7 Mistakes To Stop Making If You Have Fine Hair

Styling your own hair is not the easiest task to tackle, but it can be made a little less complicated by working with—and not against—your hair type. How you are approaching your hair type and texture can sneakily be sabotaging you in the process, which is already effort-consuming as it is. If you have fine hair particularly, the small width of the strands can make it hard to hold volume, no matter if you're sporting thicker density of hair overall or if you also have thin hair. Fine hair has a proclivity for falling flat, simple as that.

Luckily, there are tips and tricks that will set those with fine or thin hair (often suffering from similar issues) up for success, instead of dragging them down to the depths of styling disaster. Avoid these top fine hair mistakes, and you're off to a good start.

Here are 7 major mistakes to stop making if you have fine hair.

Mistake #1: Using Too Much Product

You might have been told in the past that fine hair needs more and more product to lift it up and keep it there. With careful and minimal use, gels, mousses, sprays, and balms can work wonders. However, there's such a thing as product buildup. Apply too much or too many products, and they can also secretly weigh your strands down even more—leaving those roots without a chance.

Choose one volumizing root lifter, such as Color Wow Raise the Root Thicken + Lift Spray, to bolster your routine. It gives amazing results and can be used on both wet or dry hair.

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Mistake #2: Getting The Wrong Haircut

The proposed answer to so many hair woes is simple: get more layers. If you have fine strands, this can help a little or hurt a lot, depending on the amount you ask for. Too many layers can make your hair appear more lacking in body and volume. Instead, go with volume-enhancing styles like blunt ends, full bangs, and short lengths.

The rare exception is someone with fine hair, but a ton of it. If you have thick hair made up of densely packed fine strands, well-placed (read: not too many) long layers will give dimension and volume to your cut. Here are some of our favorite haircuts for fine hair. And thin hair.

Mistake #3: Using Too Much Conditioner

This slippery little bugger has been right under your nose the whole time. As we've said, fine hair can be easily weighed down, and using too much conditioner in the shower (much like using too much product when styling) is going to add unwanted weight to your strands and drag them down. Instead, use a tiny amount on the section of hair from midway down to your ends without going near the roots. Don't risk any extra buildup with the IGK First Class Weightless Replenishing Conditioner.

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Mistake #4: Keeping Hair Very Long

It's tempting to cling to long hair like a security blanket. However, the most flattering lengths for fine or thin hair are shoulder-length or shorter, no matter your age. It removes enough weight to give your mane a boost of fullness at the ends, and it makes it much easier to add volume to the roots. When fine strands are very long (especially when paired with too many layers), they can look lifeless. Keep the ends blunt to feign even more thickness. Here are the cutest one-length haircuts to try now.

Mistake #5: Forgetting About Your Scalp Health

To maximize your volume potential and stimulate new hair growth, you can invest in a clarifying shampoo or scalp scrub. These are designed to remove product buildup and exfoliate your hair follicles. "A scalp scrub will give you a deeper clean and will physically exfoliate away the dirt, oil, and product build-up that can clog hair follicles," says Franck Izquierdo, co-founder of IGK Hair Care.

Incorporate the Briogeo Scalp Revival Charcoal + Coconut Oil Micro-Exfoliating Shampoo into your routine once or twice each week.

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Mistake #6: Using the Wrong Blow-Drying Technique

There's a reason you always leave the hair salon with a higher-than-heaven blowout, and it's all in the round brush. After applying the smallest amount of volumizing mousse or spray, use the round brush to lift your hair up and away from the root as you blow-dry. This gravity-defying trick might be hard to master, but it's more than worth it when you're styling fine or thin hair. Here's the best trick to using a round brush.

Mistake #7: Bringing on the Breakage

Fine hair is prone to split ends. Split ends, as we know, make your hair appear less healthy in terms of volume, length, and density. Once the damage is done, it travels up the hair shaft until you cut it off. The best approach? Getting ahead of it.

No more roughhousing. That means investing in a microfiber hair towel and a gentle detangling brush. These game-changing products will keep your strands in tip-top shape and breakage at bay.

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Fine hair doesn't have to be a fickle friend!