How To Volumize Thin Hair: The Complete Guide
Pump up the volume with these expert-approved tips, tricks, and products.
If you have thin hair, there are so many things that make your hair routine easier. Your mane dries quickly, you wont go through products nearly as fast as your thick-haired friends, and you can slay any short haircut you want. Having thin hair might sound like a dream, but each hair type comes with its own pros and consso lets talk about the one major struggle those with thin hair face: creating and maintaining volume.
Getting thin hair to hold volume and not fall flat throughout the day can seem impossible. The good news? Its very much possibleespecially if youre armed with pro-approved tips and tricks for creating long-lasting body and bounce.
Want to know more about how to add volume to thin hair? Whether youre searching for a spritz-and-go volume boost or a full-on volumizing and thickening hair routine, were breaking down everything you need to know. We even share the best volumizing shampoo for thin hair and haircuts that give volume to thin hair.
Volume Building Bob Haircuts For Fine Or Thin Tresses
Check out some of the trendiest bob haircuts below!
#1: Wavy Platinum Blonde One Length Bob with Long Bangs
If you dont like a lot of layers, this short one-length bob is very chic and pretty. Ask for choppy ends on a one length bob to give it a bit of texture. If you have wavy hair, this will help accentuate the waves while adding body and movement. Long bangs will softly frame your face for a demure and sexy look.
This silvery platinum blonde is very flattering and feminine. Style your hair is soft waves to give it a romantic flair. Blow dry your hair with a vented brush to give it volume along with a slight wave.
#2: Buttery Blonde Inverted Bob Cut
This wavy inverted bob is full of body and texture. The cool and warm blonde tones give it a multi-tonal look with the dark and light ash blonde highlights and lowlights. Ask for shaggy ends with layers to give it more depth and volume. Style your hair in a slightly messy fashion to give it a sexy behead look as well as added fullness.
#3: Chocolate and Caramel Short Stacked Bob Haircut
Stacked bobs are a great way to add volume to thin hair. A stacked bob is one that stacked layers in the back to add volume and texture. For years, they were stereotyped as a hairstyle for the middle age suburban housewife. However, recently, they have become quite the trend for women of all ages and walks of life.
#4: Fiery Angled Bob for Thin Hair
#5: Wavy Asymmetrical Long Bob with Razored Ends
#7: Neon Green Long Bob with Short Side Bangs
Get A Professional Cut
Hairdressers can be like magicians for taking lifeless locks to new levels. You walk in the salon feeling drab about your hair and walk out with a brand new more voluminous do. Here are a few ways a good cut can truly transform the look of flat, fine hair.
If you have naturally straight hair, ask your hairstylist for long layers that will create movement and body without causing thinness at the bottom of your style. A short hairstyle, think a lob or bob, can also work wonders for thin hair, whether its straight or curly. The shorter hair is, the more lightweight it is, which keeps it from lying flat. While you may be attached to your long locks, a short cut can instantly breathe new life into longer hair that cant seem to retain its volume.
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Towel Dry Your Hair Gently
Wet hair is fragile and can be easily damaged, causing frizz and split ends. So, once out of the shower, I wap my hair in a microfiber towel and gently squeeze the water out of it, rather than using the towel to roughly dry my hair. Then I blot my hair dry with the towel so its damp, but not soaking wet.
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Let Your Hair Cool To Fix The Volume
After using a heated device, its vitally important that you let your hair completely cool before brushing out. If you don’t, your hair is guaranteed to fall flat. Thats why hairstylists work with more than one brush when blow-drying they can leave one in to cool while working on the next hair section with another.
Invest in a hairdryer with a cold jet function to save time when blow-drying.
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Brush Up On Your Brushes
When it comes to selecting your hairbrush, choose wisely. Its best, for example, to skip those round metal brushesthey can heat up significantly when you use them with your blow dryer, which can damage your fine hair. Hard plastic bristles can also cause breakage because they tend to snag fine, thin hair. Most pros recommend natural boar bristle brushes or brushes made of flexible nylon. These tend to glide through the hair more easily, they wont overheat and they wont catch on your fine hair. For an extra gentle touch, try a brush with a cushioned base. And contrary to popular opinion, too much brushing wont make you go bald, so go ahead and stimulate those hair follicles as long as youre using a good quality brush!
Blow Dry Your Hair Upside Down
No, this isnt some experiment to make you do funny things. Blow drying your hair upside down can actually create ultimate volume!
Just as with how you wash and condition your hair, the steps you follow for blow-drying matter. Heres a quick look at how to blow dry hair for volume:
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Drugstore Mascaras That Never Flake
No one likes a flake. And while you can forgive your best friend who keeps ditching you to rewatch the Office, a flaky mascara is completely unacceptable. Theres nothing worse than perfectly applying your mascara only to find it rimming your eyes or all over your cheeks a few hours later. Not only it is a pain, its completely avoidable with the right p…
Blow Dry For Maximum Volume
Blow-drying hair upside down always lends volume. But it works even better if instead of applying volumizing and styling products before you begin, you apply them when your hair is almost dry. You might then continue to blow dry upside down or use a round brush, which is perfect to add body to the crown.
