Feature image credit: Ethan Haddox @ unsplash
I have good news and bad news.
The good news is that if you’re reading this, chances are that you live in Malaysia, arguably the best country in the world! The bad news is that the humid Malaysian air does not do your hair any favours.
Your hair is made of hair fibres that are bundled together, held together by two kinds of bonds: a strong disulfide bond and weaker hydrogen bonds. When the air is humid, the moisture may break the hydrogen bonds in your hair fibres, and this causes your hair to become frizzy.
There are four main factors to frizzy hair:
- Environment — eg. humidity, as mentioned above.
- Diameter of the hair fibre — the thicker the hair, the more difficult it is to realign the hair fibres
- The level of curl — curly hair is more prone to frizz
- The amount of damage — the extent to which hair fibres are misaligned, leading to split ends and breakage
If you find yourself with frizzy hair, here are some tips to rid the frizz without breaking the bank with expensive hair products:
1) Get a good haircut
When you notice split ends, snip them off. For somewhere humid like Malaysia, having a haircut with blunt lines is helpful. A “blunt” haircut refers to having the same length of hair all around, as opposed to having layers. A blunt haircut weighs your hair down.
2) Avoid washing your hair with hot water
Hot water can strip your hair of its natural oil, which is not great because we need the oil to protect our hair. But you shouldn’t use icy cold water either, because we want the cuticles to open enough for the shampoo to do its thing. Thus, warm or lukewarm water is fine.
3) Avoid drying your hair aggressively with a towel
Rubbing aggressively with a towel causes friction that affects the cuticles. Either use a smooth cloth or just dab with your towel. You could also pile your hair on your head with a towel turban.
4) Try not to use an old hairdryer
Traditional hair dryers use hot air to dry your hair, which is harmful and can lead to frizzy hair. If you wish to use a hairdryer, consider an ionic one. Otherwise, just use a towel (refer to number 3).
5) Avoid washing your hair too often
Remember the hydrogen bonds in your hair? Water causes the hydrogen bonds to break, on top of opening your hair cuticles. We don’t want both to happen too often as they may cause frizzy hair. But then again, we live in Malaysia, where the sun blazes all year round. Thus, we’ve just got to do our best, and wash as necessary.
That’s all for now; I hope you find these tips helpful. I wish you beautiful, smooth, non-frizzy hair. Cheers!
Chow Ping Lee is a content writer under Headliner by Newswav, a programme where content creators get to tell their unique stories through articles and at the same time monetize their content within the Newswav app.
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