Hair experts, help me with what to do with my thick hair

[Oifeathers]

My hair always just looks - meh. It can look amazing, but it’s tricky to manage. It’s very thick ‘bronde/balayage’, straight ish but can hold a curl, lots of it.

I have zero time most days to do anything with it. I have a thin face and a big forehead, so what I usually end up doing - scraping all back into some kind of bun then trying to get the elusive ‘messy but stylish bun’ look, with no hair around the face it doesn’t really suit me and makes my forehead look worse. If I have it longer I can do better up dos, but when it’s longer and down it’s even heavier and more hanging.

I can’t have it too short as I need to be able to tie it back for sports. I’ve had a fringe and it suits me, but is very annoying feeling it on my face, it grows fast and goes in my eyes, and because of the thickness it easily sticks up or goes frizzy.

I like a classic, ‘expensive’ look and it’s got the potential to achieve it but usually rather than swishy and thick, looks a mess and thick.

HELP WHAT CAN I DO WITH MY HAIR?!

Just to say I have battled with thick hair all my life, it is at it's most volume the day I wash it. I am rubbish at blow drying it or using straighteners but have recently discovered something that makes a huge difference. I bought the Shark Smooth Styler drying brush, it's about £70, it has made such a difference to my hair. Less frizz and volume, drys straight, but curled under. Could be worth a try?

I’ve got an Airwrap!! 🙈

I’ve got long, thick hair and I find the air wrap rubbish; it’s not hot enough for my hair to hold. Do you find it good @Oifeathers ?

I like a polished look too, I use a few ‘holy grail’ hair products (Colour Wow Dream Coat Supernatural Spray, Philip Kingsley Elasticiser, JVN Complete Blow Out Styling Milk) and tend to either blow dry and straighten it, or blow dry and then curl using a wand. Drying is an effort, but I only wash my hair once or twice a week so it’s not too bad. I think a messy bun or half up/half down can also look nice but the key to ‘polished’ hair is in the drying imo.

My hair is also long and thick. I've just had some layers put through. My hair looks best air dried (although it can take all night to dry) and then I curl the ends with a curler. I love After Party cream from the Bed Head range after I've just washed it also. Tried loads of products, but this is the best one for me.

Long thick hair. Frizzy though! Looks best when I add curl cream and gel and diffuse.

@Plastictreees it’s better than what I could achieve before, I try to rough dry then use the round brush as I wash my hair at night (takes too long in the morning to do from scratch unless a special occasion). The actual Airwrap wand I agree, it gives a sort of movement in it which is nice but not quite the holy grail I had hoped…and it takes an aggggee to do it all with the wand.

I’ve recently started using Colour Wow dream coat once a week with the round brush attachment and it definitely seems to keep it a bit more manageable. I feel like I need to address the cut though.

Extremely thick hair here. The best thing I ever did was start to get keratin straightening treatments. Every six months for the past five years. It is very straight immediately after treatment but after a couple of washes it is smooth and lovely and I can just roughly blow dry it with no other styling needed.

Lots of long layers and always blow dry it after washing. I asked my hairdresser to show me how. If I don’t do it I look like a bush

@Oifeathers Maybe long layers?

People swear by keratin / Brazilian blow dries but it made no difference to my hair, probably because it’s dyed (I also have a balayage) and I find that this changes the hair texture already.

I still had to blow dry and curl/straighten my hair after the keratin treatment, as my hair was still frizzy/puffy when air dried.

@GameOfJones how much is it if you don’t mind me asking? Can you still curl it with tongs?

I had mine texturised all the way through, it’s thinner but looks the same because the texturising keeps the volume and stops my hair from going flat during the day because of the weight of my hair. It just looks better. I love having thick hair but this is a practical option. Keratin makes my hair snap. I hate it.

@User37482 could you explain what that is?