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View Full Version : Wow, what a difference climate makes!



liseling
August 11th, 2009, 12:07 AM
I just moved back to Southern California after living in the UK for 5 years and frankly I am AMAZED at the difference in how my hair behaves!

In the UK my hair would take at least 6 hours (usually longer) to dry completely, which made frizz avoidance more difficult because of course I wasn't just sitting still during those 6 hours and the curls would get disturbed more easily if the hair is wet. The results were still OK, but it was annoying having damp hair for half the day.

What a difference it is to be back in SoCal! When I lived here before I was completely unaware of the proper hair care (for me) that I practice now, and now that I've gone through a day of my usual routine here I'm ecstatic that my hair seems to dry within only about 3 hours, which probably accounts for it being able to dry into nice shiny defined curls before I manage to mess them up. And it's so great to have my hair looking the way I want for more than 2 hours of my time in public during the day!

I'm sure that this is due to the climatic difference between the dry California desert and damper UK. Plus I'm sure that different hair types will react differently to different environments.

I'd really like to hear about all of your experiences (or lack thereof) with climate affecting your hair. What kind of hair do you have, and what has it done in the different climates that you've been in? What is the 'best' climate for your hair? I'm pretty interested in this now and I'm wondering if we'll see a correlation between hair type and climate as far as hair behavior goes.

I've always thought that with curly hair, which is supposedly dryer, that a dry climate would have averse effects on my hair. But my hair routine involves leaving in a lot of conditioner and using it for styling so I'm wondering if the conditioner is keeping it from drying out. Plus I've only been back in CA for 34 hours, so maybe it'll start getting dryer and dryer throughout the next week (eeek!). I'm planning to do a lot more moisture treatments now that I'm back in order to hopefully prevent this. Any words of wisdom for me?

redcelticcurls
August 11th, 2009, 12:11 AM
Curls can be an excellent barometer!

I have to use extra conditioner when the dewpoint is low or else my curls droop. When the dewpoints were in the negative numbers (F) last winter, I looked a lot like a 2C. I had to find something with more punch to get my curls back, and I learned that I need lots of emollients and little to no humectants in the winter.

ReddishRocks has a blog for curlies in dry climates, and I have a post on my blog about dewpoints and how humidity affects curls and how you can use product to counteract it.

ETA: Oh, to specify blog, it's the blog in the link if you click on my name above my avatar. I haven't updated my LHC blog in forever since I started the wordpress one

ericthegreat
August 11th, 2009, 12:44 AM
My hair is pretty much pin straight whether its steamy hot and humid like it is right now in the middle of August, or its snowing outside and the freezing cold like it is here in Late January and early February. NYC is located right in the middle of the temperate zone, so we literally see all four seasons and all manners of cold, snow, wind, rain, sun, heat, and humidity.

As I am not a curly or a wavey, my hair simply stays exactly the same so for me personally it doesn't matter at all where I am. I've traveled to Upstate NY, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Canada, Florida, Los Angeles, the Bahamas, back to Hong Kong where my mom is from to visit her old friends and my relatives who have stayed over there, and my hair has always stayed straight wherever I go.

teela1978
August 11th, 2009, 12:51 AM
My nape curls are back with a vengance now that I'm back in California. Utah sometimes had humidity as low as 5% which wasn't particularly conducive to getting any wave in my hair. Colorado was great for my hair. It was pretty dry (just as bad as Utah most of the time) but the water quality was fantastic. Water really makes a surprising difference.

Dez
August 11th, 2009, 01:53 AM
LOL i was just posting about this! I live in socal also, but i visited my mom in northern cal, (san francisco bay parts) and my hair was great! It was cooler there and i sweated less, don't know if that's why or what. But just about an hour north of that in napa valley parts at my dads. My hair was a total frizz, at my dad's it's even cooler than mine or my mom's house and i think there's more moisture there.

