Many women ask me how to tease hair or back-comb hair so it holds up during the day and doesn't damage their hair. (Not talking about calling it names:o) Its really easy if you follow some basic steps.
Teasing your hair can add fullness to a hairstyle and give fine, limp hair added body and style. If you have curly hair, you already have more volume than people with straight hair. Make sure you don’t damage the cuticle layer of your hair by first straightening your hair. This help to lay down the hair cuticle. If you use a curling iron, hot rollers, or blow dryer, make sure your hair is completely cooled down before teasing it though.
Lesson in hair structure: The structure of your hair is important to understand when you style your hair a lot. Just like your nails, your hair has a cuticle, which is the top protective layer of your hair. When your cuticle lays down, your hair looks smooth. When your cuticle is lifted, your hair looks frizzy. Anti frizz products help to lay down the cuticle and that’s why they take away frizz.
When all your hair is teased, take a soft natural bristled brush and gently smooth the hair down.
Take care to not brush too hard since you only want to smooth the very top layer, not the part underneath that you just teased!
When you tease hair, you are actually adding frizz to your hair by pushing the cuticle of your hair back in the opposite direction that it’s meant to lay. Hair cuticles are meant to lay down, not up.
That’s why teased hair holds in place. Backcombing can leave hair more vulnerable to damage over time so don’t do it every day. Save it for special occasions only.
How to Tease Hair
1. Spray the hair with an aerosol hairspray first and let it dry.
2. Using a rattail comb or other fine toothed comb, and part off a section of hair from the rest of the strands. Many women tease their bang section, so if thats what you're doing, leave bangs down only. Clip the rest of your hair out of the way. Smaller sections work best and will provide for tighter and longer lasting hold.
3. Hold the hair strand straight up with one hand while you hold your comb with the other hand. Comb (or stroke) the hair strand from the ends of your hair down towards the scalp. Repeat this until all the hair looks teased. The backcombed strand should feel thicker than the rest of your hair. Spray the section with hairspray and go on to the next section.
4. If you want a more uniform and long lasting style, hold the new section so that when you tease hair you are actually grabbing a small piece from the last section. This will prevent "holes" in your hair style.
5. When all your hair is teased, take a soft natural bristled brush and gently smooth the hair down. Take care to not brush too hard since you only want to smooth the very top layer.
Finish your style with a flexible hair spray or a freeze spray, depending on how long you want your style to last. Add a touch of spray shine or shine product to smooth any stray hairs.
*If you want your hair to stand up at the roots, another way to get them to cooperate and achieve this is to:
1) Decide which hair sections you want to lift up. (i.e. bangs)
2) Spray the roots with either freeze hairspray or use a apply a firm holding gel or mousse on the roots.
3) Holding your hair straight up by the ends, use the low control on your blow dryer and dry the roots that you sprayed with hairspray or applied gel or mousse to.
This will freeze your roots in the upright position. You won't have to tease hair to get it to lift. This will also hold for hours if the air around you isn't too humid. The more humidity in the air, the less time the effect will last.
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