The Best Anti-Frizz Hair Products

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Sprays

The best anti-frizz spray overall

Stage:Pre-blow-dry |Ingredients - styling:Hair-safe water-soluble silicones, glycerin

If I could use only one anti-frizz product, it would be Color Wow’s Dream Coat. My hairdresser introduced me to it last year. When she applied it liberally and blow-dried my freshly cut hair, my hair had more gloss and shine than it had ever had before. I wanted to see if I could get similar results at home, so I bought a bottle. My first few applications didn’t make much of a difference. But the key to this product is to absolutely drench your hair in the stuff. And I mean drench: Once you’ve applied a coat thorough enough to feel ridiculous, go ahead and spray on a little bit more. A lot of product, yes, but worth it — you only have to repeat the process every three to four hair washes. For me, that works out at once every two weeks.

The Dream Coat is an interesting product because it’s heat-activated — if you air-dry your hair, it won’t work. (This also means it can’t be used on already dried hair.) The heat activates the spray’s hydrophobic qualities. “The advanced formula leaves your hair ultrasmooth, glossy, and glassy, with humidity-blocking technology that keeps your style intact,” saysMaria Elizabeth, the founder of Salon deZen. And although you really have to douse it on, once dry, both Elizabeth and I can confirm it’s still lightweight yet long-lasting. And while I’ll top up my sleekness with a bit of oil throughout the week, before blow-drying I don’t use anything else: It doubles up as a heat protectant, too.

Lauren Stark, SVP of communications at Vox Media, told me she’d started using the Dream Coat late last year. “I have been really happy with it,” she says. “I was getting a haircut after I’d used it literally once, and my stylist was like, ‘Your texture’s different — are you using a new product?’ She then guessed which product, so I guess she is a savant.”

Another reason why this is my top pick: There is also a Color Wow Dream Coat made specifically forcurly hair types. Unlike the original Dream Coat, it doesn’t need heat to activate — meaning it will work on both air-dried and diffused curls. There’s also anextra-strengthversion of the product for extremely dry hair, which I’m testing next — so stay tuned.

Stage:Pre-heat-styling |Ingredients - nourishing:Keratin and jojoba oil

Where Color Wow envelops the hair and forms a veil against humidity, this budget-friendly spray hydrates the dry hair that would lead to frizziness. And it doesn’t need heat to work. StylistRogerio Cavalcantelikes this option for the hydrating ingredient list. “The keratin and jojoba oil hydrates dryness that can lead to flyaways,” he says. “Hair is left smooth and frizz-free for an extended time after a blowout.” I also like that it adds heat protection to the hair and comes in a huge bottle — “so you get more bang for your buck,” adds Patterson.

Stage:Any |Ingredients - nourishing:Aloe vera

This is another hydration-focussed option. I heard about it from our resident beauty columnist,Rio Viera-Newton, who is a fellow frizzy-hair sufferer. “I’ve talked about how helpful aloe vera can be for skin, and it honestly has an equally amazing effect on my hair,” she says. “I use this on both wet and dry hair as a moisture boost in the morning — it sinks deep into my hair, immediately gets rid of any stubborn frizzes, and never makes my hair feel sticky or heavy.” The spray also can act as a detangler on pre-combed hair.

Leave-insandoils

Best anti-frizz hair serum for styling

Stage:Any |Ingredients - styling:Water soluble silicones

There are a few major differences between serums and oils. Oils penetrate deeper into the hair strands, whereas serums tend to sit on the top of the hair — that’s why you might have heard talk about serums feeling lighter on the hair. It all comes back to the smoothing versus hydrating function: Serums will smooth and add some control to the styling process, where oils will go in and actually add moisture to the strands. If you always find that an oil is weighing your hair down (say, if it’s on the thinner side), I’d recommend trying a serum like this one. It contains water-soluble silicones that form an anti-humidity barrier on the hair to tackle frizz both during blow-drying and beyond. Patterson gravitates toward it because it’s “budget-friendly, paraben-free, oil-free, and vegan” and because he’s found it gives the same great results on “both wet and dry hair of every hair type and texture.” It’s also completely oil-free — a plus for anyone with thinner hair.

