Fine Hair 101: How to Take Fine Hair From Flat to Fabulous

by Julie Redfern Davis (Subscribe to Julie Redfern Davis's posts), Posted Feb 1st 2010 at 11:45AM

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Filed under: Hair Care, Cuts & Style, Hair, Hair How To

Take your locks from flat to fat. Photo: Peter Buckingham

When you have fine hair, there's nothing fine about it. It's limp, lifeless and lacking serious volume-even after an hour of backcombing (grrrr).

To understand why your hair is constantly battling your body-boosting efforts and continuously falling flat, you need to understand its structure.

Fine hair, by definition, means the diameter of each hair strand is smaller. In other words, says celebrity hair stylist and Hair Basics expert Ted Gibson, "The strand is a little more fine and not as full." And because each individual strand is smaller and more sheer, the hair tends to look thin, go limp and act lifeless.

But despite its delicate composition, notes Gibson, "Fine hair is actually easy to manage. You can create interesting shapes as well as lots of volume."

Really?

Like any hair type or texture, it all starts with the cut. "Keep your hair at a one length shape. It will add strength and volume to your hair," says Gibson. "If you put in a lot of layers what ends up happening is that it has no shape," he adds.

Using a volumizing shampoo is also critical. "It will help to expand each hair strand in order to give you ultimate volume," he says. A lightweight conditioner (preferably one designed for fine hair) is also essential to help keep the hair weightless rather than weighted down.

The fragile structure of fine hair makes it more prone to breakage. Trimming it every four to six weeks will keep split ends to a minimum, while a weekly deep conditioning treatment will help to nourish and strengthen.

When it comes to styling the hair, the more products the better. "You want to use a volumizing product on the scalp to create fullness and something else like a gel on the ends to penetrate the cuticle and give the hair a lot of body," notes Gibson.

During your blow dry, always use a round brush with mixed boar and nylon bristles. "The combination of the two smoothes and detangles, and creates volume," says Gibson. Rotating the brush in a circular motion while blow drying individual sections of hair also helps to increase volume.

Not, about that volume: Watch the video for Gibson's five easy styling tips for making fine hair fab. Click through the gallery below for the step-by-step, and visit our Hair Basics section for more easy hair how-tos.

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Hair Basics: How To Style Fine Hair

To keep you from further flatlining, we enlisted the help of celebrity hair stylist Ted Gibson. Here, he offers tips on how make fine hair less floppy and more fabulous in five simple steps.

Peter Buckingham

Hair Basics: How To Style Fine Hair

Is your fine hair always falling flat? Blame it on its makeup (the diameter of fine hair is actually smaller and more delicate than other hair types), but also hold your styling habits accountable (volumizer should be applied to the roots not the ends). To keep you from further flatlining, we enlisted the help of celebrity stylist and TLC's What Not To Wear's Ted Gibson. Here, he offers tips on how make fine hair less floppy and more fabulous in five simple steps.

Hair Basics: How To Style Fine Hair

The first and most important step to increase volume so hair looks and feels more full is to apply a volumizer. One of the biggest mistakes women make is applying it all over the hair. "You want to spray it directly at the scalp and massage it in," says Gibson. Make sure to work in sections and apply the product to the entire head (scalp area only).

Hair Basics: How To Style Fine Hair

To create even more volume, apply a quarter-size amount of hair gel. "It will penetrate the cuticle and give the hair a lot of body and fullness," says Gibson. Start one inch away from the scalp and apply it all the way through to the ends, completely saturating the hair.

Hair Basics: How To Style Fine Hair

"The blow dry is the ultimate experience in creating volume," says Gibson. But before you start to fully style, rough dry the hair so it's 80-percent dry. Secure the nozzle attachment to the blow dryer to help concentrate the heat and rough dry the hair from the scalp to the ends.

Pro Tip: Look for a blow dryer that's a combination of tourmaline and ceramic. They provide constant heat, which helps with straightening, and cuts down on both frizz and drying time.

Hair Basics: How To Style Fine Hair

Working with one and half to two inch sections (depending on the density of your hair), rotate a round brush in a circular motion to create volume. When you reach the ends, wrap the hair around the brush (almost like it's a hot roller) and add more heat to create curl and wave at the ends.

Pro Tip: Use a mixed boar and nylon bristle round brush. Boar helps to smooth the hair while nylon helps detangle. Together the combination adds fullness and body.

Hair Basics: How To Style Fine Hair

Finish your blow dry with a shot of cool air. This helps to seal and close the cuticle, and lock in your voluminous style.

