Humidity and Your Baby Hairs: Why They Lift, and How to Style Around It
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Humidity and Your Baby Hairs: Why They Lift, and How to Style Around It
El aire está mojado y your baby hairs already know it.
You laid them. They were perfect. You walked outside and within twenty minutes they were doing their own thing again. That is not bad luck and it is not you doing it wrong. There are two forces at work and once you know both, you can style around them.
Force one: your hair drinks the air
Hair absorbs water from the air around it. Not just from your shower, from the air. On a humid day there is more water in the air, so more of it goes into your strands.
When a strand takes in water it swells, and when it swells it changes shape. The curl pattern in a baby hair tightens and lifts. Nothing has failed. The hair is doing what hair does with water. It is behaving exactly like a material that absorbs moisture, because that is what it is.
This is also why the same style holds beautifully in January and falls apart in August. The product did not change. El aire cambió.
Force two: some ingredients pull the water in faster
Humectants are ingredients that attract water. Glycerin is the most common one, and it is in an enormous share of styling products, including a lot of edge controls.
On a dry day a humectant is your friend. It pulls moisture out of the air and into your hair, which is exactly what you want when the air is dry and your hair is not.
On a humid day it is working against your style. There is plenty of water in the air already, and the humectant is actively pulling more of it into a strand that is trying to lie flat. You are not fighting humidity. You are fighting humidity with an ingredient that invites it in.
This is why one product can work brilliantly in one season and feel useless in another, con la misma cabeza y la misma técnica.
What actually works
1. Check where glycerin sits on the label
Ingredients are listed by quantity. Glycerin in the first three or four ingredients means there is a lot of it. That is a dry weather product. Glycerin near the bottom, or absent, is a better bet for a humid day. You do not need to throw anything out. You need two products and a sense of when to reach for which.
2. Seal underneath before you style
A light oil on the hairline before your styling product gives the strand something to get through before it reaches the water in the air. It is not a barrier and I am not going to tell you it is. It slows things down, and slowing things down is most of what styling in humidity is.
3. Apply thin, and apply to lightly damp hair
A thick layer of product does not hold better. It stays wet longer, it takes longer to set, and it lifts as a sheet when it finally does. Thin and even sets faster and lies flatter. Poquito, pero bien puesto.
4. Tie it down for two minutes while it sets
This is the step everyone skips and it matters more in humidity than in any other weather. A satin scarf over freshly laid edges for two minutes lets the film set flat against the head instead of setting in whatever shape the hair was drifting toward. Two minutes. Set a timer if you have to.
5. Revive with water, not with more product
When edges lift mid day, the instinct is to add more gel on top. That is how you get buildup, and buildup is how you get flaking. A light mist of water and your brush re activates what is already there. More product on top of set product is a texture problem waiting to happen.
The sealing step, in more detail
Sealing the hairline before you style does two jobs. It slows how fast the strand takes on water, and it keeps the hairline from going brittle under a styling product that is drying as it sets.
The Edge and Hair Growth Oil is what we make for this step. It is light enough to go under a styling product without making the edges slip, which is the failure mode with a heavier oil. Apply it to the hairline, give it a minute, then style on top.
For more on the styling side of this, we covered it in how to lay baby hairs without flakes.
What we are not going to tell you
We are not going to tell you a product is humidity proof. Nothing is. Humidity is water in the air and your hair is a material that absorbs water, and no cosmetic overrides that. What a good product does is hold longer, set flatter, and give you a better afternoon than a bad one would. That is a real difference and it is worth paying for. It is just not a force field.
There is a difference between a claim somebody tested and a claim somebody typed. Our Edge Control is field tested with our brand ambassadors, in real heat, on real heads, through real days. That is where a claim like hold through sweat comes from. It is not a promise that water stops behaving like water.
La versión corta
El pelo absorbe agua del aire. La glicerina acelera eso. En días húmedos: busca productos con poca glicerina, sella con un aceite ligero antes de peinar, aplica una capa fina sobre pelo apenas húmedo, amarra con una bufanda de satín por dos minutos, y cuando se levanten a mitad del día, usa agua, no más producto.
FAQ
Why do my edges frizz as soon as I go outside in humidity?
Your strands are absorbing water from the air. As they absorb it they swell and the curl tightens, which lifts the baby hairs out of the shape you laid them in. If your product contains a lot of glycerin, it is pulling that water in faster.
Is glycerin bad for hair in humidity?
Not bad, just mismatched. Glycerin pulls moisture from the air into your hair, which is useful on a dry day and works against your style on a humid one. Check where it sits on the ingredients list and keep a lower glycerin option for humid weather.
How do I keep my baby hairs laid in heat?
Seal the hairline with a light oil first, use a styling product that does not lean on humectants, apply a thin even layer to lightly damp hair, and tie it down with a satin scarf for about two minutes so the film sets flat before you go out.
Should I reapply edge control if my edges lift during the day?
Mist with water and rebrush instead. Layering new product over set product is what causes buildup, and buildup is what causes flaking.
¿Existe un producto a prueba de humedad?
No. Ningún producto cosmético evita que el pelo absorba agua del aire. Lo que sí existe es un producto que aguanta más y se asienta mejor. Eso es real. Un escudo contra la humedad, no.
Keep reading
Strong Hold Edge Control, $17.95. Built for hold that lasts through a hot day, applied thin over a sealed hairline. Free edge brush with every order.