+ Hair Tool - Frizz

My recommendation is to never brush or comb your hair. Instead, use conditioner and your fingers to detangle your hair in the shower and try shampooing as little as possible. I have very oily hair and skin and this method leaves me with curls and no greasiness. If you're interested in wearing your hair curly, I can't recommend the book http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0761123008/metafilter-20/ref=nosim/ enough. The techniques in the book are the only thing that has ever made any difference in fighting frizziness while wearing my hair curly. The author has a line of products, but the book gives a lot of information on ingredients (rather than specific products) that you should try or avoid. Also, getting a good cut from someone who specializes in curly hair is a huge help. I was so fed up with stylists always wanting to straighten my hair, I cut it myself for 5+ years. Now I see someone who specializes in curly hair and it's made a big difference. Feel free to MeFiMail me if you want more info.

Have you tried not brushing at all?. My hair is wavy and very thick. I never brush it. I still get a little bit of frizz, but that might be because I'm constantly messing with it. Form what i've always been told, some of the biggest causes of frizz with hair like ours is brushing it and touching it.

Thanks to every single one of you for your answers. I'm marking http://ask.metafilter.com/116992/Hair-Tool-Frizz#1677228 as best for now, because it was so straightforward and also seconded by larkin123 above. I have to wash my hair tomorrow, so I'll continue obsessing over the advice here (I started to list what I found the most useful and realised there was too much) and start on narrowing it all down to what works for me.

I have very thick, straight hair that used to be frizzy. If you do use a brush, I'd second the Mason Pearson recommendation. Even though it got good reviews on Makeup Alley, I put off buying it for years. Big mistake. It really smooths out my hair. I think it takes the oils near the roots and redistributes them along the length of the hair. It doesn't seem to get rid of tangles in my hair though, so you might need to comb through your hair first. As for hairdryers, I've heard good things about T3 Tourmaline hairdryers (T3 Evolution, I think). I'm not good with hairdryers, so I haven't tried it yet. You might want to try using aloe vera gel as a light substitute for hair products. Again, this is a tip I picked up on Makeup Alley, and it's served me well for years now. Recently, I tried washing my hair with castile soap (Kirk's Castile bar soap, to be exact). It left my hair very soft and shiny. Might be worth a shot. Hope this helps.

I'm not quite in your boat, but close. I recommend an 'afro-pick' (which may be functionally equivalent to some of the brushes mentioned above.) Comb when you get out of the shower, and tie it back (scarf, scrunchee, whatever) until it dries. Then leave it alone. Don't worry it until you get out of the shower the next morning.

For blowdrying, my stylist (who I see because she specializes in curly hair) has started using one of http://www.beautydeals.net/shop/details.html?id=9785&utm_source=Google_Base&utm_medium=Feed&utm_campaign=Feed on my hair. (Haven't bought one for home yet, but I'm considering it.) I love all the Deva products for curly hair. They smell really fresh and nice.

In addition to the rest of this great advice--when you say you wash your hair, do you also condition it? I would suggest adding conditioner to your routine to help with the wet-brushing. You can even "conditioner wash"--wet hair, apply conditioner, rub scalp vigorously, detangle if needed, rinse well--every day, which would probably eliminate some of the root grease (and any concern about the roots getting additionally greasy while you're using conditioner and not shampoo). Experiment with amounts of conditioner (I'm surprised at how much my hair can take without looking greasy/weighed down) and leaving some in (stop rinsing before it's squeaky clean). Detangling is a lot easier (and hurts a lot less) when you start at the ends of your hair. Grab a section of hair and comb the last inch, then when that's detangled, move up an inch or two; when that's detangled, move up another few inches. http://www.naturallycurly.com is a website with good resources and forums for folk like us.

I have curly to wavy (depending on the humidity) fine hair. I like the Denman brushes, but I brush it just before showering with some intensive conditioner or detangler. Then it doesn't matter how frizy it gets because I'm washing it momentairly. (Also this makes my scalp and my shower drain happier). ps. search for the other curly hair threads on ask if you want a few additional tips.

My solution: don't use traditional shampoo, don't use silicone-heavy products, and don't use a hairbrush. A high-thread-count cotton sateen pillowcase also helps. My worst hair years (0-16, sadly) were the ones where I brushed and brushed, hoping it would make my hair manageable.