Are you plagued by dry, frizzy ends? I am.
There are any number of causes for fuzzy, dry, frizzy ends — from split ends and single strand knots to damaged cuticles. Rough handling of hair, inadequate moisturizing, color damage and normal wearing of the cuticle can cause rough ends that make detangling seem like a nightmare and length retention an impossible task.
Whenever my ends start getting rough, I notice more wisps of hair as I handle and detangle my hair. That’s my cue to get it together, and get back to the things in my regimen that keep my ends soft, smooth, and strong like the rest of my hair.
Below is a short collection of tips to help you manage dry, frizzy, fuzzy and rough-feeling (and sometimes looking) ends — feel free to follow whichever combination of tips works for you, and add your own!
1. Introduce a brush or comb into your regimen occasionally.
I am an avid finger detangler, but on occasion when I can feel my ends starting to get wonky, I’ll bring in the reinforcements and use a comb or detangling brush to help smooth and for lack of a better term, “straighten out” tangled and jumbled up ends. After finger detangling in small sections, take a moderately wide tooth comb like this one (teeth too wide apart defeat the purpose) or a Denman brush to smooth out the ends of your hair. This works best with hair that is saturated in regular or deep conditioner.
2. Use a smoothing deep conditioner.
Smoothing deep conditioners are typically marketed as a step in the process of blowing out and straightening the hair, thanks to the penetrating conditioning agents, smoothing polymers, and proteins. These same ingredients make a great treatment for rough and frizzy ends. You don’t have to use a separate deep conditioner or your ends, you can just treat your entire head of hair to a smoothing deep conditioning treatment every two weeks to every month to keep the problem ends at bay. Silk Elements Kera-Minerals Smoothing Conditioner, Giovanni Smooth As Silk Deeper Moisture Conditioner, and L’Oreal Eversleek Conditioner are three great smoothing treatments under $10.
3. L‑C-O/B your ends.
There’s a bunch of different acronyms to follow when it comes to retaining moisture within the hair, but I have found that the Liquid-Cream-Oil/Butter version works best. Keeping rough ends properly strengthened and moisturized is key in preventing those thin wisps of hair from ending up on your bathroom sink. When refreshing styles or prepping hair for bedtime, take a few extra steps to nurse your ends back to health. Use a liquid to hydrate your ends, but don’t soak them (preferably a spray with protein and amino acids like ApHogee Keratin & Green Tea Restructurizer Spray, Infusium 23 Pro-Vitamin B5 Leave-In Treatment, or Ouidad Botanical Boost). Follow that up with your moisturizing pudding, lotion, soufflé or cream of choice (my personal picks in this are Eden BodyWorks Coconut Shea All Natural Pudding Souffle and Camille Rose Naturals Curl Love Moisture Milk), and then your butter or oil of choice to seal (I like coconut oil for the summer). When maintaining the moisture on your ends, you don’t have to worry about using too much product. Just enough to lightly moisturize. These steps can be done daily, or as needed. Just don’t let your ends dry out!
4. Tuck them away.
This is probably my least favorite piece of advice, because I am in no way a fan of protective styling. My twists only last two days before looking a mess. My scalp psoriasis won’t allow for styles and braided updos that can have hair tucked away for weeks at a time. And personally, I think my forehead is entirely too big for regular bunning. But if you are not sensitive to any of my predicaments, then tucking the ends away for a few days or weeks at a time can help the ends of your hair recuperate. Just be sure to follow steps 2 and 3 for maintenance!
5. Get out the scissors.
Sometimes in spite of your best efforts, your ends are too far gone for conditioners and moisturizers to help. In these cases, the best thing you can do is make the decision to chop the problem ends, or gradually trim them. As I follow steps 1 — 3, I trim away at my ends on a monthly basis. My ends aren’t split and my single strand knots are few, but I aim to gradually rid myself of problematic, tangly ends. My personal timeline is three months. At the end of the day, cutting is truly the only cure — all of the other tips are suggestions for managing and preventing further damage.
Lastly — check your regimen! Make sure the products you’re using aren’t drying your ends, and you’re not handling hair too roughly. If you don’t have your regimen in check, you will find yourself repeatedly at step 5.
