Top 10 Tips to Fight Off Hat Hair Fast!

Let’s face it, in the dead of winter, wearing a hat is pretty unavoidable—making hat hair a common casualty of keeping cozy. But you don’t have to sit back quietly while your hat weighs heavily on your tresses, flattening and creasing them beyond recognition. We curated our top tips for preventing the unwelcome side effects that come along with wearing a hat in cold weather, plus tricks for fixing hat hair you just couldn’t fend off.

 Hat hair

1. Completely Dry Your Hair

Damp hair is moldable. This means that leaving even the slightest amount of moisture on your tresses when putting on your hat will transform them—and not in a good hair day type of way! How your hair dries underneath your hat is the way it will look once your hat comes off. Hair that hasn’t completely cooled following a session with your blow-dryer is also highly susceptible to an undesirable look—so wait those few extra minutes after you blow-dry your hair to lock in your style. Fine hair especially is susceptible to hat imprints, so if your hair is fine or thinning this tip counts double for you!

2. Line Your Hat with Silk

The natural fibers of silk make it an extremely hair-friendly fabric. This is why you often hear about the benefits of sleeping on a silk pillowcase for preventing damage. The same holds true for your hat. Lining your hat with silk will not only prevent split ends and breakage, but it will also help avoid creating creases. Simply folding or tying a silk scarf around your head underneath your hat will have the same effect.

3. Fluff Your Hair with Dry Shampoo

Nothing perks up flattened strands faster than a good hair flip and fluffing with your fingers—and dry shampoo steps in as a terrific styling product for helping to bring back some of your hair’s original fullness. Our Fresh Start Scalp Renewing Dry Shampoo is talc-free, noncomedogenic and fixes hat hair fast. It instantly refreshes hair by adding volume and thickness to flattened out tresses while also extending time between hair washings.

4. Prep Your Tresses with Texturizing Spray

Another styling product that helps you avoid hat hair is texturizing spray. If your hair is fine or thinning, prepping it with a texturizing spray like our Lift Me Up Hair Thickener will add volume to strands by wrapping around them and lifting hair at the roots to instantly thicken the appearance of hair while helping to stop fine hair from falling flat—especially once you remove your hat! Follow with an extra spritz or two directly to dry hair once you arrive at your destination to refresh, restyle and add even more lift without buildup!

5. Choose Hairstyles with Texture

A purposefully tousled hairstyle is the perfect defense against hat hair. Styling your hair with waves or even embracing your natural curls also gives you an advantage by downplaying any unwanted ripples wearing a hat may create. Hat imprints stick out like a sore thumb on super-straight styles. 

6. Tuck Your Tresses Behind Your Ears

One of the first places your hair succumbs to bends and creases is along your hat’s edges where it cradles your head. When you style your hair slightly back and behind your ears before you put on your hat, you help ensure your strands lie smooth against your head. Pulling your tresses into a low ponytail—more on that next!—helps, too.

7. Outsmart Your Hat with a Protective Hairstyle

Braids, buns and low ponytails not only camouflage a bad case of hat hair but can also help prevent it from occurring in the first place. Strategically styling your hair to lie close to your head, whether slicked back or pulled into a beautiful braided look, keeps your hair tidy while helping to avoid the dreaded helmet hair. Best of all, these styles look great with your hat on or off!

8. Don’t Forget Your Heat Protectant Spray

Heat protectant styling products do more than just shield your delicate strands from the damaging heat of your blow-dryer. Our No Remorse Heat Protection & Taming Spray also fights frizz and flyaways—and that includes static, something your hat only intensifies. Our proprietary blend of vitamin E and nourishing oils also conditions dry strands with a hydrating boost. Since moisture is a key component in combating static, it’s important to think about all the ways you can add hydration into your hair-care regimen before you blow-dry your hair, beginning with your shampoo and conditioner as well as a weekly deep-conditioning butter masque.

9. Wear Your Hat Off Your Forehead

The downsides of wearing a hat don’t just stop with your hair. Hats can also form   lines on your forehead and even mess with your makeup. To safeguard your skin when wearing a hat that you know is especially prone to imprinting, style your hat so it sits off your forehead and up toward the crown of your head. When you put your hat in this position, it will also help prevent any face-framing strands or bangs from creasing.  

10. Choose Your Hat Carefully—and Wear It Sparingly

The fabric, fit and style of your hat all play a role in how it gets along with your hair. A snug fit, ribbed detailing and static-prone fabric are all important factors to keep in mind when selecting a hat. And while wearing your hat as a fashion statement is fine from time to time, hat hair aside, prolonged wear of a hat isn’t doing your hair or scalp any favors. Your scalp needs to breathe, plus you don’t want to do anything to your delicate aging tresses that could possibly damage your hair follicles.

A quick 30-second massage upon removing your hat is a terrific way to stimulate your scalp. Later in the evening, or whenever time allows, treat your scalp to the benefits of a hair and scalp serum—and a longer 2-to-3-minute massage. Our Superpower Fortifying Hair & Scalp Serum is designed to nourish the scalp, rebalance oils, energize follicles and promote thicker, healthier hair.

Tell Us: Do you have any other tips for avoiding hat hair? Share in the comments below!

 

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Better Not Younger has all the tips and tricks you need to avoid hat hair and fix hat hair fast during the cold weather season. Good hair days await when you follow these tips to stop hat hair fast in its tracks!