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Apply Dry Shampoo To Second Day Hair
Dry shampoo is a great way to add volume to your hair the day after youve styled it. Dry shampoo adds texture and blots up oils so its perfect for adding volume back into your hair. I like to use Not Your Mothers Plump For Joy Body Building Dry Shampoo because it doesnt leave white residue in my hair.
All you need to do is spray your roots with the dry shampoo, massage into your hair with your fingers and then brush out. Instant volume!
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How To Add Volume While Styling
So you have a little more time on your hands? Josh says to boost the volume by adding mousse to the lengths of your hair. “Mousses, when you blow dry it or rough dry it, it makes your strands huge, so it looks meatier and allows for more pliability,” he notes. Try Bumble and bumble’s Thickening Full Form Soft Mousse .
After you’ve applied the mousse, blow-dry as normal , because according to Collerton mousse is heat activated. Collerton also suggests adding extra texture by spraying your roots with a sea salt spray her favorite is the Eleven Sea Salt Texture Spray .
Next, pop in some hot rollers or a velcro roller set on the “mohawk section” of the head to get the lift at the root. Josh says you can put the diffuser attachment on your dryer and then blast the rollers with heat to create the volume and then blast it with cold hair to set it. “It’s like a cookie when you take it out of the oven. It needs to harden. So hair roots are the same thing,” he says.
Collerton says to follow your blow out or roller session with some texturizing spray, like the Ouai Texturizing Hair Spray , to add a touch more volume and keep your work in place.
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Use Hair Building Fibers
Another way to add volume to fine hair is using the Toppik Hair Building Fibers. They blend undetectably with existing hair strands and instantly conceal hair loss.
How to Apply Hair Building Fibers:
For longer-lasting results, follow with the Toppik FiberHold Spray. For a more precise application, use the Toppik Spray Applicator attachment. For natural-looking applications along the hairline, use with the Toppik Hairline Optimizer.
If Your Hair Is Dry Or Oily
Oily hair and dry hair dont require special haircuts, John D. says. Instead, they benefit most from a dry shampoo or a light-weight hair mask, which works to repair damage and bring back your hairs health. When applying the mask to fine hair, you want to coat from mid-lengths to ends and let it sit for a few minutes before shampooing. He recommends the Tresemmé Repair & Protect 7 Instant Recovery Mask Sachet, $3. For dry shampoo, we recommend the cult-favorite Klorane dry shampoo with oat milk, $20.
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Rinse With Apple Cider Vinegar
If you use hairspray, styling gel, or mousse on a regular basis, your hair may be suffering from product build-up. Product build-up is particularly bad for fine hair because it weighs down hair that already lacks body.
To get rid of product build-up naturally, try using an apple cider vinegar rinse every other week. The vinegar can help break down residue, add body, and it might even help fight dandruff.
Go For A Volumizing Haircut
Giving your hair that extra boost of volume starts in the salon. Thin, aging hair will get a lift from a cut thats really catered toward that hair type. The look can vary based on your exact hair typewhether its curly, straight or somewhere in betweenbut shorter styles typically allow for more va-va-voom! Without the extra weight pulling your strands down, your hair will be a bit more bouncy when you style it, however, thats not to say you have to go short! There are plenty of longer hairstyles you can rock, no matter your age. Its just a matter of finding that perfect shape that gives you tons of volume.
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Easy Tips To Add Volume To Fine Thin Hair
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If you have thin, fine hair like me, I know you know the frustration of trying to add volume. It seems like no matter what you do, your hair just falls flat. Today Im sharing my 15 top tips to add volume to thin, fine hair without resorting to a lot of backcombing or teasing. Ill show you how I add volume to my own fine hair and share the products and tips that work for me.
The Case Against Layers
There is an advantage to going with a single-length cut if you have fine hair. “A one-length cut makes hair look its thickest,” hairstylist Garren tells InStyle magazine. “Too many layers can look stringy.”
“Keep your hair at a one-length shape. It will add strength and volume to your hair,” says stylist Ted Gibson on Stylelist. “If you put in a lot of layers, what ends up happening is that it has no shape.”
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Add Lift By Blow Drying On The Opposite Side Of Your Part
I add lift to my bangs by blowing them dry on the opposite side of my part. So if I part my bangs to the right, Ill blow dry them on the left. You can see in this picture where my hair is parted to the right, but when its blow-dried, it has lift on the left side at my brow bone.Finally, when my hair is about 95% dry, I finish blow drying by setting the dryer on low and using the brush of the hair dryer to style it into place.
Use A Hair Mask For Hydration
Another trick for styling thin, aging hair is to make sure youre nourishing it with plenty of moisture. A restorative hair mask can be used one to three times a week to treat dry, brittle, unmanageable hair. A mask will knock out frizz and keep strands silky smooth. This makes sure your hair is in tip-top form when youre ready to style it.
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Try A Volumizing Haircut
Sometimes a good haircut can do wonders for adding volume to fine hair. Below are four haircuts and styles that add volume.
4 Haircuts and Styles That Add Volume:
- Layers Adding layers can make your hair appear fuller all around.
- Bob Long hair is heavy, which means it can weigh down your roots and make them appear flat. A short haircut can reduce the weighted appearance.
- Lob A lob is a great in-between cut to keep the weight down while still allowing you to style convenient updos like ponytails.
- Add Bangs Both blunt and side-swept bangs can help make your crown area appear fuller.