Frizzy haired MNetters - I need your help!

[Hileni]

I have the most outrageous, thick, frizzy hair. Money is quite tight but my hair needs some sort of Frizz Ease shampoo, conditioner and maybe some sort of leave in serum / conditioner / heat defence spray.

I've been searching shop aisles for weeks: Tesco, Sainsbury's, boots, superdrug, Wilko, b&m and I can't find a cheap product for frizzy hair. All I can find if branded Frizz Ease which is a bit too expensive for me. It's currently on offer at Sainsbury's for £4 per bottle but that's still a bit much as I'd need minimum shampoo + condish. I need to find an own brand alternative or a cheaper brand.

Can anyone recommend? What works for your hair?

Have you tried Aussie? Not for frizz specifically but I think it might be good?

stop wasting money on all this and save up for chemical straightening, either Loreal Xtenso or Wellastrate. They work for about a year if applied properly. You won't get dead straight hair but you'll be able to use a comb, stay tidy and get through doors, and people will stop noticing your hair and notice you instead.

Is your hair actually curly? I thought my hair was frizzy for 20 years, but then found The Curly Girl method and now I have corkscrew curls.

It mostly involves avoiding silicone in your haircare and adding a curl creme or gel to wet hair.

Macadamia mask (and shampoo and conditioner) from Allbeauty. It's not cheap to start with, but it's amazing. I buy the supersize and it lasts for ages. I finally understand that yes, more expensive shampoo and hair products are worth it.

I had frizzy, horrible looking hair until I gave up on all 'frizz taming' and 'smoothening/sleeking' products and started the Curly Girl method. Now my hair is a thing of beauty.

Another recommendation for Curly Girl here. You can try it out quite cheaply. Use your regular shampoo or Superdrug My Little Star baby shampoo (99p) as a reset to get rid of any silicone products in your hair, then use loads of XHC Ginger conditioner (£1, Poundland) and comb it through with a wide-toothed comb before rinsing. Pat dry with a T-shirt or microfibre towel. While it's still quite wet, take a large-pea-sized amount of Boots Curl Creme (£1.99) and rub it in your palms then finger-comb it through your hair. Add two, three or four golf-ball sized lumps of Pantene Pro-V Defined Curls Mousse Level 5 (£2.99, Boots) or some Boots Essentials Extra Firm Hold Gel (99p). Now, cup a hand under the ends of the hair and bring it up towards the scalp, closing fingers as you do so. This encourages the hair to take up its natural curl pattern. Dry with a diffuser if you have one, or let it air-dry (diffuser is better).

You should see some waves or curls. The mousse will dry quite firm - it's called a cast. Don't comb it out but to scrunch it with your hands when it's quite dry to break the cast.

You won't need to shampoo often after the first one, but you can use the XHC conditioner to wash your hair instead. Wet hair, take a huge handful of conditioner and work it gently into the scalp then down to the ends. It cleans perfectly well, even in hot weather.

If you want to try other products there's a spreadsheet here and a Reddit group here, both listing products available in the UK.

each to their own, but what a lot of faff! Loving my straightened hair - get up, apply comb for 10 seconds, done. Needs post-wash straightening but that isn't every day and is done in five minutes. I get really bored if it takes any longer.

the actual straightening takes hours but that's only once a year and I've got the hairdresser to chat to.

BTW you will probably notice that all the curly/frizzy celebs have long since gone straight. Markle, Clinton, Parker, Kidman, Knowles - all left the curls in the last century. Not condoning following celebs but it is interesting. Possibly because long hair at any age is fine but curls stick on years? And maybe despite the staff, they also can't be bothered!

long hair at any age is fine but curls stick on years

I very strongly disagree with this. I love my wavy hair and it's much more flattering than dead straight.

I disagree too. Nothing IMO is more ageing than flattened ironed straight hair.
Especially when it's all one length. I remember Jack on Holby, with her poker hair, so unflattering.

yeah yeah, whatever. As mentioned frizzballs such as mine will never go poker straight, you get slight waves as there's always loads of volume. (pity they don't make thinning shampoos!) But you don't have to spend loads of time doing womanwork farting about with products and hairdryers and diffusers and all the other timewasting crap. How tedious.

looks nothing like Jac on Holby, who BTW always looked really good when I watched it. Partly because the character didn't plaster on the slap - red and black circles are another thing that stick on a decade.