When people comment that my natural hair is “thick,” I laugh. Inside and outside. It’s the same laugh you feel when someone says you’ve lost weight, but you know it’s your Spanx. Or the mental chuckle you have when someone says you have full eyebrows, but you know you put in serious work with that eyebrow pencil and concealer. My hair is a deep, deep almost black brown. It is coily, curly and wavy in some places. It is abundant, and there is a lot of it. It grows up and out, never down. It is indeed a crown. But, my friends it is not thick. Not a bit. In reality, I have fine natural hair. Which has its benefits. I am grateful for every strand, but sometimes I really like looks with more volume. So if you have fine natural hair like I do, take note…
Here are five things that I do to maximize volume to my natural hair, without extensions:
Cornrow or French Braid loosely.
This is my favorite style these days, and it is very, very easy.
I braid as loosely as I can without the braid unraveling. I do not braid tightly, at all. Braiding loosely can cause a few loose ends that pop out along the braid.
I tuck them in, secure them with a bobby pin and keep it moving. In this picture, you can see two French braids I did on my hair that are incredibly loose.
Twist very loosely.
This is a go-to technique for me.
I twist tightly at the root and then very loosely down the length of the twists. At the very end I twist tightly to secure the ends. By doing this, the twists look significantly fuller. This video by Cipriana of UrbanBushBabes changed my natural hair life a few years ago. She has self-described fine natural hair, with a tight curl/coil patter. I couldn’t believe her hair was twisted. My twists are usually tighter, but loose twists give both of us versatility and fullness.
No Super Straight Blow Drying.
I know you might read this and think #teamnoheat.
That’s great, you can skip this tip. If not, lean in…
When I want to maximize volume I blow dry my hair and stop before it is straight and silky. The goal is to get some stretch, but maintain fullness. In this picture, I have a little stretch from blow-drying, but it is far from silky.
Twist with a stacked pattern instead of parting ear-to-ear.
Twists are great. I noticed when I twisted my hair in straight rows there was a clean and beautiful view…of my parted scalp. That was not the goal. To add fullness to my twists, I part my hair diagonally. Instead of parting ear-to-ear, I part ear-to neck. In the front, I part from hairline-to-ear. This ensures that my twists fall in between open parts, displaying more twist and less scalp. In this video (starting at 1:15), she does a great job showing the stacked pattern that I use. My twists are typically larger, but the pattern she uses is a winner for me. Another option is to part ear-to-ear, with each twist starting in the center of the one above or below it.
Updos.
Updos are a win-win-win. Your hair can last for a few days, it looks pretty amazing, and you can create fullness with a few tucks, rolls and bobby pins.
The style pictured here is a little bit of tip #2, because the twists are very loose. It is flat-twisted on the side maybe a quarter of the way up. Then the remaining hair is loosely twisted individually. Those twists are parted into five sections.
With the four sections in the back I rolled the ends like there was an invisible roller in the middle, then secured it with a bobby pin. With the one section in the front I created a side bang and pinned the ends.
BONUS… Because who doesn’t like a bonus?
Bluntly cut ends.
My hair looks and feels significantly more voluminous when my ends are cut bluntly. This isn’t about hair health, because tapered ends are not necessarily split or damaged. For those of us with finer hair, bluntly cut ends can give the appearance of volume and fullness.
Chantal Kamya
Latest posts by Chantal Kamya (see all)
- Natural At Any Stage In Life: A Four Part Natural Hair Journey Series – Part Four Yemi A. - October 26, 2017
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- Natural At Any Stage In Life: A Four Part Natural Hair Journey Series – Part Two Reese D. - October 24, 2017
