Heat + Humidity = Bad Hair Day

[comike]

I need some advice. I live in the South. And, around this time of year through say....September, I can barely maintain a hairstyle due to the humidity we get. I'll curl my hair in the morning before going off to work and by the time I've walked to my car, my curls have disappeared and my hair starts to swell. If it happens to be extremely humid outside, I don't even have to leave out of the house before my hair senses the humidity and drops. I'm sure I'm not the only one in the forum that lives in the south and has experienced the humidity. My question is do you have any suggestions as to what I can do? I prefer for my hair to be nice, soft and bouncy. Can't stand any type of hair spray or anything product that will make it hard and unmanageable. My hair is usually gorgeous from October through March. I've had one good hair day for the entire month of April. My other attempts to wear my hair down and bouncy have resulted in pulling my hair into a ponytail.

Help!

 

[comike]

Okay, maybe no one else has this problem?

 

[comike]

erplexed erplexed erplexed erplexed

 

[HoneyDew]

Using heat protectant that contain silicone help me prevent some of the humidity caused bad hair days.

I like Redken Smooth Down, Keracare, or just mine own mix of lots of Dimethicone and a teensy bit of oil. There are so many other good ones, as well. I have been eyeing the Fantasia IC one that everyone rave about. They just came out with an Olive oil based one, too.

 

[comike]

I actually have the Redken Smooth Down but use it as a rinse out conditioner. Are you using it as a leave-in?

 

[OneInAMillion]

I wish I had a solution. I live down here for school, and I've yet to find something that really works in spite of the humidity. I can't hold a curl, and since I don't relax bone straight, my hair frizzes up as soon as I get outside. There is NO point to straightening...sorry for the rant

Note, I've tried the Humectant, and anti-sponge Sedal products, which work ok, but not in the extremely humid weather...only at home.

Hope someone else has had better luck!

 

[Sistaslick]

waiting on suggestions b/c I'm going through this too. I usually wear buns but on the occasional day or two I decide to let it go free, my texlaxed hair shrinks up and every curl falls flat. I just can't win. I do have better success with my ceramic iron-- but the humidity is just too much on some days.

 

[comike]

Yeah....and on top of that....because I can't keep a style and have to pull my hair back in a ponytail, I get breakage from the ponytail holder (Sephora Snag-Free Hair Elastics). You know, I'm really not into the "protective styles". I have nice, thick and slightly longer than shoulder length hair. I love wearing my hair down and (when there's no humidity) get tons of compliments on the condition of my hair. Funny story....one of my caucasion co-workers asked me one day "now what do you do to your hair that makes it so different from other black women's hair". WTF! Excuse me for disgressing, but at this time of the year, my hair looks a hot mess.

 

[Mom23]

I live in Texas, and I am going to try Sabino Moisture Block. Do a search for that on the boards. I plan on ordering mine next week. I have tried Aveda brilliant anti-humectant pomade and that helped some. I just rollerset and then rubbed it through my hair and the curls dropped some while I was outside, but my hair didn't frizz up.

www.sabinohair.com for the moisture block. Hope this helps

 

[HoneyDew]

I actually have the Redken Smooth Down but use it as a rinse out conditioner. Are you using it as a leave-in?

No, I mean the Heat Glide.

But, it may not get as humid here where I am.

 

[comike]

Thanks for the tip. I'll check this out too. Do you know of someone who has tried the moisture block and had good results? I've been using the Aveda Anti-Humectant for some years now (love Aveda products) but that does nothing with the humidity here.

 

[comike]

I live in Texas, and I am going to try Sabino Moisture Block. Do a search for that on the boards. I plan on ordering mine next week. I have tried Aveda brilliant anti-humectant pomade and that helped some. I just rollerset and then rubbed it through my hair and the curls dropped some while I was outside, but my hair didn't frizz up.

www.sabinohair.com for the moisture block. Hope this helps

Where can you purchase the Moisture Block?

 

[erin558]

Fantasia IC Straightening Heat Protectant.

thats all i'm saying.

