My 13 year old daughter has extremely frizzy/curly hair. She used to have beautiful curls, but then at about 11 1/2 to 12 years old it just turned to frizz. And I don't mean just a little bit of frizz or lots of curl. I truly have never seen anyone with hair like hers. Most hairdressers that I take her to say they haven't seen anything like it. She did have blood work done when she turned 13 where they checked her thyroid. Everything turned out okay there. We have to straighten it in order for it to look okay. When I google the endrocrine system and hair it is mostly about hair growth or hair loss, but not about the kind of hair you have. I need some guidance.
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Hi, I understand how your daughter may be feeling at the moment. When I went through puberty I also lost the sleekness of my hair and gained a huge frizz which looks as if I have been electricuted! I didn't know how to deal with it as I grew up as my mum has alopecia and so doesn't know much about hair!! I used to wear it in a bun, slicked back and pulled tight covered in hairspray so no one would see it! Hairdressers used to say to me "oh my god!!! That is THE frizziest hair I have ever seen!!!" and didn't know what to do with it. They would often blow dry and then straighten it and I ended up leaving the hairdressers with crazy looking hair and lower self esteem each time to the point I developed a bit of a phobia of hairdressers!!!
However, all is not lost! I now love my hair to pieces and have just had to learn to accept it for what it is! Through experimenting with hair products and pushing myself to find a decent hairdresser, and also knowing how to talk to the hairdresser so they listen to me I have learnt how to manage the frizz so now the only thing I hear is "wow, your hair is goregous, I wish I had hair like yours!" and I always think to myself "not if you knew how much effort and stress it has caused me over the years!!" ha ha!
I would advise some tips for your daughter though:
1. Never let heat get near your hair, hairdryers, straighteners, curlers only make it worse! And if she can stand it wash her hair in cold water. For me the frizz seems to develop because of changes in heat.
2. Always use a LOT of products! Do not listen to hair dressers, it may be bad for those lucky enough to not have frizzy hair, but for us it is essential!! I used to use pantene curly hair mousse and swore by it for years but found that it often caused white flaky bits which looked like dandruff! Now I use one of the tigi products called CURLS ROCK, it is almost like a gel. Just put a blob on the palm of your hand and rub between both hands and then pull through her hair. It seems to create a layer on the surface of the hair which stops the hair drying out so much. I DEFINITELY recommend!!!! However she must experiment to find what works for her!!
3. Lastly, if you do go to the hairdressers, get them to cut it wet, and the leave it. Your daughter will learn how best to use products and it's unlikely they will be able to offer her any useable advice. I tend to put it in a bun, leave and sort it out at home. This stops any embaressment by well meaning hairdressers who don't understand!!
I apologise for waffling on but I was extremely embaressed by my hair as a teenager and I would hate for anyone to feel that way about themeselves when there are things you can do to sort it. I hope this helps you somewhat!
J x
November 23, 2009 - 8:25amThis Comment
Thanks so much for your advice. The funny thing is that since I posted this about a year ago, your advice is just about what we are doing. I just told her, "It's who you are, so lets just go with it". As crazy as it is, kids at school always tell her how much they like it. Her music teach took a poll as to who liked it better straight and who like it better curly. Curly was the winner.
Back in March we had a Karotin treatment done and it really helped the frizz. Karotin treatments are not damaging and really seem to help, but it costs about $350. We do straighten it every once in a while but I try to just get her to wear it curly. And we did find a product that is nice for the curl. It's weird, if you pull the top layer of her hair back - everything underneath is beautiful and springy curls - it's that dang top layer that is a frizzy mess and she has some in the front that are perfectly straight all the time. It's just really uneven.
Thanks for all your advice.
November 23, 2009 - 8:41amThis Comment
That's wierd because my hair is exactly the same! I often just pin the top layers back and that way I can only see the nice stuff and it makes me feel better about it! I haven't tried the Karotin treatment, (bit out of my price range!) but I have used products that have some element of Karotin in it and they work fairly well! By the way, did you find that John Frieda is useless?? For me it even made the frizz worse!!!
I didn't realise it was such an old post! I'm glad your daughter has been able to deal with it though, being a teenager is hard enough without having this to deal with! lol!
It's really nice that her class is getting involved! And for those of us blessed with curly hair, curly definiately wins! I looked so dull with straight hair! :D
Anyway, Im glad to hear she's being able to sort it!
J x
November 24, 2009 - 3:35amThis Comment
There can be many reasons why your hair can go from normal to frizzy. Although it can be a thyroid or other medical issue, many times it is not. Some factors that may be attributing to your frizzy hair are:
Lack of Moisture
Lack of Protein
Styling products
Coloring, Perming, and Bleaching.
