

Thanks for the thread & those photos. Wildcat, I'd be happy with your hair, you've got great curls, & not much frizz at all.

Ladies, I'm glad I posted the question. I realize I'm not alone & that does help A LOT!

My best defense is a hat!!! And maybe some more hair claws & clips. France Luxe is now having a 30% sale....yes...good idea, that always helps the hair doldrums.

Thank you one & all....................

[proo]

Stretching, as in elongating and organizing strands by twisting, braiding or wrapping,
is a method used on high porosity, frizz-prone hair.
The texture achieved is perfect for soft and sculpted updos -
check out moknowshair on youtube

[going gray]

Stretching, as in elongating and organizing strands by twisting, braiding or wrapping,
is a method used on high porosity, frizz-prone hair.
The texture achieved is perfect for soft and sculpted updos -
check out moknowshair on youtube

Thank you proo, I will definitely check this out.

[renia22]

Well it looks like your hair is thicker/ coarser and you have more of it than I do, but I can certainly relate to the frizz. Your madeline Kahn/ Frankenstein comparison made me giggle. Last summer I thought my hair resembled Monica's "Barbados Hair" from Friends , or Cameron Diaz's in "Being John Malkovich". Frizz city! Some recommendations on here that I have read are no combing or brushing when wet (finger combing), CO washing, various natural products. Because my hair is so thin and fine, a lot of those suggestions just didn't work out for me, but I have to say, I find certain silicones to be a life saver (that whole do they seal moisture in or out debate, I find that they seal moisture in, at least that's been my experience). A finger nail's scraping of plain coconut oil as an overnight moisturizing treatment works well on my hair also. It just makes it look and feel better overall, after it's washed out. Generally speaking, though, I don't have a lot of luck with most of the other natural oils and butters and salves that people like on here (shea butter... yikes!), but here are some specific products that I do like (it might be different for you, these are just ones that I have personally had good results with):

Nexxus Humectress (or the Sally's or Suave generic versions of it), Finesse Moisturizing shampoo & conditioner, Cococare coconut shampoo, madcitysue's conditioner off of etsy.com, Pantene Damage Detox conditioner, EO coconut rose hair serum (which is more like an oil), Dr. Bronner's hair creme, Kiehl's silk groom serum. On my hair, I prefer to use any creams or serums when it is dry, but if you don't have problems using them on wet or damp hair, you can do that also. Worse case scenario (like in a Tropical climate in the summer), there really is no hope (haha), so that's when I might use a touch of coconut oil and put my hair up, I figure that's a good time to take advantage of the heat.

Good luck!

p.s. oh, and I'm usually not a fan of silicone/ sulfate free, but I used to really like Desert Essence coconut shampoo & conditioner. I don't like it anymore since they reformulated it (it seems heavier now), but you might since your hair is thicker than mine. It gets good reviews :)

[Dixie_Amazon]

I have a frizz halo more often than not in southern Louisiana.

[going gray]

Well it looks like your hair is thicker/ coarser and you have more of it than I do, but I can certainly relate to the frizz. Your madeline Kahn/ Frankenstein comparison made me giggle. Last summer I thought my hair resembled Monica's "Barbados Hair" from Friends , or Cameron Diaz's in "Being John Malkovich". Frizz city! Some recommendations on here that I have read are no combing or brushing when wet (finger combing), CO washing, various natural products. Because my hair is so thin and fine, a lot of those suggestions just didn't work out for me, but I have to say, I find certain silicones to be a life saver (that whole do they seal moisture in or out debate, I find that they seal moisture in, at least that's been my experience). A finger nail's scraping of plain coconut oil as an overnight moisturizing treatment works well on my hair also. It just makes it look and feel better overall, after it's washed out. Generally speaking, though, I don't have a lot of luck with most of the other natural oils and butters and salves that people like on here (shea butter... yikes!), but here are some specific products that I do like (it might be different for you, these are just ones that I have personally had good results with):

Nexxus Humectress (or the Sally's or Suave generic versions of it), Finesse Moisturizing shampoo & conditioner, Cococare coconut shampoo, madcitysue's conditioner off of etsy.com, Pantene Damage Detox conditioner, EO coconut rose hair serum (which is more like an oil), Dr. Bronner's hair creme, Kiehl's silk groom serum. On my hair, I prefer to use any creams or serums when it is dry, but if you don't have problems using them on wet or damp hair, you can do that also. Worse case scenario (like in a Tropical climate in the summer), there really is no hope (haha), so that's when I might use a touch of coconut oil and put my hair up, I figure that's a good time to take advantage of the heat.