Shadow
August 11th, 2009, 02:01 AM
My hair is naturally 'ringlet' curly and nothing I do will keep it straight - whether it's in the humidity of a Southern Hemisphere summer or if it's in the drizzly rain of a Northern Hempishere Summer (I've decided that the UK has no summer, the rain just gets warmer hehe)

I've found that Emu Oil has really helped me there. No matter how straight my hair is when I leave the house it will still curl in seconds if there is moisture in the air but when I use Emu oil, it curls into pretty waves instead of frizzing :)

The only time my hair responds differently to moving from one country to the next is when I'm back in places where there is soft water...my hair goes all buttery and soft and impossible to style.

share801
August 11th, 2009, 02:37 AM
My hairs appearance improved quite a bit when I moved here intially from a humid to dry climate. I'm a wavy - humidity = lots of frizz for me. After a disasterous chop some years ago, I've been growing here in dry climate ever since. I have only lately begun to wonder how this would have worked in a more humid place. Granted I am very careful with my fine hair, but I wonder if the years of climate are taking more toll than I had guessed? It seems more fly away than it used to, but maybe I'm just in a blue mood.

spidermom
August 11th, 2009, 08:01 AM
Here in the Pacific NW, my hair is wavy with a few curls. When we were in Italy a few years ago, my hair was 1B straight. It was cold and rainy part of the time we were there, so I don't know why there was such a difference - water maybe?

bigdreamer
August 11th, 2009, 08:17 AM
About the only thing I look forward to as far as climate change is the cold coming and no more humidity.

I have a frizzy canopy that is uncontrollable in humidity, and I'm really hoping that it's damaged hair that is growing out and that my virgin hair (about 2.75 inches from my crown now) will be much smoother. I have at least 1.5 - 2 years to see if that's true.

Anyone else literally grow the frizz right out?

going gray
August 11th, 2009, 08:19 AM
Here in Colorado, it's very dry, so no frizz whatsoever. Visiting the East Coast is another story, frizz, frizz & more frizz!

inertia
August 11th, 2009, 10:16 AM
Tokyo's humidity makes my hair frizz like crazy. The air here is never really dry. Even in winter it's humid, and during the summer there's nothing I can do with my hair except put it up or wear it in curls. I think there might be something about the water too, something that makes my hair less shiny.

Whenever I go back to the Northeast US for a visit, my hair behaves like it's just had a super conditioning treatment. No frizz, more shine, less effort. I wish it could be like that here.

redcelticcurls
August 11th, 2009, 10:51 AM
Here in the Pacific NW, my hair is wavy with a few curls. When we were in Italy a few years ago, my hair was 1B straight. It was cold and rainy part of the time we were there, so I don't know why there was such a difference - water maybe?

It makes sense. Cold and humid is a lower dewpoint than moderate or warm and humid. It's the dewpoint that has more impact on waves/curls as opposed to relative humidity.

If it's 20F and 100% humidity, the dewpoint cannot be above 20, which is dry enough to pull out curl.

melikai
August 11th, 2009, 11:55 AM
I dislike my hair more in the drier Canadian climate I grew up in. The static alone is enough to drive one mad! It also seems that my hair is flatter and straighter when I'm there.

My hair behaved a lot more nicely in NYC, where it is considerably more humid. Had more body to it, and no static. Maybe if my hair was curly I would have found the humidity annoying. Occasionally my hair was a bit frizzy, but I like messier looking hair anyway!

The climate here seems to be between the two: neither too dry nor too humid. :)

Lady Mary
August 11th, 2009, 01:51 PM
I've experienced the same, while in a humid climate my hair took hours to dry but in the dry air, it was an hour at most. However, I still prefer living in the humid air for many other reasons. :blossom:

liseling
August 11th, 2009, 05:15 PM
This is all very interesting. Lots of people have said that their hair is curlier in humid climates, but I think my hair is actually properly curlier here in SoCal, while it was frizzier in the UK with less defined curls. It was poofier, for lack of a better word, while here in California the hairs clump better into actual curls.
I'm trying to think of how this would translate to straight hair behavior - maybe that it's sleeker and smoother in dry weather (or lower dew point) and frizzier and fluffier in humid weather (or high dew point)? That seems to be consistent with what I've understood from people here (other than you lucky people whose hair is the same no matter what the climate!).
I think the main difference (I'm assuming here) is that some of you straight haired people describe what your hair does in humid weather as 'becoming curly', whereas I imagine my hair as being curly in drier weather when it's sleekly clumped into nice curls, and then in humid weather 'becoming frizzy'.
Does this resonate with any of you?