What are some of your methods for keeping dry ends in check?
[…] also just got this email from black girl long hair today: 5 Easy Fixes for Dry, Frizzy Ends | Black Girl with Long Hair __________________ 3C/4A, fine texture, low-medium density, and low porosity? CG since […]
Do smoothing deep conditioners work better due to added keratin?
I feel like no matter what I do my ends need a trim every 6 weeks. I have tried everything to avoid fairy knots but they just come with the territory of my fine natural hair.
Fairy knots and tangles and r a normal part of natural hair they will never be completely gone I have fine natural hair but I trim every three months I try not to make a big deal out of it.
Yea I start looking at my ends to see if I should trim around week 6. My hair is 4c and fine and for some reason I get tons of fairy knots if i don’t keep my hair stretched. If its not stretched for a while then I trim at week six. If stretched, then I trim around week 8.
I’m a new transitioner(yippee!) and I really am striving for healthy hair.Thanks for the helpful tipz ya gave.
Kamsahanmida!(it’s “Thank you” in Korean).
I can tell a Christina article just by reading the bolded product suggestions. Can’t wait to try these suggestions. I usually get frizzy ends when I take down my braidouts.. :/
Frizzy ends, I hate them the most!!!Taking a proper care for the hair can help to avoid such issues and also provides healthy hair that looks great forever!!
Last month I got a trim and it made a dramatic difference! My hair APPEARS longer now because it hangs more, it’s shinier, less tangles, and retains moisture more. Since the trim I’m making an effort to deep condition once a week.
Tip no. 1 really works. I recently started using a brush to smooth out jumbled ends on damp hair. It works, and in addition for my 4a hair it helps define my curl by reducing frizz. I think the frizz comes from the hair strands recoiling separately so that they bunch and tangle instead of clump and coil. I think thats a result of dense hair and mixed strands (fine/medium/coarse).
Brushing has been working for me too! I have been using a paddle brush gently on my dry hair for about the last 2 weeks and my hair is smoother and definitely stays detangled longer. I don’t always wear a scarf to bed and the brushing also removes any lint that I pick up from my pillow case!
Just trimmed my ends yesterday and re-twisted. My twists are popping like crazy, and they are moving as if they’ve been freed from some evil vines!
I used macadamian nut oil and its the bomb.com for fighting frizz. I got it at my local hair supply place.
I have 4a natural hair which I’ve been wearing in a twist out. Cuz I’ve worn pony tails so often, my hair broke off in the back. My hair has been soft and moisturized, but lately my ends have been tangled, frizzy dry, ssk, and hard. Nothing, so far, has worked. {I even thought about slightly relaxing the ends!}. I’m going to try this first, before I chop 2–3 inches off!
I wound up cutting off about 3 inches. :(. Now a month later, my ends were becoming hard dry and frizzy again. This past week, I’ve included a fine toothed comb in my regimen, after using a wide toothed comb and oiling my hair. So far it seems to be working.
Thank you, this is exactly the kind of article I was looking for. I feel like my ends stay frizzy :/ definitely going to try your tips. It’s nice to read that they are working for well the people who have commented below. Looking forward to ending my frizzy ends frustration lol :).
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This was posted on my 20th birthday ??
I’m getting circles and eye lash size hairs in the sink. i deep condition every week, wear wigs as protective style, and i got high porosity hair. i loc,acv,aloe vera, you name it, it do. i finger detangle, never use heat.
I read on MissVee’s blog on Facebook and she mentioned using pomade on ends. I try to use the natural one without mineral oil, just one with good ingredients but is like a grease, and I have the most defined twists all the way to the ends.
CoilyQueens. I forgot the real name
hello,thks for the post.i got problematic ends.they r not split,they dont tangle more than the usual hair tangling,they r not unusual ssk but the problem i got is,if i smooth my hair with my fingers,it smooths so well except at the ends where it is so coily due to the frizz i think.if i am doing finger coils for example my coils smooth well and get a lil rough at the ends.but the ends dont look dull either.i am 4c and been natural for 7mnths now after my big chop.