Products with high alcohold contect (gels, hair sprays, mousses)
Overuse of heating appliances (hair irons, blow-dryers, curling irons)
Overexposure to the sun
Hot oil treatments
Medications
Stress
Poor diet
Combing curly hair once it has been styled is a BAD idea.
Hair has a tendency to change over the years and it also ages with us. Even the shiny, beautiful hair we once had will start to change eventually-- but that doesn't mean we should stop taking care of it. There are many products sold for frizzy hair, the best ones are those bought at beauty salons. They may be pricier than the ones sold at local drug store but are much more delicate to your hair.
August 17, 2009 - 5:54amThis Comment
Hi there, I am a 60 year-young woman :) who just experienced a sudden hair texture change from just normal hair on the curly side, to frizzy, kinky hair...and it start also as sudden, falling out too. The falling out is a tremendous horror to any woman, but the change to fuzzy, cotton-candy-like hair makes it all the worse. Does anyone know what could cause such a phenomenon? Where do people find trichologists...or hair specialists? There can't be many of them, and I find that dermatologists are all pretty much more focused on the more lucrative anti-aging skin procedures, botox, etc. in their practice with very few wanting to get involved with very complicated, labor-intensive hair issues. Is there any help out there?
July 20, 2009 - 8:35amThis Comment
I am 70. This year my soft curly hair has turned frizzy. I have not noticed any significant loss. This is strange.
August 16, 2009 - 1:14pmAny comments are appreciated.
CB
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Hey-
December 13, 2008 - 12:48pmMy daughter has also experienced this frizz issue. Around her 12th birthday and the same time she started having her period, she got a frizzy patch of hair. It isn't all over, but just in her bang area, mainly on her right side. It has been so frustrating to deal with. We tried straitening, but it doesn't last very long. It is so frizzy it is like African American hair. She had ringlet when she was little, but they all fell out when she was about 3 1/2. If you find out a solution, let me know.
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I am in exactly the same situation with my daughter. Kinky, frizzy hair in her bang area that resembles African American hair. And I also agree straightening doesn't last long. The only thing I have been told is that it's due to hormones. Did you find any solutions?
December 30, 2014 - 1:46pmThis Comment
Kind of cool to have a comment on this post from 2008. My daughter is now almost 20 and her hair is still as curly as ever. Since 2008 we have used lots of different products just to see what works the best. Right now she uses Garnier Curling Cream...its only a few dollars and works well. It hasnt always been fun but she has learned to "own" it. The bigger the better...it honestly turns head sometimes...to see all that curl on a white girl. Her senior year she was voted most attractive by her senior class, so we must be doing something right. My best advice would be to just try different products (without going broke) and see what works for you. We only did the one karotin treatment (too expensive) and we drove an hour and a half and spent way too much money getting the ouidad cut and products...didnt really care for that either.
December 30, 2014 - 9:51pmThis Comment
Ichvala, I really identify with your daughter, though I've had my frizz since I was very little. There is one cute photo of me when I was maybe 3, sitting on my mom's lap in the morning before either of us had combed our hair, and it looked wild! Her hair was going every which way and mine looked like it was having a party without me. I look at that photo and laugh and laugh now.
I also have come to the conclusion that the way to live with my hair is to straighten it. If it would fall in curly waves -- Julia Roberts' hair does this, for example -- I would love it. But it's tight, kinky and very very frizzy, and any bit of humidity in the air just sends it flying. I also have thin hair, which exacerbates the problem. (I have a lot of hair, but each hair is thin.)
I wonder if your daughter's hair changed around the time of her period starting? You didn't say so, but that's about the age that hormones kick in and they can affect nearly everything about us. Clearly you suspect this since you had your daughter's thyroid checked, but there are other hormones at play in her system as well. There are changes that occur in our hair during pregnancy and during menopause; it makes sense that changes happen in puberty as well.
Did anything else change when her hair changed? Could be something as simple as the conditioner she was using or a new medication (even an acne medicine) she's taking, or something as complicated as her diet?
I couldn't find a medical explanation, though I'm continuing to look (I'm curious myself!). Our bodies go through so many changes at puberty -- physical changes, the onset of menstruation, acne, hair growth in new places, etc -- that you might just have to chalk it up to hormones and watch and wait to see if anything else changes. (I assume you've asked your daughter's pediatrician about this as well.)
In terms of coping with the actual frizz, if she ever grows it out curly again, I always got the most help from hair products made for African-American hair, especially the clear gel-type products. They did a lot to eliminate frizz and make my hair look shiny again. But overall, I just got tired of messing with it constantly and opted for straightening, like your daughter has. It's much easier to be able to just wash and go.
While these aren't medical in nature, here's a page of great tips from folks who are living in the trenches with frizzy hair!
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20080522152608AAeHDPc
Your daughter's lucky to have a mom who's helping her with this, because it's hard to be an adolescent girl with all these changes taking place.
October 24, 2008 - 9:53amThis Comment