RoseRedDead
August 11th, 2009, 08:09 PM
I'm sure that humidity/dew points all have a profound effect on hair... But I've never really been anywhere to test that. I live in the Ohio Valley and all the places I've visited for more than a day (North East [chiefly New Hampshire] and way South [Florida - Walt Disney World, baby!]) are all very "wet" places... My hair takes forever to dry. I get frizz. It's not quite as bad in winter, but then it dries out...

(I'm not a curly, either, I'm a wavy, but I'm just sayin'.)

melikai
August 11th, 2009, 08:26 PM
I think the main difference (I'm assuming here) is that some of you straight haired people describe what your hair does in humid weather as 'becoming curly', whereas I imagine my hair as being curly in drier weather when it's sleekly clumped into nice curls, and then in humid weather 'becoming frizzy'.
Does this resonate with any of you?

Yeah, for me that sounds about right. My hair gets more wavy and sort of poofier/fluffier in a more humid climate. But I can imagine this would mean less definition for curlies.

teela1978
August 11th, 2009, 08:44 PM
This is all very interesting. Lots of people have said that their hair is curlier in humid climates, but I think my hair is actually properly curlier here in SoCal, while it was frizzier in the UK with less defined curls. It was poofier, for lack of a better word, while here in California the hairs clump better into actual curls.
I'm trying to think of how this would translate to straight hair behavior - maybe that it's sleeker and smoother in dry weather (or lower dew point) and frizzier and fluffier in humid weather (or high dew point)? That seems to be consistent with what I've understood from people here (other than you lucky people whose hair is the same no matter what the climate!).
I think the main difference (I'm assuming here) is that some of you straight haired people describe what your hair does in humid weather as 'becoming curly', whereas I imagine my hair as being curly in drier weather when it's sleekly clumped into nice curls, and then in humid weather 'becoming frizzy'.
Does this resonate with any of you?

Are you far inland? I tend to think of socal as being somewhat humid... at least compared to Utah and Colorado. But I suppose the high deserts would be in southern cali as well :)

redcelticcurls
August 11th, 2009, 09:47 PM
This is all very interesting. Lots of people have said that their hair is curlier in humid climates, but I think my hair is actually properly curlier here in SoCal, while it was frizzier in the UK with less defined curls. It was poofier, for lack of a better word, while here in California the hairs clump better into actual curls.
I'm trying to think of how this would translate to straight hair behavior - maybe that it's sleeker and smoother in dry weather (or lower dew point) and frizzier and fluffier in humid weather (or high dew point)? That seems to be consistent with what I've understood from people here (other than you lucky people whose hair is the same no matter what the climate!).
I think the main difference (I'm assuming here) is that some of you straight haired people describe what your hair does in humid weather as 'becoming curly', whereas I imagine my hair as being curly in drier weather when it's sleekly clumped into nice curls, and then in humid weather 'becoming frizzy'.
Does this resonate with any of you?

For some curlies in humid climates, the hair shaft is more affected by higher humidity. It's more common in porous curlies and in those who overuse humectants like AVG, agave, glycerin, propylene glycol and such.

