My hair is thankfully growing and it's looking and feeling healthier, but I still have this one annoyance: the thinness of it. Especially towards the ends. In my youth (she says, as if she was 88 rather than 28! :rolleyes:), my hair was super thick. My mother, not to mention the stylists at the salons used to always complain when they had to deal with my hair because it was so thick. But it's certainly not thick anymore. Because it's in layers, the thickness just seems to disappear the further down the length til at the end it's not much to speak of.....

Is there any technique, product, leave-in....anything....that you can use to make your hair look fuller and thicker? Specifically something I can do myself at home or buy real cheap, nothing salon bought or expensive. My hair, alas, is straight so I can't even rely on any nice natural curliness. Any suggestions?

The only thing that came immediately to mind is to start micro-trimming the ends to thicken them up.

I have the curse of many layers, which really makes my ends look straggly. :twisted: I don't know if you want to keep your layers or grow them out, but as you get closer to one length (with trimming) the ends should look fuller. For non-damaging ways of making it look thicker you can try putting some waves in there to fluff it out a bit. I don't know how well your hair takes a wave, but Goody soft pillow-rollers are great, or you can try braid or bun waves. Product-wise, I would think anything that makes your hair look thicker would also build-up quickly. I don't have much experience with any products like that, but I wish you good luck! :flowers:

sometimes aloe - oil gloss works on me. as a leave-in that is.

Oo! Oo! I found that scritching bent over at the wait, while my hair is about 99% dry, results in some walloping volume. I don't know how much it affects the ends, to be frank, but it might be worth a try.

I don't know how you feel about trimming, but it would probably only take a few microtrims to make the ends look much thicker than you expect.

When I want some fullness I wash my hair, air dry about 75%, then put it into two french braids. After about 3 or 4 hours I take them out and have nice full shiney hair. Experiment with the braids cause if too tight you wind up with a puffy head, if too loose well nothing will happen. You can even do it at night and take them out in the a.m. If it's too puffy run you hands under water and finger comb your hair. That helps to take away some of the puff.

Just my :twocents:

Barb

I think I've read that a few people have said henna, and henna-and protien treatments have made their hair slightly thicker/fuller. Maybe something to bear in mind?

Well, one thing that I don't think anyone has touched on yet is avoiding breakage in the first place--which would make your ends thicker (or, almost as thick as the top). Here's another thread in which breakage avoidance is discussed:

http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/showthread.php?t=25030

I've done fenugreek conditioning rinses and they make my hair look fuller. I took powdered fenugreek, about a tablespoon, poured boiling water over it and then strained it and cooled and used as a rinse after cleansing with my other hair herbs. I had tons of volume but it did smell exactly like maple syrup.
Prairiechild
Oh, I found mine at an Asian store and it is labeled "methi".

I use Chagrin Valley shampoo bars, and I think they make my hair feel fuller.

Thanks for the ideas and advice everyone. It's something to think about anyway. I am trying to grow out my layers so I know it'll be a long process, just wondered if there was anything to do in the meantime

I don't have layers, but my hair is pretty thin. I just try to forget that it's thin. If someone is saying to themselves "ooh gross, her hair is so thin looking", then I really can't help it. I try to hide it by always braiding it when it's damp and taking it out so it has braid waves.

Bonnie

I would suggest a Cassia Obovata treatment. I certainly made my thin and fine hair feel and look more thick. I bought mine from Mehandi.com.

Guineapig...the one thing that literally jumped off the page at me was the statement about you having layers. I think you will notice a huge difference once you get those grown out. I know, I know, it will take some time but hang in there and try to be patient. I think you will notice much thicker and fuller hair after that.