Why does hair go frizzy in humid weather?

18th Jul 2014

Has the recent humid weather had you suffering like many of us in the Mashooq team? No we don’t mean the sleepless nights because the temperatures are so high.

We have been suffering from frizz. Normally straight hair has gone wavy, while those of us with more of a natural curl have been afflicted with frizzy hair.

So we decided it was time to find out what is causing this.

To find the answer we had to look right down to the molecular structure of hair.

In normal conditions, hair is made up of long strands of keratin proteins that have a strong molecular bond and give hair its strength.

As humidity rises, so do the amount of water molecules containing hydrogen. The water is attracted to the hair strand where the hydrogen in the molecule creates new weaker bonds by bonding between two keratin proteins. The greater the humidity, the more of these bonds are created. And when this happens, hair becomes wavy, curly or even frizzy.

Top Tip: To minimise the effects of humidity keep your hair moisturised. Dry hair will attract more water so treating it with oils, serums or conditioners may help to reduce the frizz.