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How To Scrunch Hair For Added
Texture and Body

If you have natural texture or curls you can scrunch hair to create volume, texture, and body.

Textured or curly hair is most compatible with scrunching.

If you want to get away without having to blow dry your hair or using hot irons or hot rollers, you can scrunch a really nice hair style with lots of curls. This helps prevent more heat damage to your hair because in this method, you allow your hair to air dry with some hair products in it.

curly hair image You can opt to use a blow dryer or a diffuser to help set your curls.

If you use one, be sure to use the low speed/cool setting on your blow dryer to avoid blowing out your curls.

Get your hands ready and use the following steps to crunch natural waves into your hair! Ready, set, scrunch hair!

How To Scrunch Hair

Use your favorite shampoo and rinse out conditioner. If you wish to enhance your hair’s natural texture when you scrunch hair, consider using a texturizing or volumizing hair product which will help define curls. Matrix Amplify is well known for helping to add volume!

Tip: For optimal scrunching avoid using shampoo or conditioners which soften your hair or else scrunching will not hold and will quickly fall out. Do not use heavy conditioners!

Rinse all shampoo and conditioners completely out of your hair.

Finish with a cool/cold water rinse which helps to seal in moisture, add shine, and enhance the hair's ability to form curls and waves.

Gently squeeze out excess water from your hair with your fingers then run a pick or a wide toothed comb through your hair to remove any knots. Don’t towel dry your hair when you scrunch hair or you’ll also pull out most of the natural waves in your hair. Use a combination of techniques which include squeezing out any excess water, and blotting hair strands with a towel.

Tip: If you're having a hard time getting your wide toothed comb through your hair, use spray on detanglers.

Towel blot with a thick towel to decrease drying time. It's best to wait and apply products to moist hair instead of wet hair. Wet hair is super saturated so it won't hold hair products well.

On moist hair, apply hair styling products like gels or mousse for curly hair, to the middle and ends of your hair strands. A great way to apply mousse, is to use a vented brush and apply some mousse to the brush. Then gently brush it through your hair, which distributes the mousse evenly.

Avoid using a lot of heavy products too close to your scalp (on your roots), which may weigh down your hair. Its alright to apply some but don't overdo it. If you can't seem to get any lift out of your roots and want it, use root lifters. These are especially made to work near your scalp and won't add weight to your style.

If you're still having trouble getting your hair to curl near your roots, go ahead and apply gel to your roots to help create curls. Some people, including myself, tend to have flatter hair on top and curlier hair underneath. If that's you, then spray a gel onto roots and move your hair around with your fingertips at the roots. Do in sections, lifting your hair up as you spray the root areas. If you're hair's still flat, use a root lifter.

Be sure to tap gel or mousse onto the tips of your hair especially. The products that are available today have come a long way, so take advantage of them. Bed Head, Power Trip Hair Gel is very popular because it works well but there are lots of gels for curly hair you can use!

If you prefer a mousse, try a curl defining mousse. A good choice for thin hair or baby fine hair and want more action, use products like Sexy Hair Concepts, Blow It Up Gel Foam. Its made for short hairstyles but works very well on longer hairstyles too!

Don't be afraid to layer products to get the best look. You may wish to mix a smoothing cream, (like Dumb Blonde Smoothing Stuff) or gel along with other styling products to add texture and block frizzies at the same time.

Once you get all the products into your hair (gel, mousse, styling creams), use both of your hands and start scrunching individual sections of your hair. Push your hair upwards towards your scalp and scrunch hair over and over again. Work all the way around your head. Be sure not to miss any sections.

You can also opt to turn your head upside down when you scrunch hair. You can really separate the sections and get some good scrunching going on this way.

To scrunch properly, place your hands at the ends of your hair, cup your hands, and start squeezing and pushing your hair upwards towards your scalp.

You can opt to use a blow dryer or a hair diffuser to help set your hair. If you use one, be sure to use the low speed/cool setting on your blow dryer to avoid blowing out your curls. If you are using a long finer diffuser, the key is to allow your hair rest in the base of the diffuser bowl.

Optimally, its actually best to let your hair dry naturally! Really!

After your hair is thoroughly dry, if you find that you missed sections, spritz water on those areas and apply more hair products. Keep scrunching and moving your hair around. The more you play with it, the curlier it's bound to get.

To keep your hair from going flat overnight, pull your hair up loosely with a soft hair tie while you sleep and/or use a satin pillowcase on your pillow. In the morning, take your hair tie out carefully and spritz your hair with water to get back the bounce.

If you're a curly girl, you may also want to co-wash your hair.

Experiment with different size sections of hair. Have fun when you scrunch hair, and create hip styles that give you long lasting pleasure!