The humidity this summer has been intense. My thick coarse hair looks like a big frizzy bubble. What to do?
During the rest of the year, I used John Freida Frizz Ease 3 Day Straight spray ($9.99 at CVS, Walgreens, Rite Aid, Walmart, Target etc.) along with the Conair flat iron that I bought at CVS for about $20 a couple of years ago, and they did a good job. My hair looked very straight on days with little to no humidity and pretty straight on slightly more humid days. The Frizz-Ease isn’t sticky and doesn’t make my hair feel like it’s weighed down with product.
But this summer has been a challenge to my regular hair products and tools. I had to up my game.
A couple of weeks ago, Daily Glow had an article about their favorite summertime products, and Bed Head Tigi Straighten Out was one of them. It is positioned as “humidity-proof”, and it too claims to keep hair straight for 3 days. I bought it on ebay for $12 with free delivery.
The Conair flat iron just doesn’t get hot enough to straighten my thick, seriously frizzy summer hair. I have a fantastic ceramic flat iron from HAI that Jeff gave me several years ago (hai-2 Classic). It does a great job. But I asked him to get me “the big one” with a ceramic pad that’s 3 1/2″ long and 2 1/4″ wide, and the pad is so big that I can’t get it on the hair near my head so I either have a ridge or frizzy hair at the top or I have to go back over it with the smaller Conair. It’s a pain.
So I went to Marshall’s looking for a stronger yet affordable flat iron. If I had the money, I’d buy another HAI with a narrower plate, but it’s $150. I saw a Chi flat iron for $49.99, but I didn’t feel like buying anything that day. Went back two days later and it was gone, replaced by pricier ones at $69.99 and $79.99. I bought the Chi Air Ceramic Flat Iron for $69.99. It gets a lot hotter than the Conair and does a better job straightening my thick locks. Maybe not quite as good as the HAI that gets super-hot, but it definitely does straighten my thick, wavy hair on all but the most humid days.
I should have done a “double-blind” experiment to determine how each of the two new products – Bed Head and the new Chi Air flat iron – worked on my hair individually, but I just wanted straight hair rather than perfect research methodology. At any rate, here’s my assessment.
The Bed Head Tigi Straighten Out is a thick gel that you distribute throughout your hair. The gel gives the impression that it will coat the hair and do a better job than the light spray from Frizz Ease. Oddly, there are no directions that I could find on the bottle about how much to apply. That said, I’m not sure if I’ve applied enough. Since I don’t want my hair to end up being too sticky, I used about 2 dimes worth on my thick, shoulder length hair. May not have been quite enough, and I think I’ll use a bit more next time. Any suggestions from Straighten Out users??
The Chi Air flat iron has a dial for the heat settings, and for better or worse, I always crank it up to the highest setting. The ceramic plate is 1 1/8″ wide vs. the 7/8″ wide plate on the Conair, so that’s a little better. I can get the Chi flat iton up near the roots of my hair, yay.
Overall, I’m quite satisfied. Here’s what my hair looked like after 24 hours.
My hair was straighter than using the Frizz-Ease spray and Conair flat iron in serious humidity. It was still not as straight as it has been in the winter. Next time, I’m going to try using more Straighten Out, and on those few super-humid days, I may have to use the Chi Air at the roots and the heavy-duty hai-2 for the rest of my hair.
I know I’m lucky to have thick hair, but this summer has been a challenge. Does any one have any other recommendations for me??
Hi Allison, I’ve been using Moroccan Oil Styling Lotion on humid days this summer. It can be pricey but I got it for 25% off at either Delaria or Locksmith. It’s lightweight but keeps my hair soft and smooth until I wash it again. Can’t use it on my roots as it makes them too flat, so I use a little volumizing spray and then blowdry with a round brush. I will be trying the John Frieda spray this winter, though… I especially like things that I can spray on.
Right now I’m looking for the perfect CURLING product so I don’t have to straighten my hair on hot days!!
Those are great suggestions, Kim. As a matter of fact, I have some Josie Maran Argan Oil in my medicine cabinet that I still haven’t tried. I’ll give it a go. Since I don’t have curls (and I had no idea that you do since your hair is always perfectly straight, shaped and shiny!), I haven’t used any curling products myself. However, there are oodles of sprays that are supposed to give hair that “beachy wavy or beachy curly” look. Bed Head has Tigi Catwalk Curlesque Curls Rock Amplifier that gets a good recommendation from a few of the beauty sites. There are lots of other curl products but they look like gels in tubs which signals heavy to me. Any one else have any recommendations for products that help create curls?? Or help straighten regardless of the humidity?
As a follow-up, I did use more Bed Head Tigi Straighten Out, and it really does the job. My hair is straight, and it has stayed that way for 3 days. The CHI Air flat iron with the Bed Head seem to be doing the trick!
The Chi is really amazing. I have had mine for 10 years now and still as hot as ever. $49.99 is an amazing deal, but so is 69.99. 🙂
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Thank you, Shipra, for commenting on this post. My CHI is now about 3 years old, I think, and it’s still going strong. So glad to hear that yours is 10 yrs old! wow. I’d get another one in a heartbeat.