Good luck!

p.s. oh, and I'm usually not a fan of silicone/ sulfate free, but I used to really like Desert Essence coconut shampoo & conditioner. I don't like it anymore since they reformulated it (it seems heavier now), but you might since your hair is thicker than mine. It gets good reviews :)

Hi renia 22

Thank you for all the recommendations, the list of possible products is endless, it's very, very confusing, you practically have to try everything to see what works. I must use cones, & even worse, jumbo old fashion mesh rollers to get that rather smooth look in my avatar. In Florida NOTHING works, but a jaw clip or a hat! Plus, my hair takes the whole day to dry.

All the best,
Linda

[AZDesertRose]

going gray, I don't really have any good advice, but I do have a lot of sympathy as a fellow Florida resident. (I'm an Arizona native as you may have sorted out from my username. I miss my desert sometimes, and my hair in the desert was much less frizz-prone.)

[going gray]

I have a frizz halo more often than not in southern Louisiana.

Hello!

Your hair is lovely, I'd have no complaining whatsoever with just a frizzy halo. Suppose my answer is simply to learn to deal with it!

[sourgrl]

Born and raised in central Florida. Oh the joys that were my teenage years ;) The only thing that works for me is avoiding humectants, especially glycerin, in my conditioners and leave ins. I can use a mild humectant in my shampoo. The Florida humidity laughed at my silicone serums. Other then that it was mostly a bun up kind of deal.

We do get a good amount of humidity in central Alabama during the summer but nothing like the 9+ months of humidity in Florida. Blech!

[Wildcat Diva]

There is another vote for avoiding humectants.^^^

Might give flaxseed gel a try again. That was one thing I did before and got good results with no frizz.

[going gray]

Hello sweet ladies,

Thank you all for writing, Came to the conclusion that I just have to live with it & wear it up as much as possible. It is frustrating but I'm still keeping my "long" hair & not going to cave in & wear some ugly helmet hair do with so much product that I no longer feel like I have hair.

[HintOfMint]

Hello sweet ladies,

Thank you all for writing, Came to the conclusion that I just have to live with it & wear it up as much as possible. It is frustrating but I'm still keeping my "long" hair & not going to cave in & wear some ugly helmet hair do with so much product that I no longer feel like I have hair.

Oh no! I'm sorry you're still frustrated, but I may have a suggestion, if you're open to it.

We have near identical hair types and I used to live in New Orleans, where the humidity and heat is legendary. This was also prior to LHC and therefore prior to any knowledge I had about humectants/anti-humectants, sealants, silicones and the rest, so I can't really comment on specific ingredients in the products I used and how they worked. But I had pretty wonderful hair. I don't mean this in a bragging way, I mean it to say that I had a good handle on how to work with my hair's texture and the weather.

My main product was a pomade, usually one for bringing out curls and texture. I wish I could recommend the specific one I used, but it has been discontinued. It was a Garnier Fructis curl pomade, but other texturizing pomades worked just as well. I would work this into my hair and scrunch a bit and the humidity somehow turned my hair into very moisturized curls. I also used coney conditioners (possibly shampoos too, I'm not sure. Like I said, I wasn't too big on ingredients then).

I'm not sure where pomades fall with respect to their (anti)humectant properties, but I do know that it worked very well with my hair in that climate.

[Hurven]

I don't really have any advice, I just wanted to say that I have the same problem. If there is even the slightest hint of humidity, my hair poofs up and my top layer of hair somehow turns into 3A-curls. What I do is that I check the weather forecast and if the humidity is over 60%, I wear my hair up.

[Nivine]

I live in Cairo, and the humidity at summer time is terrible! I used to use hair serum A LOT so I can manage it -_-
Hair serums contain silicone and that's NOT good for hair. so I'm gonna try to keep my hair moisturized with oils this summer and I truly hope it would work :/
and.. also, why don't you try a bit of raw shea butter? I got some this Sunday, and it seems very good for moisturizing and conditioning hair :)