Sleep on a Silk Pillowcase. Smooth hair starts with beauty sleep—literally. Hair doesn’t feel soft when the scales on the outer layer of the hair, known as the cuticle, don’t lie flat.
This is what causes the hair to look frizzy and dull, and feel incredibly brittle. If you want to prevent disruption to the hair cuticle while you sleep, consider investing in a silk pillowcase.
Sleeping on a silk pillowcase can help reduce the friction that causes frizz and breakage while you toss and turn throughout the night.
Avoid Drying Ingredients and Products. Depending on your hair type, certain products or ingredients could exacerbate hair dryness. Sticking to gentle haircare products and avoiding potentially drying ingredients can help the hair retain much-needed moisture.
Avoiding sulfates and “bad” alcohols will leave your strands smoother and softer. Certain styling products, such as hairspray, can also dehydrate strands, leading to second-day frizz and roughness.
We recommend using a lightweight vitamin C leave-in conditioner to add back moisture and smooth the mid-lengths to the ends of dry hair.
Reassess Your Wash Day. From your shower head to the shampoo you use, you have many opportunities to add softness to your hair in the shower. That’s thanks to the most important hydrating ingredient of them all: water.
Hair can lose its soft, supple feeling for a variety of reasons. This can be anything from poor water quality to UV and heat damage, or even high humidity in the air.
Ultimately, the rough feeling comes from a ruffled cuticle. You want to smooth and seal the cuticle in the shower because an expanded cuticle feels damaged.
Try using shampoos and conditioners formulated specifically with hydrating ingredients. You may also need to look into the water you wash your hair with.
Depending on where you live, you may have “hard water,” which can severely affect your hair’s health and texture. No matter your location, a filtered shower head may help to soften your hair instantly.
Try a Deep Conditioning Treatment. For smooth, soft hair, it’s all about controlling your frizz. Since frizzy hair types tend to be dryer, it’s important to hydrate without weighing down the strands.
Look for products that will lock in moisture and control frizz over time. One way to quickly maximize moisture is through deep conditioning treatments.
When it comes to softening hair at home, consistent moisturizing, deep conditioning treatments, and hair oiling can be very effective. You can treat your hair with a restorative deep-conditioning treatment weekly for the best results.
Use a Microfiber Towel. The conditioner you use in the shower works to smooth your hair, but you could be working against it with how you dry it afterward. Many people quickly and roughly dry their hair with a traditional cotton towel.
This can actually completely disrupt the hair cuticle. Instead, we highly recommend gently blotting excess moisture.
Consider switching to a microfiber towel that will absorb water without contributing to frizz or breakage.
Avoid Excessive Heat Styling. As we’ve learned from our experts, silky-soft hair is hydrated hair with a healthy cuticle. Heat styling tools dry out hair while disrupting the cuticle, leaving it feeling rough and brittle.
For these reasons, cutting back on heat styling whenever possible is extremely beneficial to improving the look and feel of your hair. It’s important to note that you should reduce heat styling, not necessarily eliminate it.
Heat styling can be done without serious damage to the hair if you prepare properly and use heat protection products. In fact, heat styling can even be beneficial for sealing the cuticle, but only when done correctly.
Use a Heat Protectant. When you have to heat style your hair, a reliable heat protectant is an absolute must. There’s a misconception that air drying means that your hair will automatically be less frizzy.
In reality, heat drying is what will close and smooth the cuticle—as long as it’s done with proper heat protection. When blow drying or heat styling, use a product that will help smooth your strands while offering a strong heat barrier.
Look for products that act like a keratin treatment in a can. These will smooth, add shine, reduce frizz for up to 24 hours, and offer 450°F heat protection.
Apply a Leave-in Product.
While a significant amount of moisture is added when you wash and condition your hair, leave-in products can extend that hydration beyond wash days. There are many kinds of leave-in conditioners, each designed to provide moisture for different hair types and textures.
Hair serums are fantastic to lock in hydration and maximize smoothness and shine. Apply a serum at the end of a blow dry to boost shine and completely tame flyaways.
You can use it again between washes to restore softness, smoothness, and shine on dry days.
Consider a Salon Treatment. There are many solutions for achieving smooth hair at home, but some people may benefit from an in-salon treatment. This is especially true if their hair is extremely rough or heavily damaged.
Salon treatments are also beneficial if you’re looking to achieve silky-smooth hair quickly. Some at-home treatments require consistent use over a long period to see full results.
For in-salon smoothing, consider asking your stylist about keratin or hair Botox treatments.