How to Maintain Smooth Hair After Styling

Maintain smooth hair after styling with anti-frizz serums and smoothing milks, while protecting your style from humidity, heat, friction and moisture. You've spent weeks, months, maybe even years perfecting your blow-drying technique, but all it takes is a touch of humidity and – poof! – your once-flawless style is victim to frizz. The right products and a few protective styling habits can help your sleek finish stay smooth and flawless for longer.

Here, we break down all the tips you need to help your smooth style go the distance, whether you're touching up a silky blow-dry, or refreshing waves or curls...

Why Your Style Loses Its Sleekness & How to Identify Your Frizz Triggers

If your style loses sleekness fast, it could be down to a range of reasons, including:

• Your natural hair texture: Wavy, curly or coily hair types may be more prone to frizz, as the bends and twists in your hair make it harder for natural oils to travel from the roots to the lengths.
• Lack of moisture: Dry hair is thirsty hair, and it will drink in any moisture it can find, whether that's steam from the shower or any stray drops of rain that get past your umbrella. Cue frizz and flyaways.
• Humidity: Moisture in the air can cause the hair shaft to swell, making straightened or smoothed hair puff up and lose its definition.
• Heat damage: While heat styling might help with frizz control temporarily, hair that's been damaged by hot tools may begin to break and split, giving hair a frizzy look.
• Product build-up: Without regular deep cleansing, styling products can accumulate on the hair shaft. They don't usually cause frizz, but they can leave your hair with a coating that prevents it from feeling soft and silky.
• Friction: From harsh hair elastics to an upturned collar, any kind of friction can rough up the hair cuticle, leaving hair frizzy or static.

8 Professional Tips to Maintain Smooth Hair After Styling

1. Blow-Dry with a Frizz-Control Serum

Before you start styling, add a frizz-smoothing serum to your blow-dry routine, focusing it through the mid-lengths and ends to help the resulting sleekness go the distance. ULTIMATE SMOOTH Miracle Oil Serum is our pro pick, with a rich, glossy finish and smoothness that lasts up to 3 days¹. The luxurious elixir also provides heat protection up to 230ºC/450ºF, while its nourishing blend of Squalane and Omega-9 leaves strands seriously soft.

2. Finish Your Blow-Dry with a Cool Shot

As soon as you've finished styling your hair, switch on your hair dryer's cool setting, and run it down your hair in sections with the pointed nozzle (for straight styles) or diffuser attachment (for wavy and curly looks). This quick step helps to smooth the hair's surface, locking in that sleek finish.

3. Protect Your Hair From Humidity

Humidity is a glossy blow-dry's worst enemy, as it can cause the hair fiber to swell, disrupting your smooth finish and creating frizz. So, use products designed to protect against humidity, like ULTIMATE SMOOTH 24/7 Silky Milk. Apply it to dry hair in the morning or on-the-go for a quick smoothing fix, and the lightweight milk will instantly refresh your style, leaving hair smooth and silky.

4. Reduce Friction While You Sleep

Tossing and turning in your sleep can create friction and contribute to morning frizz. To prevent rubbing, swap cotton pillowcases for silk or satin, apply a protective serum before bed (we love ULTIMATE REPAIR Night Serum for up to 6x smoother hair²), and style your hair in a loose braid or twist with a soft scrunchie.

5. Avoid Touching Your Hair Too Much

Running your hands through your hair can transfer oils and moisture, while disturbing your smooth style. Unless you're applying a product to the lengths, try not to handle your hair too much once it's styled.

6. Keep Heat Styling to a Minimum

Repeatedly applying heat to previously styled hair can contribute to dryness and damage, leaving the lengths more prone to breakage, roughness and frizz. So, instead of reaching for the flat iron as soon as flyaways appear, try giving hair a restyle with ULTIMATE SMOOTH 24/7 Silky Milk.

If you do decide to use heat, always use heat protection – Silky Milk will keep hair shielded – and choose the lowest temperature for your hair type. Here's what we recommend:

• Fine, fragile or damaged hair: 120–160ºC / 250–320ºF. Start low and increase only if needed. Fine or compromised strands generally need less heat to achieve a smooth finish.
• Medium or normal hair: 160–180ºC / 320–355ºF. A moderate temperature is usually enough to smooth and style without unnecessarily increasing heat exposure.
• Thick, coarse or resistant hair: 180–200ºC / 355–390ºF. You may need a little more heat to style thicker strands effectively, but avoid automatically turning your tool to its highest setting.