( i live in Louisiana. I feel you. )

 

[Divine Inspiration]

I am originally from Alabama so I can relate to the insane humidity in the South. We get those regular afternoon showers every day in the spring/summer. I will say that you guys shouldn't loathe the humidity so much...it's actually good for your hair. When I got to Cali, I had MAJOR issues trying to keep moisture in my hair. In Southern humidity, I had to do almost no moisturizing because of the moisture in the air. When I got here, I became a slave to moisturizing trying to keep my hair from falling out.

Anyway, as far as product recs go, I'd highly recommend TIGI Bed Head's Control Freak Serum. It does an excellent job of keeping the frizzies away, and it works great as a heat protectant. It's actually designed to keep humidity from killing a hairstyle. I blowdried with it last weekend, and I was thoroughly impressed with this product's performance.

I don't have any other suggestions b/c I rarely heat style so humidity isn't an issue, but I'm sure some of the other Southern belles can offer their .02.

{DI}

 

[blackbarbie]

I am sorry I can't even begin to offer any advice which is why it's probably going to be so easy for me to transitioning for longer than I intended to!!! (since I keep it up due to the heat anyway)....................

I'm almost at week 20 of my transition and it had been flatironed pretty straight, but I was sitting in my car for a while the other day and before I knew it, my hair was big as heck! I politely pulled it back and pinned it up and say "wash and go for the remainder of the summer, here I come!"....

I'm sorry, but I really can't offer anything but I just know that this will make it easy for my stretch and I may give in to a perm toward the end of the summer.....

 

[Isis]

I wish I had a solution. I live down here for school, and I've yet to find something that really works in spite of the humidity. I can't hold a curl, and since I don't relax bone straight, my hair frizzes up as soon as I get outside. There is NO point to straightening...sorry for the rant

Note, I've tried the Humectant, and anti-sponge Sedal products, which work ok, but not in the extremely humid weather...only at home.

Hope someone else has had better luck!

Did you try the Aveda Anti-Humectant (prevents outside moisture) or the Aveda Humectant (adds moisture)? The Anti-Humectant works somewhat, I would now say 70%. I did test it when traveling to two humid states in the recent past and but I didn't wear a straight style - I wore my hair down in a braidout only. My braidout looked very good during that time. I applied the Anti-Humectant as the last step on my wet hair, to seal in my leave-in conditioner. I also rubbed some in my hands and applied it on my braidout, after it was styled. The braidout style itself seemed to work with the humidity.

Before LHCF, I traveled to these same humid states and my then heat-straightened hair (using a blowdryer and hot comb) immediately became an afro (a cute one, I might add ) . I ended up wearing a ponytail (I had not learned about buns and updos yet lol).

ETA: One of the ladies here mentioned another Aveda product she said works great to prevent the hair from being affected by humidity. It was a spray but not the Aveda Brilliant Spray-on Shine (which I have). I'll have to see if I can pull that one up. I want to try it.

Ok, I found it. Here is the thread:
http://www.longhaircareforum.com/showthread.php?p=1340723&highlight=aveda#post1340723

*goes to find her bottle*.....

No, my bottle says Aveda brilliant hair spray with certified organic camomile.
"medium hold defies humidity and adds shine to all hair types"

funny thing is I actually saw a black woman who was on vacation and her wrap style was looking fly, so I asked her how she kept it from frizzing up in the weather here. She told me she uses that spray so I went and bought it. I can say that it really does make a difference, for example I used to do bantu knot sets or braid outs, without it I would look good leaving the house but within an hour I would look like a cross between Chaka Khan, Tina Turner, and Buckwheat. When I used the spray my hair stayed pretty tame. I had to play around with the amount to use, but it really did help me. Lasts a long time too, I still have 90% of the bottle.


I also forgot to say the stylist I used to go to used keracare silk n seal on spray on each section she flat ironed and that could have made a difference too.

 

[LovelyZ]

This may not be the answer you are looking for, but why keep trying to fight your hair?

You may just have to accept that on REALLY humid days, your hair texture will "revert". I suggest wearing a braid out or other textured style that works better with the humidity.

On really humid summer days, I can wash and go and let the humidity create pretty curls and waves in it--a benefit of being texlaxed.

