What to do with the world's finest hair!

Frith

Any advice would be much appreciated!

I have almost shoulder length hair, cut into dozens of layers to try and get any bulk or weight into it at all. I have a fringe too. Its nearly black (the very occasional sparkling white one!)

It is absolutely dead straight and VERY fine. My younger son's hair has the same texture and its like cobwebs, doesn't feel like hair at all!

I am just sick to death of it. I had my photo taken today for my new driving license and it just looks stupid. It is so thin now my parting is over 1cm wide and where there is a line between the longer bit and the fringe, thats really wide too. You can see my head through the fringe and the fringe keeps making silly partings all by itself, like curtains.

To add to the general mess, it has been incredibly greasy for over 20 years now (I'm 34). I washed it this morning and it looks lank already.

For a long time I've worked on the principle that having a quantity of hair is better than nothing so I've had it long enough to tie back. But when its not tied back it hangs down pathetically.

I did have it cut really short once and wanted it shorter still but the hairdresser said she was going to stop as she could see my head through my hair. It was about 2 inches long then and did what my fringe does now - stuck up in all directions with flat bits like crop circles.

Any advice as to what I should try next?

L

esio_trot

I kind of have the opposite problem to you - I've got a lot of hair! That said, the strands themselves are quite thin and I do get prone to hair that gets greasy in certain environments.

I've only used it a couple of times, but I've fallen in love with Lush's Jumping Juniper solid shampoo bar. Ｉwashed my hair last night, slept on it, and was able to wear it down today (a virtually unheard of occurrence!) They are about £5 but each bar apparently does 90 washes (and I can quite believe it - as I said, I've masses of hair and I didn't need much at all).

https://www.lush.co.uk/index.php?option=com_virtuemart&page=shop.browse&category_id=487&Itemid=80

Might be worth trying something like that, or at least changing your shampoo - your hair can get used to certain ones and likes a break. You might find that alone helps you to get some body back in your hair, stopping it from seeming so fine.

hope that ramble helped somewhat

Emzycal

Agreeing with the above poster about Lush.

Buy these four things ;


BIG shampoo

Jumping Juniper Shampoo Bar

American Cream Conditioner

Veganese Conditioner





Mix and match,don't use BIG too much without breaks inbetween as it's a bit harsh as a daily shampoo.

poorly_scammo

Cut it short. Nice pixie cut. Try volumising and thickening shampoo.

GrammarGirl

I have very fine hair and wearing it long will never look good. It has no body when it gets past my collarbone - just sits there, lank and miserable! The best thing I ever did was get it cut into a pixie style crop. I also have it highlighted, which gives it body and shine.

My miracle product is L'oreal Studio Line Hot Volume Mousse (pink can). I wash with a volumising shampoo (tend to change every few months so my hair doesn't get too 'used' to it) and use a tiny bit of condition on the ends of my hair, not the roots. Roughly towel dry, then use a palm sized blob of mousse and work it through. I dry my hair upside down with my fingers and a hairdyer, brush through and go over the ends with my straighteners. Then add a tiny bit of wax to mess it up, and I'm done. I tend to find doing this gives my hair lift and shape for the whole day, but I have to do it everyday.

I would completely recommend a shorter cut, good mousse and a powerful hairdryer.

Jei70

Has it always been as thin (so that the scalp is visible through it) or has it started fairly recently? I had a shedding problem last year and got worried enough to see my GP. Had some tests done and was told that my iron stores (ferritin) were too low and that's why I was losing hair. Mind, it was not anaemia - I was even a regular blood donor and always had enough haemoglobin. So, I was told to take strong iron supplements, and sure enough, my hair stopped shedding and started growing back in. I'm female, just to confirm!

If, on the other hand, your hair has always been like that, you can use colour to thicken it up a bit. The bleach opens up the cuticle and the dye fills it in, making each individual hair shaft a bit thicker. Unfortunately, over time the process will weaken the hair and could damage it.

Another thickening possibility is henna - but only use quality, real henna (like Lush, or search online for BAQ - body art quality henna) as fake ones contain metalic salts that can damage hair irreparably. The real thing will build up on the hair shaft, making it thicker, but as there's no bleach used, it will not damage hair.

Good luck!

ETA: Products recommended above are OK temporary solutions; quite good if you don't want the maintenance of a new colour. But do check for any health problems, as thinning hair could also be a symptom of low thyroid.

Frith

Thanks, everyone.

I don't have any health problems (was tested for low thyroid and have never been anaemic). My hair does like to fall out if there is any problem so I lost handfuls after both pregnancies and it looked awful after I left my husband, it used to block the plughole every time I washed it!

I'm not a big fan of it being short but I think the time has come.... (again). I don't exactly have a pretty, heart shaped face, I have quite "unusual" bone structure. I look like Morganna off "Merlin" and look more and more like Dorien off Birds of a Feather as I get older! So you can see something a bit softer would be better although this is proving impossible.

L

Fork86

Can anyone recommend any good products for men? My hair is incredibly thin, but over the past three years the hair at the top centre of my head (above the top of the forehead) has been thinning to such an extent that you can clearly see through to my scalp... quite embarrassing actually. It's funny because I have loads of hair on the rest of my head!

Is perfectil any good?

Frith

Strangely enough, I was talking about annoyingly thin hair with my brother today (who has the same silly hair as me) and his hair is receeding from the front. He's 27!

If anyone recommends anything to you (Fork86), I'll let my brother know.

sarahshortcake

Hello, My mum has a similar problem and also loses patches whenever she gets really stressed. Her hairdresser recommended a product called nioxin, it is specially designed to help boost hair growth and really has worked absolute wonders for her. You massage it onto the scalp then dry hair as usual. Certain hairdressers stock it or you can get it from amazon and other places on the net. My mum uses system 3 which is for coloured hair.
Hope this helps
Shortcakex

Hermia

If I were you I would find yourself a really fantastic and very honest hairdresser. Like you I have fine hair that is slightly greasy and I have strange bits that stick up. I found myself a brutally honest, but very skilled hairdresser and basically just told her to do what she wanted. She gave me a cut that is short, but has slightly longer layers in the areas where the hair sticks up (the longer layers anchors it down). It looks so much thicker.