Humidity frizz

[imaroo]

I just moved to Austin TX from Portland OR a few days ago. I always thought my hair was stick straight, but in recent years it has changed. I'm fairly certain that it's 2a and I know it's very fine.

Well now that I'm in a humid state half of my hairs are looking more 3a. It's a mess. I am at a loss as to how to cope with this. There is no summer humidity in Portland so I have no experience in such matters.

I can't put too much goop in my hair or it just gets weighed down and sticky. I also can't walk around looking like a frumpy lunatic.

Help!!

[triumphator!]

Welcome to TX :D Don't worry, we're all in the same boat! Some light gel may help - especially the kind for holding curl. That way you get some definition for your newfound texture, and the benefit of less frizzies!

You'll also find that when the temperature hits 110, people don't judge you for sweat marks either, it's just expected! ;)

[lapushka]

Maybe you could let us hairtype you, if you're unsure. (wash as usual S/C, then pat dry gently and let dry without touching it).

Also curly girl comes to mind.

[missrandie]

Welcome to the suck heat! I live in San Antonio. I feel your pain.

In Lapushka's siggy is the rinse out oil method and LOC styling. I suggest looking at both of those, as they will help add a bit of a moisture barrier and allow your hair to stay more consistent.

[Anje]

My guess is that you probably can use more product in Texas than you could in Portland, without it being totally weighed down. It might not hurt to read up on some curly hair techniques, but I'm seconding the suggestion to use some gel in your hair. As I understand it (also being barely wavy), it's easiest to work that into wet-damp hair, maybe comb it to separate the hair into clumps, and then try to let it dry without touching it so the clumps don't get broken up. Once it's dry, you can "scrunch out the crunch" and the gel will still give you hold to keep the curls as curls instead of frizz.

ETA: Is the humidity the reason why the stereotypical texan woman has big hair?

[triumphator!]

ETA: Is the humidity the reason why the stereotypical texan woman has big hair?

It definitely lifts from the scalp! ;)

[Wildcat Diva]

I would wager Austin is less humid than where I live South of Houston! Anyway, welcome to Texas.

I just tried an expensive line of no frizz styling cream. I'll let you know how it works out. If your hair gets really poufy, you can take a pic and post it in my high humidity photos thread.

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

[imaroo]

Thank you all! Sorry for the slow response but I have been busy setting up home.

I will give gel a try and look into curly girl. I am right now waiting for my hair to dry so I can post a picture for help in typing it. It's SO hard not to comb or touch it in any way!

I feel like it's going to take me forever to acclimate to the humidity. In Oregon when the heat goes up the humidity goes down. In Austin I sweat as soon as I step foot outside. Even in the morning. Make-up may not be in the cards until November!

Lastly, thank you for the warm welcome from all of you in Texas. Everybody we've met has been so nice and friendly without exception.

The roaches are worse than the humidity. My heart almost stopped last night when one flew in the door. There were tears, hysteria, and some flailing.

[imaroo]

Hmmm...can't figure out how to post pictures? Is there a trick??

[missrandie]

Just watch out for scorpions if you live on the ground floor. My neighbor has been stung a few times. She says they come in pairs.

With pictures, first upload them to an image hosting site (I use tinypic.com) then grab the url, click the insert image button, and put in the code.

Another way.. If you use tinypic, upload them message board size, then they have a code for message board posts. Copy that and paste it in your post.

[imaroo]

Thanks missrandie!

FRIZZ! I cut about 7 inches off last month. I really am not ready to cut the rest off yet. Here's hoping some gel (or another suggestion) works for me.

http://i65.tinypic.com/15znigo.jpg

http://i67.tinypic.com/2cp22ok.jpg

[missrandie]

Oh you do have some wild ones in there! I've got several that like to wave at eachother too.

At any rate, your hair is beautiful! I love your waves!

Yeah, I'd check out the LOC method for sure.. It certainly helps me with the frizzles. I'm still experimenting on finding Holy grail products, but that's everybody's journey I suppose.