Stage:Any |Ingredients — nourishing:Amino acids, shea butter and nourishing oils

Just one look at the ingredient list on this serum will tell you how intensely hydrating it is. It has everything I look for in a dry-hair-appropriate product: restoring amino acids, hydrating shea butter, nourishing essential oils, and the added bonus of mushroom to protect against free radicals. It can be used on both wet and dry hair and even on your skin, stylistHaley Campisetells me. “For curly hair, it can be added to dry or dampened hair to reset curls,” she says. “It not only helps get rid of frizz, but it is also a treatment that actually moisturizes your hair long term. I find that the longer you use it, the less frizzy your hair will be. It also smells incredible.”

Stage:Any| Ingredients - nourishing:Coconut oil, fennel seed oil

High-porosityhair tends to be frizzy — if you notice that your hair dries out rapidly post-shower, you’ll want to start layering moisturizing products to hydrate your hair and get ahead of the frizz.Ebony Clark-Bomani, a cosmetologist and educator, likes this leave-in from Mizani to slow that evaporation down. Although it has coconut oil (which is considered heavy), due to its lightweight composition and the fact it acts as a heat protectant (meaning one less product to apply), it’s a great option for fine-hair types that tend to get weighed down by the heavy stuff.

Stage:Any| Ingredients - nourishing:Squalane, meadowfoam seed oil, snow mushroom

Withfine hair, frizz isn’t always about dryness. The strands are so light and delicate that they can separate from each other and look fuzzy — and most smoothing products are too heavy for this texture. Strategist senior writer Emma Wartzman likes this weightless leave-in conditioner. “I have very fine hair, and it doesn’t weigh down my strands,” she says. “It’s such a lightweight product.” Wartzman notices a big difference when she skips it. The leave-in contains a 2 percentsqualaneblend that smooths and hydrates without the heavy feel of oils or silicones.

Creamsandgellies

Best anti-frizz hair cream

Stage:Pre-blow-dry |Ingredients - nourishing:Shea butter, ginger root oil, coconut oil

This cream is heavy on the hydration: just what we want. It contains shea butter and coconut oil — both intensely moisturizing ingredients in skin care and hair care — as well as ginger-root oil, which has lots of fatty acids to quench thirsty hair. Creams in general are heavier products than serums, so I recommend going a little lighter on your application. But once you find the right amount for your hair (it will differ from hair type to hair type; on my thinner hair, I start off with a pea-size amount and freestyle from there), you’re left with “hair looking and feeling incredibly shiny and frizz-free the entire day,” says Patterson.

Stage:Pre-styling |Ingredients - nourishing:Pro vitamin B5, wheat-germ oil, jojoba oil

Curly hairis more porous than straight hair (meaning it has more gaps in its cuticle layer that allow moisture to pass through). Often, curly-hair types will encounter frizz. To combat it, the best products will add moisture to the hair (and fill in those gaps) as well as add a little bit of hold and grip to make it easier to style the curls. For those latter two steps (the actual styling of curls), Stephanie Louis, owner of Stylebox Salon, relies on this drugstore staple. She says it’s a “holy grail of double whammies.” To use it, you smoothly apply the gel to wet hair, letting your hair air-dry before scrunching your curls into place. The Soultanicals site recommends you not touch your hair while you let it air-dry to avoid frizz. The result is perfectly set, zero-frizz curls. The jojoba oil in there hydrates, too.

Stage:Pre-styling |Ingredients - nourishing:Argan oil

This curl-defining cream also streamlines the styling process for curlier hair types. It’s packed full of argan oil — my favorite oil for hair care — which nourishes curls and adds the moisture that’s key to fighting frizz. Mirjam Bayoumi, who owns a namesake salon on the Upper East Side, also says it makes the process of styling curls that much simpler. “You put it on after the shower, and it’s basically wash-and-go — you can twist your curls a little bit, but that’s it,” she says. Dhiran Mistry, a stylist at David Mallett salon, says that it’s also suitable for wavy hair types, as the hold isn’t too heavy.

Masks

The best anti-frizz hair mask

Stage:Pre-wash |Ingredients - nourishing:Fiaschetto tomato extract (rich in antioxidants and vitamin C), vitamin E

Rio also likes to use ahair maskto combat frizz in more humid months and climates. “I like sitting in this mask for about an hour or two while I watch TV. Afterward, when I’ve washed it out, my hair feels soft, smooth, and light,” she says. “It’s the perfect way to get some nourishment into your locks without having your hair feel overly bouncy and big.” Hair masks are great for tackling frizz, as they can really intensely add that hydration element. This one in particular contains vitamin E, which improves hair elasticity, and vitamin C, which helps the hair produce collagen — combined, they improve the hair’s strength over time and prevent breakage.