 

[comike]

I've been using the Aveda Brilliant Anti-Humectant and the Brilliant Emollient Finishing Gloss for several years now. I thought that the Finishing Gloss (in a pump bottle) was the same as the one in the spray bottle, but maybe I'm wrong. Regardless, neither of the two that products that I've been using in the past have been able to prevent the humidity from affecting my hair. Maybe I'll take your advice and go with a braidout. Seeing that I'm new to this forum, can someone be so kind as to tell me how to do a braidout. Is it simple?

 

[JoiNichole]

When I first moved to Hawaii, I would use the Biolage Matrix "So Sleek" line. The daily hair creme really seemed to help combat the humidity very well, especially because then I would curl my hair a lot.

 

[Isis]

When I first moved to Hawaii, I would use the Biolage Matrix "So Sleek" line. The daily hair creme really seemed to help combat the humidity very well, especially because then I would curl my hair a lot.

Welcome JoiNichole!

How exactly did you use the daily Biolage Matrix hair creme? On your dry hair or when your hair is still wet? Also, is you hair relaxed or natural? Does you hair always look as pretty as in your avatar in Hawaii? Thanks for the tip!

 

[JoiNichole]

Welcome JoiNichole!

How exactly did you use the daily Biolage Matrix hair creme? On your dry hair or when your hair is still wet? Also, is you hair relaxed or natural? Does you hair always look as pretty as in your avatar in Hawaii? Thanks for the tip!

Hi Isis- thanks for the compliment, that means a lot coming from someone with such beautiful hair! I usually used the creme on my dry hair. Umm this was before I knew all the importance of moisturizing. I would sometimes use hair serum on my wet hair. But after using the creme, my hair was never frizzy. Now, I just use ORS Olive oild creme. My hair is relaxed, but I do that myself (I swear I never leave it on for more than like 10 minutes because I am scared I will mess up something, so it isn't bone straight). Also, I dunno why, but the humidity here seems like it is actually BETTER for my hair, if that is possible? I'm from Colorado, and my hair was always really DRY when I lived there.
If I do curl my hair, like that avatar pic, it does stay like that, and it never falls. Umm I can try to attach a pic of what it looked like from the side/back or something. Usually what I do is put EVOO in it, and scrunch it all up in a clip, because I dunno how to do that hair wrapping and stuff, and in the morning, it is still curly.
But living here, it doesn't matter too much since most of my local friends have big crazy samoan hair, and some people here walk around like they don't even know how to spell comb...

 

[Isis]

Hi Isis- thanks for the compliment, that means a lot coming from someone with such beautiful hair! I usually used the creme on my dry hair. Umm this was before I knew all the importance of moisturizing. I would sometimes use hair serum on my wet hair. But after using the creme, my hair was never frizzy. Now, I just use ORS Olive oild creme. My hair is relaxed, but I do that myself (I swear I never leave it on for more than like 10 minutes because I am scared I will mess up something, so it isn't bone straight). Also, I dunno why, but the humidity here seems like it is actually BETTER for my hair, if that is possible? I'm from Colorado, and my hair was always really DRY when I lived there.
If I do curl my hair, like that avatar pic, it does stay like that, and it never falls. Umm I can try to attach a pic of what it looked like from the side/back or something. Usually what I do is put EVOO in it, and scrunch it all up in a clip, because I dunno how to do that hair wrapping and stuff, and in the morning, it is still curly.
But living here, it doesn't matter too much since most of my local friends have big crazy samoan hair, and some people here walk around like they don't even know how to spell comb...

You're welcome and thank you too! So the ORS Olive oil creme is keeping the humidity away while you're living in Hawaii?! I consider places like Hawaii to be the ultimate humidity test for our hair. Do you prefer ORS to keep frizz away over the Biolage Matrix "So Sleek" hair creme you were using?
BTW, your hair looks gorgeous in the pics you added.

 

[Sistaslick]

just came in to say that my cute little braidout didn't make it school to day.

 

[JoiNichole]

You're welcome and thank you too! So the ORS Olive oil creme is keeping the humidity away while you're living in Hawaii?! I consider places like Hawaii to be the ultimate humidity test for our hair. Do you prefer ORS to keep frizz away over the Biolage Matrix "So Sleek" hair creme you were using?
BTW, your hair looks gorgeous in the pics you added.

Yeah. It is REALLY humid here. But both work really well. I just haven't taken the time to look for the Biolage here. I think that the ORS does live my hair softer though. HTH