Steamy Hair

The steamer and diffuser, hose not shown - better to
use a hose to prevent burns.

My hair loves humidity. I don't worry about frizz - it looks natural. But how do I call up some humidity when the weather is very cold and dry, or very dry and windy and my hair has gone limp and flat? Here's my quick hair (and mood) pick-me-up. I made a steamer. I already had a "steam hot roller" steamer, which is like a facial steamer for skin or sinus problems. This picture simply has a diffuser attachment set on the steamer. This can be both too hot and very tippy. That steam is HOT and you do not want to dump boiling water on yourself. I am working on attaching a heat-tolerant hose - but I keep forgetting to pick some up at the hardware. If you want to do this yourself, I highly recommend using a hose to make it easier to use and safer. Boiling water and steam cause burns. You want the steam to be a temperature that is comfortable to your skin - that way you know it's safer for your hair as well. A piece of hose will give you more distance between scalp/hair and the steam source. I'm not advocating using the diffuser without a hose as pictured.©Science-y Hair Blog 2013

What makes steam different from spraying your hair with some water or other concoction and scrunching it again, is that you do not need to add additional styling products, there is no drying time, and your hair will feel and look soft - not crunchy. If it's still dry or cold or windy, your hair will eventually lose some of the moisture it takes on during steaming - (lose some volume and curl), but not completely and it takes several hours to wear off.

Today was one of those very windy and dry days. I use the diffuser to support my hair while it's exposed to steam - this helps it re-curl or re-wave better. I only steam each spot for about 10 seconds, and I return to each spot about twice.
This is my hair before steaming. My hair is wavy. It can be more or less wavy/curly depending on the weather and how I cut and style it. You'll pardon the indoor-lighting difficulty I have with light-colored walls and light-colored hair, I hope.©Science-y Hair Blog 2013

Before Steam

Before Steam

In less than 5 minutes of "work" it had perked up quite a bit, though you can't see the cute curls in the back.

After Steam

After Steam

Just sharing a happy hair tip! Because I don't live in the tropics, I've been doing this a lot over the past couple months and it always gives me good results. Nowhere near as frizzy as you might expect. Not very portable, though. Sigh. Can't have it all.

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