One more tip: when you're using a flat iron, try to reduce the number of passes over each section. Remember, slow is fast – one slower glide of the flat iron can be more efficient and less damaging than multiple swipes through the same section.

7. Protect Your Style in the Shower

If it's not hair wash day, wear a cap in the shower to shield your style against moisture. Even if you've mastered the ‘neck tilt, speed wash’, a few drops of water or a steamy shower can be enough to bring frizz back.

8. Be Mindful of Friction From Clothing

Your pillow isn't the only source of friction. High collars, scarves, coats and jumpers can rub against the lengths throughout the day, creating static and disrupting that silky-smooth finish. When possible, keep your hair over the top of your clothing, so it doesn't constantly brush against the fabric. And if your hair tends to tuck itself inside your coat collar (so chic yet frizz-inducing), consider a loose up-do to keep lengths safe from friction.

Before Styling:

Make smoothness part of your wash day routine with nourishing shampoos and conditioners. Sleek hair starts in the shower, setting you up for the softest, silkiest blow-dries.

• Wash with a smoothing shampoo. ULTIMATE SMOOTH Shampoo, with its nourishing formula, cleanses hair of dulling impurities and prepare strands for the next nourishing steps.
• Apply a nourishing conditioner. Choose one that specifically states it's for smoothness, like ULTIMATE SMOOTH Conditioner. Rich and creamy, it envelops dry, rough, frizzy strands in everyday nourishment.
• Use a hair mask at least once per week. ULTIMATE SMOOTH Mask bathes frizzy strands in an intensive blend of Squalane and Omega-9, designed to deeply nourish hair from the inside out.

During & After Styling:

On wash day and beyond, hair oils and lightweight lotions will bestow strands with the moisture and nourishment they need to stay smooth and frizz-free.

• Blow-dry with a hair oil-meets-serum. Hair oils smooth and coat the cuticle, helping to protect against humidity. Try one with a light, serum-like texture, like ULTIMATE SMOOTH Miracle Oil Serum, and you'll enjoy up to 96 hours of frizz control².
• Keep sleekness intact with a lightweight lotion. ULTIMATE SMOOTH 24/7 Silky Milk is our pick. It sinks in fast, instantly taming frizz and refreshing your style in between wash days.

”ULTIMATE SMOOTH SILKY MILK IS BRILLIANT FOR CREATING SOFTNESS AND SHINE THAT REFLECTS WHILE GIVING GENTLE STYLING BENEFITS. I LOVE USING IT THE DAY AFTER TO BRING LIFE AND ELASTICITY BACK TO THE HAIR TO CREATE NATURAL MOVEMENT AND A HEALTHY LOOK.”

Briana Cisneros (@brianacisneros), Wella Professionals Global Ambassador

How to Adapt Your Routine for Wavy & Curly Hair Types

The tips above are suitable for all hair types – straight, wavy, curly and coily – but if you have textured hair, we recommend these extra style-enhancing steps…

1. Don't Detangle Your Hair While It's Dry

Brushing waves, curls and coils while they're dry can disrupt the texture and lead to unwanted frizz. Instead, do your detangling while your hair is damp, either in the shower with conditioner in for slip, or after showering, with a leave-in styler for slip.

2. Clump Waves and Curls with a Defining Balm

If you find your wave or curl pattern loses its shape in between washes, use a balm specially designed for textured hair, and scrunch it through the lengths to help ringlets clump together. NutriCurls Curlixir Balm is a beautiful option, helping to tame frizz, restore bounce and nourish strands, while giving your newly defined curls soft hold.

3. Avoid Overloading Your Hair with Product

Whether you're applying a curl balm or a smoothing milk, start with just a small amount and layer up as needed. You don't want to weigh down your curl pattern, and it's easier to add more product than it is to take it away.

4. Tame Individual Flyaways

When you're dealing with just a few flyaways, treat them separately rather than trying to smooth your whole head of hair. A little hairspray on a clean, dry spoolie, or a pump of ULTIMATE SMOOTH 24/7 Silky Milk applied with fingertips will be enough to tame stray hairs in seconds.

5. Give Your Roots a Little Lift

Sometimes, a gentle shake at the roots is all that's needed to revive volume. Lightly lift the roots with your fingertips, then combine this with step 2 or step 4 to encourage volume while smoothing the lengths.

Looking for more hair care tips? Discover the complete ULTIMATE SMOOTH collection, or take part in our free virtual hair consultation to find a regimen completely bespoke to you.

¹ If unwashed for 3 days vs. untreated.

² Vs. non-conditioning shampoo.