Fine, flat, or limp: a guide to the hair types that crave volume

If your hair goes flat by lunch, or never seems to hold the volume you want, the first step is naming what you are actually working with. Fine, flat, and limp get used as if they mean the same thing, but they describe three different things, and the fix is a little different for each.

Fine hair: a matter of strand width

Fine is about the width of each individual strand. You can have a full head of fine hair or a sparse one, but either way each strand is slim, so it carries less natural structure and body. Fine hair tends to feel soft, show oil faster, and lose its shape quickly. The instinct is to pile on product, but that only adds weight. What fine hair actually needs is more body built into the strand itself.

Flat hair: it is about the root

Flat is about how your hair sits against your scalp. Even thick hair can lie flat with no lift at the crown. Flatness usually comes from weight at the roots, whether from heavy products, buildup, or simple gravity on hair that has nothing holding it up. Lift starts at the root, so a clean, weightless wash is where volume begins.

Fine, flat, and limp are three different problems. The fix is the same idea: give every strand more to work with.Jonelle, our founder

Limp hair: volume that will not hold

Limp is about staying power. You style in body and it drops within hours. Limp hair often lacks the resilience to hold a shape, which is where conditioning and strand strength come in. Volume that lasts is built into the hair, not sprayed on top of it, so it can hold through the day.

Most of us are a mix

Plenty of people are fine and flat and limp all at once, which is exactly the hair we built for. The good news is that one approach helps all three at the same time:

• Thicken each strand so there is more body to work with.
• Keep everything light so roots can actually lift.
• Condition for resilience so the body holds instead of dropping.

How we build lasting volume

Our 140dB Complex is built to do all three. It visibly thickens each strand for up to 74 percent more thickness and volume, stays lightweight with no buildup, and is color safe and vegan. The routine is three steps and about five minutes.

1. Wash with our Thickening Shampoo for lift at the root.
2. Condition with our Thickening Conditioner, kept off the scalp so roots stay light.
3. Finish with our Hypertrophy Treatment to thicken each strand. Because the formula is progressive, the fullness builds and lasts 20 plus washes.