So many products promise to make naturally thinner strands thicker — but do any of them really deliver?
For those of us born with naturally fine locks, it’s nigh impossible to miss the sheer number of products aimed right at us. Volumizing, thickening — it seems everywhere we turn now there’s a brand-new product promising to banish flat hair days.
But can any of them realistically work?
The good news is that some of them can absolutely deliver on the marketing promises — but you need to understand the product you’re using and keep your expectations realistic and in check.
Fine versus Thinning
Often fine and thinning hair are used interchangeably, and while there can be overlap, they are distinct. Many people are born with naturally fine hair — that means that their strands are simply built with a smaller diameter and are composed of less material. Many people with lighter hair colors tend to have finer hair (less material, less pigment) but of course that’s not a rule.
Just because your hair is fine, doesn’t mean there isn’t a lot of it. Counterintuitively, people with fine strands often have much denser hair than their thicker haired counterparts — to the tune of 140,000 plus strands versus 80,000 strands for some of the thickest hair types.
Fine hair refers to the diameter of each individual strand — fine-haired people simply have a smaller hair shaft circumference. Image by Mehedi on Unsplash.
In contrast, thinning hair may have started off fine or thick, but it’s noticeably changing. While thinning hair can become finer as thinning progresses as a part of hair miniaturization, the two are not mutually exclusive.
Fine = always been like this, Thinning = something is changing.
Destined to be Flat?
You can have dense, fine hair that looks flat, lacks body, refuses to hold a style, tangles easily and seems to go greasy between glimpses in the mirror, despite a high strand count. And that smaller surface area is often the culprit. There’s simply less of it per hair to hold product and shape, and it takes less oil than thicker strands to weigh it down.
Fine hair does have real, physical limitations: each strand has less structural mass, so it's more prone to looking flat, going limp with product buildup, and lying close to the scalp.
Always feel like your hair falls flat? Styling products could be the culprit. Photo by Gerhard Lipold
Mitigating Products: Tread Carefully
As far as deciding what products to incorporate, this is an area where less is often more. One of the biggest issues with products designed to address fine hair are that they often end up weighing hair down and making it look flatter. And many of the ones that can deliver temporary styling volume can use alcohols to deliver products with less waste, but dry hair strands out as they evaporate, causing other problems, like frizz.
As opposed to adding products to your routine, your best bet is to apply a strategy:
- Careful Cutting: A great stylist has all sorts of tricks to cut hair in a way that adds volumes and removes weight. A good cut makes an impactful difference.
- Lightweight Volumizing Formulas: Avoid conditioners and styling creams that use heavy oils and too many silicones that can flatten hair.
- Dimension with Highlights: colour can be used to create subtle dimension and create the illusion of more depth and texture.
- Increasing hair follicle diameter over time: This is the part most people overlook. The right ingredients can help thicken hair strands over time.
Increasing Hair Diameter
Though you might have been born with fine hair, the diameter of each strand can be influenced by the health and activity of the follicle producing it. Just because it started fine, doesn’t mean it has to stay that way.
Certain peptides have been shown to work at the follicle level to widen the hair's base as it grows. That can translate to strands with more diameter, not just the appearance of it from clever styling.
It’s an approach people often miss, and there are products out there that deliver.
The Feel Confident® Thickening Scalp Serum targets fine and thinning hair at the source. Formulated with biotinoyl tripeptide-1, a growth-anchoring peptide that strengthens the hair follicle base, niacinamide, and our ROOTDefense® blend of saw palmetto, pumpkin seed oil, caffeine and curcumin, this lightweight leave-in absorbs quickly with no greasy residue. In an 8-week clinical and consumer perception study, there was a statistically significant increase in hair thickness, as measured by microscopic image analysis. In addition, over 90% of users reported seeing improvement in their thinning hair and agreed that their scalp looked visibly denser.". 90% of users reported that their hair looked visibly denser, less thin, with enhanced visible fullness at the roots.
100% of participants agreed —‘This serum leaves my scalp hydrated and soothed’
For an added styling bonus, follow with The Feel Confident® Thickening Foam to lock in fullness throughout your day. Our lightweight, non-greasy styling foam is formulated with niacinamide and ROOTDefense® to boost the appearance of volume and density without weighing hair down.
For fuller, healthier-looking and feeling hair from root to tip, get to know the Feel Confident Thickening Shampoo and Conditioner and round-out your at home haircare routine.
A system for anyone whose fine hair always seems out of their control. Real support at the hair follicle level that will have you saying bye to flat hair days.
