As we follow our favorite hair crushes and scroll through our timelines of gorgeous hair styles, big and full fros give us all the LIFE we need. However, all naturals don’t end up with the full fros we admire when we unleash our own twistouts, braidouts, etc. No worries, there are so many ways to achieve fuller looking natural hair even if that is not how your hair naturally grows. Here are some tips, tools, and methods to use to achieve fuller looking natural hair.
PICK AT YOUR ROOTS
We cannot talk about creating volume without talking about afro picks and wide toothed combs. Picks and wide toothed combs are go-to-tools for creating fuller fros. The trick is to insert your afro pick or wide toothed comb near your scalp, and gently lift it up to the desired height. This lifting motion not only gives your hair height, but it also makes the picked strands look denser thus creating the illusion of thicker hair at the roots.
FINGER MAGIC
If you’re not into using combs or any tools in your hair, you’ll be surprised to find that your fingers work just as good as picks and wide toothed combs. In fact they may be the gentler option if you’re regularly lifting your roots for a bigger, voluminous look. You are more likely to feel snags or tangles and prevent breakage by using your own fingers vs using the pick.
STEAM BLOWOUT
Another tool that a lot of naturals swear by is the Q-Redew. The Q-Redew is a hand held hair steamer that lots of naturals use to not only reintroduce moisture and soften their natural tresses, but to stretch and fluff their natural hair. Think of a pick with therapeutic bursts of steam at the ends. You get the height a pick creates and the stretch of a blowout, the best of both worlds. See how SheRea from My Thrifted Closet fluffs her Bantu Knot Out using her favorite hair tool below. STEAMBLOWOUT (<—that’s SheRea’s coupon code for $10 off the Q-Redew, don’t sleep)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cOL9_IU4sBM
FEAR OF FLUFFING?
Many naturals are so happy to achieve the definition they’ve been looking for that they develop FOF (Fear of Fluffing). Listen ladies, frizz is not as bad as people make it seem. The more individual defined strand you have on your hair the more voluminous your hair will look. Gently separate your hairs where they naturally want to separate and you’re good. So what if every strand is not perfectly curled and there’s some frizz! Frizz will actually contribute to the appearance of thicker hair. See how I conquer FOF in this tutorial below.
GIRL GET YOU SOME CLIP-INS
When everything else fails, using natural hair clip-ins are a great option. Clip-ins use to be just for the straight and wavy textures, but enter black owned hair company magic. Now clip-ins in natural hair textures are available to us naturalistas! Whether or not clip-ins are expensive are relative to each individual, but they’re well worth the investment in my opinion. They’re made with human hair and match your hair texture. Therefore they respond to products and manipulation the way that your hair responds to them. They can be bleached, colored, and they last a long time if they’re taken care of as instructed. The installation process literally takes a few minutes and wallah, fuller bigger natural hair.
What is your favorite tip/tool/method for achieving fuller, thicker looking hair?
