Avoid Summer Humidity Frustration: Tips for Managing Your Hair

Managing Natural Hair in Humid Weather

“I hate humid weather”. I often hear many women regardless of race or hair texture utter those words. Many of us dread what the humidity will do to our natural hair. Well while humidity can be a pain, your natural hair can actually thrive in humid weather. When it is humid the extra moisture in the air leaves my hair feeling super soft and I tend to have less breakage during warmer humid months. In dry cold air on the other hand, hair is more prone to break. Use this to your advantage! Instead of fighting the humidity find styles that work with your natural curly locs.

5 Quick Tips to manage natural hair in humidity

1) Avoid moisturizers and leave in conditioners that are high in glycerin content. Glycerin is a humectant. In high humidity it tends to make the hair swell and frizz. ( I know I had to ditch my curl activator)

2) Use products that smooth the hair shaft. I tend to use more leave in conditioners like Kinky Curly and I seal with oil. I don’t use curl activators like I do in the winter time unless I plan on wearing a fro.

3) For smoother hair use a silicone based sealer. I personally save this for special occasions when I need my hair to last. One of my favorite silicone sealers is Silk FX Drops.

Me in super humid Cancun wearing shrunken twists and holding a real iguana!

4) Don’t stop deep conditioning. Dry hair will be MORE frizzy. A good moisturizing conditioner will help minimize frizz. Lately I have been using Giovanni 2 Chic Conditioner to help with the summer frizzies.

5) Stick with curly styles and protective natural hair styles. I personally don’t bother with straightening my hair in humid weather. Expect some shrinkage and learn to be okay with that!

Personally I have found that 1 big benefit of shrinkage in humid weather is that it helps keep hairstyles off of my neck so I stay cooler. The natural hair styles below are some of my favorites to wear in warm humid weather. Check out the style gallery for tutorials and more styling ideas.