Thick, shiny hair is something I’ve always lusted after, but sadly never had. Once I started to enter my 20’s, my unbalanced PCOS hormones started taking over, which caused the not-so-thick hair that I did have to get thinner. While some instances of thin hair can be caused by hormonal imbalances, stress or medicinal therapies, others just suffer from thin hair from their genes right from the get go.
Can you miraculously grow thicker hair overnight? No – but there are things you can do to maintain healthy hair, improve hair growth or make the thin hair you have look more full. In today’s article, I share how to make your thin locks look thicker and more full instantly and what you can do in the meantime to help improve your hair growth.
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How To Make Your Hair Look Fuller
Lose Some Length
The longer your hair is, the more weight your roots have to carry. For those of you with thin hair, this means the longer your hair is, the less volume you will have on the top of your head. Consider chopping your locks into a pixie cut, a bob or a shoulder length lob – it will reduce the amount of weight on your roots and give your hair some extra bounce.
Work with your stylist to understand your face shape and pick the best length for you (note, a long shoulder length lob looks good on everyone!).
Gorgeous Bob & Lob Hairstyles for Your Next Salon Visit
Browse stunning bob and lob haircuts that can add volume, dimension and texture to your locks for a stunning look!
Use Mousse Or A Root Volumizing Product
A quick way to gain some volume in thinning hair is to apply mousse or a root volumizer to your roots. Evenly applying mouse at the roots when your hair is damp and blowing it out using a round brush will provide instant volume to limp locks.
Be sure not to apply too much product, as excess product can weigh your locks down even more. If you don’t have a round brush, you can use a regular hair brush by lifting your roots and aiming the hair dryer at them, or bending over at the waist and flipping your hair over and then aiming the hair dryer at the roots to dry them.
Blow Dry Using A Round Ceramic Brush
Blow drying your roots using a round ceramic brush is a great way to get lift at your roots to create volume and hold throughout the day. Be sure to pick a round brush with a wider diameter to add volume like this one.
While it takes a bit of practice, drying your hair with a round brush has huge benefits when it comes to styling your hair. You can watch a how-to video on how to get a salon blowout for volume here.
Tip: Always let your hair air-dry half way before drying and styling with a round brush to avoid unnecessary damage.
Add Velcro Rollers or Curlers
To add a little more va-va-va-voom to your roots, add some jumbo velcro rollers to the places you want to add volume and lift. You can do this right after you blow dry your hair to allow the roots to cool and set with more volume, or you can add them in when hair is dry and then add heat to your roots with a hair dryer for a quick boost.
Large heated curlers are also a great way to heat your roots and add volume without drying – just be sure to let your hair fully cool to allow the roots to fully set to lock in the volume.
You can also use a large barrel curling iron to add a large curl directly at your roots for a fast volume boost (again, let the hair fully cool to lock in the volume!).
Regardless of how you get your volume, add a light mist of hairspray to give it some hold!
Tease Your Roots
I’ve been teasing my roots for volume since I could wield a rat tail comb – it is the quickest and easiest way to add instant volume to otherwise lifeless hair! To tease (a.k.a. backcomb) your roots, you will need a fine tooth comb or a dense bristle brush.
First, take a thin section of hair on the top of your head (about 1.5 inches wide). Then, insert your comb a couple inches away from your scalp and comb towards the roots about three times while holding your hair taut. After teasing, gently comb over the top of your hair to smooth out the teased sections.
It’s best if your hair is slightly dirty when teasing your roots; if your hair is too clean, it won’t hold the tease very well. You can also spray some dry shampoo or hair spray at the roots to hold the tease better. You can view a video on teasing roots here.
Fill In Your Scalp With A Coloured Powder
Thin hair can cause more of your scalp to be visible. Filling in these sparse areas on your scalp with a hairline powder that matches your hair colour will keep your scalp from showing through and will make it seem that your hair is fuller.
Toppik hair building fibres is a spray that you can use to fill in sparse patches or recreate a thin hairline in the front as well. Click on the Instagram reel below to see how Toppik works for thin hair.
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Add Some Hair Extensions
If you want the look of fuller hair and teasing and hairline powders aren’t enough, consider adding in some hair extensions. Hair extensions come in synthetic and natural options and can be cut and styled to meet your needs.
While you can apply hair extensions on your own, consider having your extensions applied by a qualified hair stylist; they can ensure your extensions are attached to look natural and can educate you as to how to maintain your extensions for maximum wear time.
Apply A Dry Shampoo or Texture Spray
One of my personal fave volume-amplifying hacks to make thin hair look fuller is using a dry shampoo or texture spray. Both products add texture to hair, which instantly makes thin hair look more full and beefy. My fave texture spray is the Garnier Fructis Texture Tease Spray – instant volume all the time!
Add Layers To Your Locks
If your hair is thin, keeping your hair all one length is a style choice that can often work against you. Adding different lengths into your hair – also referred to as “layering” – removes excess weight from your hair that can weigh down your roots and will give your style more texture and movement for a fuller look.
Change Up Your Colour
Adding a complimentary hair shade throughout your hair in the form of highlights or balayage can help add dimension and movement, which can make thin hair look deceptively fuller.
Style In Some Waves Or Curls
Stick straight hair that’s thin tends to emphasize thin hair. Try adding in some beachy waves or curls to add movement and fullness to thin hair. Spray your waves and curls with a texture spray for added body.
Avoid Conditioner On Your Roots
If you have thin hair, try to use a lightweight conditioner on your strands to avoid excess weight on your roots, or avoid using conditioner on your roots altogether.
Instead, apply conditioner mid-shaft to ends, which tend to be drier and in need of more TLC.
Try Some Bangs
Bangs are a great way to add fullness to the top of your head while framing your face. Work with your stylist to determine which bang style will work for you. For example, round, full faces look better with a tapered or curtain bang look while oval faces can wear any bang style.
Just a warning, bangs usually require more styling time, so take that into account before making the chop!
Avoid Hair Loss Where You Can
If your thin hair is caused by hair loss, doing everything you can to avoid hair loss will help you retain more hair and help your hair to look fuller. I have a dedicated post on how to reduce hair loss that you might find helpful!
10 Things You Can Do Right Now to Prevent Hair Fall
Find out how to reduce hair loss and thinning with these easy tips.
Stimulate New Hair Growth
There are topical products on the market that have been found to stimulate new hair growth, such as Rogaine. These products contain Minoxidil that has been shown to stimulate hair growth, but require consistent use to see results.
I hope you found your next hairstyle, styling trick or volumizing product to make your thin hair look thicker and fuller fast!