Humidity can slip in under the cuticle and make it look ruffled. So, instead of increased curl definition from the added air moisture, you get poof, frizz, and loss of curl definition. For some curlies, this effect is even greater with large humectant use because the humectant will draw the moisture from the air into your hair. In some cases this is good. In dew point extremes, it isn't. In high humidity it causes frizz, and in very low humidity, it causes dried out hair.

missmagoo
August 11th, 2009, 10:11 PM
We just made the move from coastal central cal back to mounatin so cal- it has totally affected my hair. While I don't think of any part of california as being particularly humid, the coast is obviously more so that the desert mountain regions.

For me, I now have a harder time making my hair properly wave/curl after I wash it, but my second and third day hair is much, much better. On the coast my hair turned into a frizzy mess overnight, but now I get nice loose ringlets after I sleep on my hair.

julya
August 12th, 2009, 12:26 AM
I only remember very dry New Mexico making a noticeable difference in my hair. Tons of static and hard to comb. Humid places don't cause my hair any problems, but I do get sweaty more.

GeoJ
August 12th, 2009, 11:19 AM
In hot humid places (like Florida and southern India) my hair is more wavy than in cooler drier places (like California and various snow-topped mountains). When I visited UAE my hair was nearly straight. As far as frizziness goes, I think my hair is affected more by the water I used to wash it. For example the water in Florida tends to make my hair more frizzy, but when I was in Hawaii earlier this summer my hair was smooth. My hair is also fairly smooth in India, especially if I use uncle's collected rainwater. I am not fully aware of the differences in the waters other than hardness; the water in FL where I live comes from a limestone aquifer, but the water in Hawaii was probably coming from groundwater stored in volcanic rocks.

Naturel
August 12th, 2009, 12:34 PM
I think that dry climate dries hair while the no dry would be good to the hair. I live in southern CA where it's so dry and humid, I will be moving sometimes, which I don't think is good for my hair. I am looking for a place w/ a better climate tomove to; I will see if that will make a difference in my hair when I move:confused:

liseling
August 13th, 2009, 05:20 PM
Are you far inland? I tend to think of socal as being somewhat humid... at least compared to Utah and Colorado. But I suppose the high deserts would be in southern cali as well :)

I live in Pasadena, so not too far inland. I also spend quite a lot of time in the Mojave desert, so I know that those two locations have very different climates, with Pasadena being more humid than the desert (obviously). But Pasadena is still WAY less humid/damp than the UK.

Since coming back to CA I havnt visited the desert yet - Maybe Pasadena has the optimum humidity level for my hair and it'll become too dry when I next go to the desert.

Anyway, this has provided a lot of interesting information for me to think about! :D

InTheCity
August 13th, 2009, 07:53 PM
I'm on the east coast where climate changes a lot throughout the year but this summer the humidity is causing spiral curls that would make a 1" curling iron jealous.

My hair is wavy and unfortunately falls victim to a bit of frizz at times, but the amount of changes I'm seeing this summer are nothing like I've ever seen before. I wake up with curls where my waves are and waves where my hair usually lays nice and flat (on top.)

I'm looking forward to seeing how SoCal treats my hair this time next month :cheese: as I am spending a few days in San Diego. My vacation M.O. - pick a place you've never been to.

alligatorbaby23
August 13th, 2009, 08:58 PM
I have very curly hair here in Ohio in the summer, depending on the humidity. It is always above 80% so YMMV. What I experience though is that my hair is wonderful on a low humidity vacation, i.e. Las Vegas or Colorado Springs/Denver until a few days in. I suppose my hair is used to the moisture in the air here at home, and I love it!

In drier climates my hair tends to lengthen and get dry, so different moisturizers are needed, even for my skin. Just be cautious, make sure you stay well hydrated internally and you should be fine. Your hair will surely recover.
Oh and HAVE FUN!!!!

-mao

liseling
August 20th, 2009, 06:22 PM
I'm on the east coast where climate changes a lot throughout the year but this summer the humidity is causing spiral curls that would make a 1" curling iron jealous.

My hair is wavy and unfortunately falls victim to a bit of frizz at times, but the amount of changes I'm seeing this summer are nothing like I've ever seen before. I wake up with curls where my waves are and waves where my hair usually lays nice and flat (on top.)

