We’ve all stumbled across an article or video on our Facebook newsfeed, whether it applies to us or not, about the struggles women with thick hair face. While these challenges are very real, I have yet to see anything relating to those of us who weren’t so endowed with thick, luscious locks. This one is for you, my fine-haired friends.
1. Every time you shed, you die a little inside.
You would think because you have less hair, you would shed less. If only that were true. You still shed like a dog, and it breaks your heart every time you see all the hair that comes out when you brush it.
2. Volumizing product after volumizing product after volumizing product.
Just about anyone with thin hair has a healthy stash of hair products in their bathroom or on their dresser. Sprays, creams, masques, you name it. Don’t forget all the leave-in conditioners and moisturizing oils, too, because thin hair dries out and breaks off so easily, so you’re always prepared to fight split ends. I swear by this leave in conditioner by Pureology, and it smells amazing, too!
3. Two words: Sunburned. Scalp.
I bet your friends with fuller hair didn’t even know that was possible. Pro tip: wearing your hair in a ponytail or half-up is an easy way to prevent this issue.
4. When you get your haircut and you tell the stylist you want it blow dried with lots of volume, it never works out.
No stylist seems to understand your fine hair. You sit in that chair and watch their confusion as they do their normal blowout routine that would give anyone else big, voluminous waves, but your hair isn’t having any of it. You end up walking out of the salon with your hair flatter than when you came in.
5. We hate humidity too.
Thick-haired ladies get frizz, but we get the polar opposite — hair that doesn’t look like it’s been washed in six days. Dry shampoo will forever be your BFF on these days. This one by Not Your Mother’s is my personal favorite.
6. “Your hair must be so easy to style!”
Gurl. Sure, the curling and straightening part doesn’t take too long because you only have a tenth of what the average person has to work with, but when you have fine hair, you have to put in effort just to make it look like you HAVE hair. The idea of letting your hair completely air-dry makes you cringe. You can’t simply just let your roots do as they please, because within a few hours you’ll look like your fifth-grade self who was trying to make the “slicked back” look work before it was cool.
7. When people complain about having too much hair.
Please tell me more about how awful it is to actually have enough hair to do the hairstyles you want. I understand you have your own struggles, but I will take “big and frizzy” over “on the border of existence” any day.
8. Sorry I’m not sorry, but I will do anything to avoid getting my hair wet.
What you wish you looked like with wet hair: What you actually look like:
At the end of the day, you learn to work with what you’ve got. I’ve fought my own petty battles with my hair, but I’ve learned to appreciate what I have, and hopefully you do too.