Hair Basics: How To Style Fine Hair

Filed under: Hair Care, Cuts & Style, Hair, Hair How To
Tags: fine hair, FineHair, hair basics, HairBasics, ted gibson, ted gibson hair basics, TedGibson, TedGibsonHairBasics, volumize hair, VolumizeHair, WhatNotToWear

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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)

MK 2-11-2010 @ 2:19PM

She looks way better in the BEFORE picture. This is coming from a guy.

David 2-11-2010 @ 4:04PM

I agree. The woman looks very pretty and natural in the "before" image. The "after" looks fake and far less attractive.

originlcin 2-11-2010 @ 2:39PM

They also added eyeliner and more makeup on the after photo. Is this really rocket science guys? Also, cutting in some long layers will give it volume,shape and texture - not flatten it. I'm from New Jersey. We know big hair.

lindseykins7 2-11-2010 @ 7:50PM

it's true! we do! people either make their hair huge here or straighten the shiznit out of it.. then put a huge poof in it.

kay 2-11-2010 @ 2:47PM

Just another excuse to sell products. If your hair doesn't look like the "after" picture WITHOUT the products and the finagling and the manipulation, Mother Nature obviously did not intend for you to look like this. I agree with the poster who said, "She looks way better in the BEFORE picture. This is coming from a guy."

MeMan 2-11-2010 @ 3:00PM

I guess it looks good..... If your going for the drag queen look. She looked better before the Aqua Net hair helmet. Who writes this trash? Better yet who approves it?

hollyb3red 2-11-2010 @ 3:16PM

Here's the key to very fine hair. No conditioner (too heavy), minimal styling products, and cut it SHORT. Layers are fine. I prefer mine above ears and collar. Big hair is not necessarily better. I even managed to be in high school in the 80s without big hair. I get that the stylist is an expert, but I've had way more experience dealing with fine hair.

t 2-11-2010 @ 4:13PM

Uh, it's voila, not viola...

becci 2-11-2010 @ 4:24PM

all that teasing and blow drying... i wonder if they have an after - after pic when that style falls flat and shes covered with split ends! try CHI silk infusion reaqlly its great its a little pricey but they started selling it at rite- aid and you dont need much - try it :)

windshookrain 2-11-2010 @ 4:38PM

She looks so much better before...

kspeedhawk 2-11-2010 @ 5:07PM

In my opinion the before look is much more natural.I don't understand why it had to be altered in anyway.

Tom 2-11-2010 @ 5:11PM

She looks ten times better in the before picture. Some chicks may need makeup and a bunch of crap in their hair to look better. But this chick looks much better naturally than with all the barbie doll crap.

texas princess 2-11-2010 @ 5:14PM

i have fine hair, I wear it short and layered. One length fine hair makes it look flat to the head and even stringy!
Did the model in first photo even wash her hair? Stuck behind her ears is a pretty crappy style, imo Oh well...to each their own

rpargphxx 2-11-2010 @ 5:44PM

I think men prefer the girl next door look to the strung out porn star look. Simply, so the moron that wrote this piece, and the twerp stylist can understand: Men do not like the After picture. We don't like fake breasts. We don't like Skanky. You've been pushing this crappy imagery for 30 years to sell porn. Men want a woman to look pretty, beautiful, and wholesome. You make money turning them out to be something else, because you hate women deep down. Fact.

JeepGuy425 2-11-2010 @ 6:25PM

She looks 1000x hotter in the "before" picture. Guys could care less about fluffed up hair.

lane 2-11-2010 @ 6:56PM

i hardly need to add this but I would waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay rather be with the girl on the left, the before pic. she looks like a cool girl, the other one looks like a status obsessed real-estate agent/porn star.

mel28 2-11-2010 @ 10:16PM

I'm a stylist and I love having my hair full and wavy, not flat and straight. That's a personal preference. It's not a choice I make because I think it'll make me look more attractive to a man, I do it because I like it. She doesn't look like a porn star with her hair done up or plain with it laying flat.
But guys....you need to get over yourselves...not every choice women make have to do with men's approval.

mmm 2-11-2010 @ 7:17PM

are you kidding? in the first photo, you notice her startlingly beautiful features. in the second, she looks like a thousand other not-so-blessed women who try to fake real beauty with big blonde hair..

Ches 2-11-2010 @ 7:49PM

When it comes down to a personal choice for me, I'd always rather my hair feel good than look good. Without styling products, it may be less manageable and more difficult to tame, but at least it feels soft and silky to touch and light on my scalp. When I use styling products, I have to wash much more frequently and may hair often feels like a matted down mess on my head, not to mention it's not as much fun to run my fingers through it.

Additionally, I agree with most of the people here saying she looks better in the before. It's not just the hair, it's the makeup. She looks much fresher in the before photo, and more fake in the after.

Ross 2-12-2010 @ 12:44AM

I love the after photo. You people need to get your eyes checked.

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