I'm looking forward to seeing how SoCal treats my hair this time next month :cheese: as I am spending a few days in San Diego. My vacation M.O. - pick a place you've never been to.



Enjoy San Diego! That's a great area. It looks like your hair type is a bit different from mine, but I hope your hair likes the climate as much as mine has (as long as I make sure to moisturize!)

WhitsEnd
August 21st, 2009, 12:38 PM
I know its crazy. My hair is usually pretty straight but in high humidity it may curl up a little on the underside. I live in Louisiana and it stays pretty warm and humid around here. But in June I went to Jamaica and as soon as I stepped off the plane my hair shrunk up about 2 inches from the humidity. I had to wear my hair curly the whole time.

Sjirsten
September 1st, 2009, 03:47 AM
I have just moved to a city where it rains almost every day, and my hair just won`t behave.
Anyone got some great tip?

My hair is normally pretty straight, a little wavy, and very smooth. Now I look like I`ve never seen a hairbrush in my life:(

Miss Pumpkin
September 1st, 2009, 05:29 AM
This is soooo true, climate affects hair inmensely. I find that water also can change the texture of he hair, when I lived in Liverpool UK I had much softer, shinier hair than now that I am in Spain. The same happened when I was in Melbourne Australia, it was sooo soft and shiny!
Water in Spain is very hard, and I think it affects my hair badly :(

pepperminttea
September 1st, 2009, 05:38 PM
I'm from England, so I'm used to taming mine in tune with a damper clime. I spent last year as an exchange student in Alaska - I didn't realise hair could get that static-y! I would brush it, and the hair would just rise upwards toward the brush, so it was literally horizontal. It was impossible to wear it down, it just stuck to my face, and everything else it could reach. I got so many more split ends than I'm used to from the sheer dryness; if I had been out there more than a year I really think I might've cracked and got my hair cut a lot shorter. That said, it was nice to be able to put it up everyday and for it to stay up.

But it's not all bad - whenever I go somewhere with soft water (ie. Scotland) - my goodness. My hair becomes so much softer. :)

Tangles
September 1st, 2009, 06:00 PM
NOTHING makes as much of a difference for my hair as the water quality.

Rivanariko
September 1st, 2009, 07:07 PM
Over the summer I was living in the high desert in Central Oregon and my hair was really dry. It was still straight, but would start to get a little bit frizzy as it dried. I started using Aloe Vera and it calmed it down, but I was putting it on at least once a day, sometimes twice, depending on what it was doing.

Now that I'm back in South Carolina, I think I might have given it a little bit of Aloe once or twice, haha. Dry is certainly not a problem here!

My hair pretty much stays straight no matter where I go though. Every once in a while it will dry with a slight wave, but it doesn't seem to have anything to do with where I am.

lynnala
September 1st, 2009, 07:20 PM
I just moved from SoCal to the Pacific Northwest. The weird thing that changed was the way my bangs hang, particularly my cowlick. In L.A., I would comb my bangs back and they would poof up and give me height on the front. Here in Portland, my bangs want to hang any old which way, mostly down and sideways, especially the cowlick, which now insists on sending the hair to lay diagonally across my forehead. Not sure if it's the weather or the water, we are on well water, so we don't have the famous Portland soft water. But the well water isn't really hard either.

Because of this, I'm growing my bangs out and have invested in a bunch of headbands!

smilinjenn71
September 1st, 2009, 07:24 PM
We live in the South, so humidity is my enemy! During the winter my hair will have body and hold curl. Late Spring to early Fall (the most humid months) it's flat as can be and won't hold curl AT ALL!:rant:

vindo
September 1st, 2009, 09:26 PM
Wow, I don't know how that feels..my hair is the same in any climate..o_O

ilovelonghair
September 2nd, 2009, 02:50 AM
My hair seems to like a humid warm climate better, in cold weather it gets kind of fluffy