10 Tips, Tricks and Styling Techniques to Care for Your Thinning Curly Hair

Really thin curly hair may be caused by a number of factors, from age and changing hormone levels to stress and hair breakage. But no matter the reason, there are a few things you can do about it.

If your fine, thin curly hair is a new development, you’re not alone. Your hormones naturally fluctuate as you enter various stages of your life, especially once you start experiencing menopause. At Better Not Younger, we’ve compiled our top tips for creating voluminous hairstyles for thin curly hair as well as hair care for thin curly hair to bring back life and luster to your locks.

5 Ways to Style Hairstyles for Thin Curly Hair

How you style your thin curly hair can be the make-it-or-break-it moment for the rest of your day. This is why we want to set you up with 5 tips for a successful, voluminous curl all day long.

1. Layers Are a Girl’s Best Friend

By layering your curls, you allow them to bounce and sit on each other, creating a more rounded shape and adding a decent amount of volume to really thin curly hair. Sometimes all it takes is the addition of layers in a few key places to double the profile of your deceptively thin curly hair.

Pro Tip: When choosing a stylist, try to find one that advertises curly haircuts, and especially one that cuts your curls dry. Unlike those ladies with naturally straight hair, curly hair looks completely different when it’s wet vs. dry. So it stands to reason that if you get your hair cut wet, it will look and fall completely differently once it dries.

2. Shorter Hair Creates More Volume

When it comes to curly hair, most of us have learned that the shorter your hair is, the tighter the curl—and tighter curls mean more volume. This is especially true if you have fine thin curly hair, as it can appear closer to wavy or straight when kept longer.

By keeping your hair shorter, you not only have less hair you need to manage and care for, but you can also reduce your hairstyling and drying time as well!

3. To Diffuse or Air Dry?

While there are pros and cons to both, diffusing often allows you more control over the hair drying process, rather than chancing a good hair day by air drying. A diffuser is one of the easiest things to add to your hair-care arsenal. Especially if you opt for a collapsible silicone diffuser, perfect for traveling and easy to store at home. After all, the only silicone a curly girl needs is in her diffuser.

To encourage definition and help protect and detangle, first prep tresses with a curl reactivating spray. As you diffuse, gradually, and carefully, lift your thin curly hair at the roots to create more natural volume. Be careful not to touch your tresses too much as this creates friction and can disrupt the smoothness of your curls.

Pro Tip: If lifting your curls as you defuse doesn’t give you the volume you need, try diffusing your hair with your head upside down! This way, the weight of your wet curls actually helps lift your hair at the roots.

4. Root Clipping Might Be Your Secret Weapon

If you don’t want to deal with lifting your hair at the roots yourself, root clipping is a great, easy-to-use option. Whether you opt to diffuse or air dry your fine, thin curly hair, by gently clipping the curls at the crown of your head, you can create natural volume as your hair dries.

Available in different sizes, root clips hold your hair up at the roots so that it isn’t weighed down by your hair as it dries, creating a flatter surface at the top. When placed around the crown of your head at a 45-degree angle, the clips easily hold your hair in place without putting unwanted tension on your scalp. Of course, you can always expand your lifted section across your scalp so that your really thin curly hair is held up in more than one place.

5. Finger Coils Will Never Go Out of Style

It’s okay to admit that your curls need help sometimes. Or maybe it’s just that one, stubborn section of your hair that refuses to curl to match the rest. No matter what it may be, finger coils are the easiest solution. So next time you add products to your hair and find that a few of your curls are misbehaving, try coiling them around your finger one at a time. More often than not, you’ll find that they will hold their shape throughout the day.

5 Care Tips for Really Thin Curly Hair

One of the best things you can do for your fine thin curly hair is focus on strengthening and hydrating each and every strand. With just a little gentle care, you can help your hair live its best life.

Our hair is an important part of us and can easily affect our mood and outlook on life—why leave something like that up to chance?

1. Routine Hair Masks Help Repair Damage

Hair masks, hair masks, hair masks—we can never say it enough! 

Hair masks are like a life-renewing potion for your hair and scalp. They can repair damage, help thicken your fine, thin curly hair, and add volume to your locks by thickening your hair cuticle and keeping it hydrated. Adding a hair mask to your hair-care routine once or twice a month in the summer, and a few extra times in the winter can drastically increase your hair’s health.

2. Detangle Gently

When it comes to really thin curly hair, being gentle to your tresses should be second nature since the thinner your hair is, the more it’s prone to damage and breakage. This means you have to be super cautious when you detangle your hair.

For thin curly hair, we recommend only detangling after using a generous amount of conditioner in the shower (the power of the slip is what you’re looking for) or detangler. If you struggle to slowly detangle your curls with your fingers, try using a web brush designed to detangle, to gently separate every curl without causing stress on your scalp.

Of course, it goes without saying: detangle from the bottom up! 

3. Scalp Massages Boost Blood Flow

Not only do scalp massages feel amazing, but they actually boost blood flow to your scalp, which delivers oxygen and nutrients to your hair follicles, which supports stronger and healthier hair growth!

It’s an amazingly beneficial cycle.

And even better for the health of your hair and scalp is if you use a Superpower Scalp Serum in combination with your scalp massage. The classic two birds one stone never gets old.

4. Avoid Heat and Chemical Treatments

Really thin curly hair, especially delicate gray strands, is more prone to damage than any other hair type due to the lifted cuticles and naturally weaker follicles. This means that when it comes to heat and chemical treatments, the best response is: no thank you.

No matter how many tips and tricks you incorporate into your hair-care routine to thicken and strengthen your thin curly hair, all your effort goes out the window when you apply heat or chemicals. And honestly, it’s just not worth it. 

Instead, we’ve got everything you need to embrace your natural texture and color! From silver hair care to specially designed products to create volume and fullness, you can’t go wrong.

5. When It Comes to Products, Less Is More

Despite popular belief, incorporating more products into your styling routine won’t solve your problem or magically make it better. In fact, those with thin curly hair should actually use less product when styling.

Not only that, but for thin curly hair, it’s important to pay extra attention to product labels. If the styling product says it’s lightweight, then it’s for you. Mousse and lightweight creams are a great go-to styling product for fine thin curly hair because they won’t weigh down your curls like heavier gels and creams.

Pro Tip: Thin curly hair is especially susceptible to product buildup. Rather than relying solely on your shampoo to get the job done, try adding an activated charcoal scalp cleanser to your hair-care routine once or twice a week to really exfoliate and detoxify your scalp.

Tell Us: Do you have a go-to styling tip or trick we didn’t mention? Share in the comments below!