Grey hair often needs different kinds of care, as grey hair has a different texture which can be harder to smooth, make soft and manageable.
What once worked, may no longer work for your grey hair, so you might need to tweak your haircare routine, to keep your grey hairs looking their best.
Why Grey Hair Becomes More Frizzy
As your natural hair loses pigment and turns grey, the structure within the hair changes which makes it naturally more prone to frizz.
Aging affects alter the hair cuticle, often making your hair feel coarser and less uniform. This can make the surface of your hairs lift more easily, so individual grey hairs can stick up, instead of lying smoothly against your scalp.
Several causes of frizz build up at once, as grey stands often grow in a wirier or irregular diameter, so they don’t align as neatly.
Plus, environmental factors like humidity, UV exposure, and changes in temperatures can swell and roughen the hair shaft, looking lifted and frizzy.
Your heat styling can also affect the cuticle, as can harsh shampoos, giving you more static and frizz.
Importance Of Moisture For Grey Hair
With the structural changes with grey hair, it’s important to keep on top of your hair’s hydration levels. When your hair loses melanin, the hair cuticle lifts more easily and cannot hold water as well as it did, leaving it feeling wiry and frizzy.
To keep your grey hair hydrated, you need consistent and targeted hydration techniques that are going to keep water inside your hair shaft, instead of just coating the surface of your hairs.
Start with moisturizing haircare products that contain humectants (that will draw in moisture) and emollients (to seal it), and pair them with regular deep conditioning to rebuild your hair’s softness and flexibility, especially on the mid-lengths and ends, where any dryness will show first.
You also need to look after your scalp, as a hydrated and balanced scalp will support healthier hair growth. Make sure you use gentle shampoo formulas and light leave-in conditioner formulas which won’t clog up your hair follicles.
If the air is damp outside, your unsealed grey hairs will swell and frizz up, so finish your hairstyling with a light and flexible barrier, to lock in moisture, but will also block excess humidity.
Common Hair Habits That Make Frizz Worse
The higher your hair tools, the more damage you’ll cause, and once grey hairs are heat damaged, they’ll become more noticeable with a wiry texture.
Never skip using heat protectant, so you don’t make the hair damage worse. Environmental factors will also make the grey hair frizz worse, like the sun, wind and low humidity, which will strip moisture from your hair, whilst pollution clings to your hair and dulls the shine.
If you wash your hair with very hot water or harsh shampoo formulas, it’ll leave your scalp feeling tight and the ends of your hair feeling dry.
Overwashing your hair removes essential oils, and underwashing your hair causes product buildup which will weigh your hair down, and make it puff out.
When drying your hair, scrubbing it with a towel, brushing it when your hair is soaking wet or sleeping on a rough pillowcase will cause friction and breakage.
Why Hair Oils And Serums Can Help
When your greys are dry and hard to manage, using hair oils and hair serums to replenish what’s missing from your hair.
Grey hair loses pigment and sebum, so the cuticle lifts more easily. Lightweight formulas cushion the hair cuticle, so light will reflect better and soften any roughness.
These kinds of products also balance humidity effects, so instead of your hair puffing up and shrinking repeatedly, a thin barrier slows the water moving in/out of the hair strands.
Look for products that are labeled as being anti-frizz, smoothing or reparative, instead of heavy hair treatments which can yellow your grey hairs.
Before applying any hair oil, warm a drop between your palms and glide the oil from your mid-lengths to the ends on damp or dry hair.
Avoid applying oil to your roots, and finish your styling by smoothing any leftover oil through any halo frizz before using any heat tools.