[triumphator!]

Thank you all! Sorry for the slow response but I have been busy setting up home.

I will give gel a try and look into curly girl. I am right now waiting for my hair to dry so I can post a picture for help in typing it. It's SO hard not to comb or touch it in any way!

I feel like it's going to take me forever to acclimate to the humidity. In Oregon when the heat goes up the humidity goes down. In Austin I sweat as soon as I step foot outside. Even in the morning. Make-up may not be in the cards until November!

Lastly, thank you for the warm welcome from all of you in Texas. Everybody we've met has been so nice and friendly without exception.

The roaches are worse than the humidity. My heart almost stopped last night when one flew in the door. There were tears, hysteria, and some flailing.

I know what you're talking about - those aren't roaches, theyre water bugs! They are muuuuch bigger than roaches, right? They want to be anywhere it's damp or there's standing water, so be prepared for them to magically appear in your bathroom, seemingly out of thin air. Oh, and pools. They want to be in your pool. I think they bite if you torment them. They're gross and they make my pug jump straight up in the air when he sees them :bigeyes:

For your flyaways - try an anti-humectant product. Anti-humectants (gels, shea butter, etc) block your hair from taking on humidity and springing up. You will get the best results on hair that has been conditioned with a penetrating oil (avocado, olive, coconut, etc), not a coating oil (jojoba, mineral, etc) and has no silicones on the shaft. Some anti-humectants have silicones though, I think. You gotta check labels. More on that here! (http://science-yhairblog.blogspot.com/2013/06/oils-which-ones-soak-in-vs-coat-hair.html)

And here is a link (http://www.hypehair.com/47663/10-hair-products-made-especially-humid-weather/)to some curly hair specific info on anti-humectants!

Also, I think you're definitely a wavier head of hair than 1b! Possibly 2a? Maybe more if you do LOC, as suggested!

[Arctic]

Do you have re-growth after a larger shed? It looks like you got tonnes of baby hairs! For some reason baby hairs often (or at least sometimes) seem to have pretty curly tip even on wavy hair types. (This is super-duper unpopular opinion/idea here, I feel the wrath already, but I often S&D the curlier new tip off when I'm at it, it makes my canopy much smoother. Only do this if you hair fits into the description of new growth with noticeably more curly tip. And before you do, consider than some people say uncut tip is the most strong kind.)

I'm probably not much help as my climate is not that humid, but when I do have frizz I apply a bit of conditioner on my canopy, or lately I have been using a styling paste, they both help to smooth out the canopy. I try to keep my hair moisturized and always use a leave-in (or lately I have been replacing that with aloe gel) right after washing.

ETA: I think if I close my eyes from the frizz which could indicate curlier hair, your hair looks maybe about 2a/b, potential for stronger waves.

[Anya15]

I live in a super humid place too, and my hair looks exactly like yours frizz-wise (the length is wavier with a couple of odd spirals). My avatar pic is a hairtyping pic taken at my parents' (where there is no humidity) so no frizz there. My baby hairs curl a lot and a couple of them even coil when freshly washed. Once I braid/bun, the longer ones adopt a more uniform texture....

I'd say you are a 2b perhaps.

I am going to watch this thread because I am exasperated with humidity. My hair looks its worst on wash day.

[Anje]

Oh, that looks familiar! Mine hasn't been doing that as much lately, but it does that. (It's lower res, but you can make it out in my old hairtyping pic (http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=10054&d=1396321078).) I think a lot of it's new growth, and you might have the same thing I do, where my hairs start out a bit curlier when they first grow, then they lose some of that curl after a few inches of growing. And no, I never did work out a real solution to it, just put my hair up and ignored it. But my hair is less wavy than yours, so attempts to tame it much just ended up looking stringy without defined waves.

