Advice for "we with the thin hair"

[tiny_teesha]

shea butter applied to i think dry hair plumps it up and acts as a volumising moose. I have not found that to be true for me, but i use shea butter with added oils and fragrance. Worth a try ( it is good for your hair too!)
oh and misting really helps fluff out my thin ends, the wave makes it look like there is more hair because it isnt lying flat. that's just what i found.

[kate46]

I use cassia and also bun waves to add a little volume but what I find works best for me is a little aloe vera gel applied mainly to my roots after washing my hair, it isn't a huge difference but it does help a little.

[Juanita]

I've just learnd to live with it now. Age diabetes etc have caused it to thin over time.I would love it to be how it was in my twenties but that isn't going to happen. Love it as it cheers
is.

Cheers
Juanita

[Hella]

My thin hair was a big part of the decision to stop using conditioner regularly. I found I didn't really need the moisture that much, because my fine hair just doesn't drink it up like like curly hair for example does. Instead of improving my hair to the direction I wanted, using conditioner in every wash seemed to just make my hair limp and uncontrollable. I use conditioner occassionally, but I really don't think that at least my hair type needs as much moisture from conditioners to have to soak it in them regularly.

I gave up conditioner and replaced it with diluted shampoo and concentrating the conditioning to different leave-in type of conditioners. I agree with previous posters about 'cones necessarily not being the best option if you have thin and fine hair, because as too big amounts of conditioner, they can easily weigh your hair down by making it stick-straight and very light. Instead I try to give my hair conditioning with damp bunning with oils and cone-free leave-ins, to help the moisture stay in the hair.

If I want volume to my hair after a day or two since washing, I tend to dampen my hair with coldish water (some use misters, I just scrunch the ends and length with water by my hands), add a few drops of oil that I gently massage onto my hair, and then bun my hair on top of my head for bun waves. Damp bunning on the whole is what I find to give my hair the best look of thicker hair - no product itself has yet even come close.

[Katze]

Washing more definitely helps.

Wearing it down as much as I can - or into a messy (more volume!) updo gives the illusion of more hair, and balances out my big head.

I have to disagree on 'cones - they help my ends hang together better so that they look thicker, though I use them fully maybe 2x a month. Same with hair gel - but I am a wavy, thin, finehair, so I can get away with using waves to make my hair look bigger. My length needs the moisture, at least once a day (misting, damp oiling) but my scalp hair gets weighed down too easily.

Friday I washed my hair, then towel- and partially-blowdryed it (mostly blowdrying scalp and EARS, as it's cold/wet here), put some coconut oil mixed with hair gel, then put it up (still damp) for a massage from my friend and neighbor. After the massage i looked in her mirror, and had HUGE crazy hair. The rest of Fri and Sat I wore it in a messy half twisted thing, held with a ficcare, two mini-max ficcares holding the wisps and curly neck hairs I have. Then a headband holding the bangs, front wispies, layers, etc in place.

The result was a really BIG 'do that I got compliments on, and which honestly looked like I had a kind of hair rat or bun filler thing poofing out the volume of my overall hair - but I didn't, I just had some extra help from the hair gel and drying damp. This made me feel like I have found an updo that doesn't directly call attention to my thin, fine hair, but makes me look good.

Now on day 2 after washing my hair still has more volume than normal, and thanks to misting before putting it up, the ends look good enough to wear it down.

it's definitely hard to feel so self conscious about one's thin or perceived-thin hair when we are bombarded with images of huge, dried-out, teased-out hair, but remember that our hair can also be healthy, beautiful, and long!

Katze

[girlcat36]

I found that putting my hair in a ponytail and using a BBB on just the scalp has encouraged a lot of new growth. I have fine thin curly hair and wearing it half-up makes it look thicker.

[Neoma]

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I also have very fine hair without much in the way of volume. Honestly, I have just learned to love my hair the way it is.

I agree about silicones. They really flatten out my hair. I do suggest cassia, because it does add a bit of volume to your hair, as well as giving really good conditioning benefits. It does need to be done every month or so, but you only need to leave it on for an hour, so it's not a huge commitment.

There are many beautiful heads of hair here at LHC with lower volume, and in my case my hair is perfectly straight, so it appears even thinner.

All I can tell you is that every hair type is beautiful, and I hope you learn to love your hair just the way it is the way I finally have with mine.

Franny, you have one of the prettiest heads of hair on this board. One of the nicest things about your hair type is the shine. Fine, straight hair, when well cared for, is super shiny. Playing up what you have is definitely the way to go.

A mixture of amla and cassia, applied once a month, makes my hair feel a little bulked up. The cassia is also very drying, IMHO, so I'm not sure if I'm going to keep up with this. I may switch to straight amla, which is very conditioning, and does bulk up the hair a bit, though I don't think that the results are as lasting as cassia.

One thing that makes my baby fine hair feel "fatter" is shampoo bars. For a little info on what a shampoo bar is, how it works, and what it does for my hair, you can check out this thread.

[KAADEC]

I also have fine hair (1aFi/ii). What helps for me, are the NIOXIN products. They have shampoo (CLEANSER), conditioner (SKALP THERAPY) and a VOLUME THICKENER (gel). They also have a leave-in, which protects hair against UVA and UVB. I use it in the summer.
Perhaps these products can help you too. I feel a great difference in thickness with them.
Success !

[Anje]

Hey, a nickel's thickness isn't bad! I've seen many do well with less, though I long for a pony the size of a $0.50 piece.

Henna definitely makes my hair seem thicker for a while. Problem is, you have to keep applying it to the length for that result, which means it'll get continually darker.

[kwaniesiam]

How lucky to have a nickles worth! My hair is 1b/f/i, about an inch and a half pony circumference (smaller than a dime). I now have dreadlocks and that has helped disguise how thin my hair is, but before what worked for me were french braids and braid waves from braiding overnight. Also things like sock buns, scrunchies, and ribbons over ponytails helped hide it as well.