[imaroo]

I think all my frizzy hairs are a combination of baby hairs and breakage. Unfortunately I end up wearing ponytails out of frustration quite a bit. My hair is very healthy and I have no split ends, but it's so superfine that it just can't handle the tension of a regular ponytail no matter what I use to put it up. Braids or buns are usually better, so I need to stick with them more, but my hair is so slippery and seems to grow forward that the baby hairs slip out quickly. When it's warm and windy those baby hairs go crazy and I look like a dandelion gone to seed. And I get tired of rebraiding it every half hour. The eternal frustration of fine wavy hair for me is REAL!

I bought some lightweight gel so I will give that a try tomorrow. Thank you all for the advice!

I also need to invest in some oils and anti humectants, but that will be for another day.

[papayatree]

In Georgia, the humidity is for most people too high, but for us Georgians, it is normal. That's why very few straight haired women exist down here.

[lapushka]

Pretty hair, looks 2a/b to me... A little too loose a pattern for braidwaves, but still well-defined enough for 2a most certainly.

[Anje]

I think all my frizzy hairs are a combination of baby hairs and breakage. Unfortunately I end up wearing ponytails out of frustration quite a bit. My hair is very healthy and I have no split ends, but it's so superfine that it just can't handle the tension of a regular ponytail no matter what I use to put it up. Braids or buns are usually better, so I need to stick with them more, but my hair is so slippery and seems to grow forward that the baby hairs slip out quickly. When it's warm and windy those baby hairs go crazy and I look like a dandelion gone to seed. And I get tired of rebraiding it every half hour. The eternal frustration of fine wavy hair for me is REAL!

I bought some lightweight gel so I will give that a try tomorrow. Thank you all for the advice!

I also need to invest in some oils and anti humectants, but that will be for another day.
Your hair sounds VERY much like mine. Not long before I joined here, I found I had a huge broken chunk where the ponytail holder supported the tail, right from the top of my head. That's in addition to all the little wispies, probably broken off too, going from elastic to hairline.

I switched to buns. Held them with sticks for a while, but I really like Ficcares these days when I want a good hold. They don't slip much. (Some of the fakes are great, too, and massively cheaper.) At my thickness, which was about 2.25-2.5 inches in circumference and now is more like 3 inches at the nape, I definitely would have wanted a medium Fic at BSL. It took it thickening at tailbone for a while before a large was truly comfortable for me.

[imaroo]

Your hair sounds VERY much like mine. Not long before I joined here, I found I had a huge broken chunk where the ponytail holder supported the tail, right from the top of my head. That's in addition to all the little wispies, probably broken off too, going from elastic to hairline.

I switched to buns. Held them with sticks for a while, but I really like Ficcares these days when I want a good hold. They don't slip much. (Some of the fakes are great, too, and massively cheaper.) At my thickness, which was about 2.25-2.5 inches in circumference and now is more like 3 inches at the nape, I definitely would have wanted a medium Fic at BSL. It took it thickening at tailbone for a while before a large was truly comfortable for me.
I've heard of those and thought about getting some but haven't yet. I usually use spin pins or small claw clips.

[imaroo]

Pretty hair, looks 2a/b to me... A little too loose a pattern for braidwaves, but still well-defined enough for 2a most certainly.

Thanks! I had wondered so it's good to hear it from a pro! 😉

[turtlelover]

I've heard of those and thought about getting some but haven't yet. I usually use spin pins or small claw clips.

Yeah, I have yet to take the plunge as well. I'm still a spin pin fan at BSL, but I am considering this sometime before waist!

[imaroo]

That gel did the trick! It's amazing. Hahaha! I always thought gel would make it too stiff. Thank you all so much! I knew I could count on you all for the help.

[mindwiped]

Also, I know it sounds counter-intuitive, but moisture is your friend. I'm a bit North of you, hello from Kansas, but we get the humidity too. I'm using shea moisture leave in conditioners (even though they're designed for ethnic hair and I'm just a 2c/3a). The extra moisture helps my waves to clump, not flatten, and the extra moisture seems to help my hair resist breakage.

Welcome to the Midwest!