How to Get Thicker Looking Hair

Let’s start by getting one thing straight. You can’t actually make your hair thicker, just like you can’t control the size of your pores. The thickness of your hair is determined by the number of hair follicles on your head – and this number won’t magically increase simply by eating more Brazil nuts or using a special hair mask! What you can do is control how thick your hair looks (similar to minimizing the appearance of pores!) by using nourishing, gentle hair products and taking care of yourself.

Here are Wendy’s five do’s and don’ts for getting thicker looking hair with bounce and luster.

1. Bubbles are for the dishwasher. Choose sulfate-free shampoo for gentler hair care

Sulfates are a type of surfactant – the stuff that goes into detergents, emulsifiers and foaming agents. They are popular in off-the-shelf cleaning products because it’s a cheap ingredient which attracts oil and water, thereby ‘cleaning’ your hair. The problem is, sulfates also strip natural oils from your hair and scalp – natural oils which are essential for bouncy, healthier thicker looking hair.

If you’re looking to make an easy change to your beauty routine in exchange for healthier looking hair, then opt for sulfate-free shampoo.

2. Stop using a towel to rough dry your hair

Ladies – and gents for that matter, it’s time to stop treating your scalp like you are trying to scrub cat wee out of a carpet! You wouldn’t treat the delicate skin on your face that way, so why do it to your hair? Using any old towel on your hair in an attempt to dry it faster can cause frizz, increase static and – for ladies looking to get thicker looking hair – cause breakage. An average lifespan of a hair strand is two to seven years – you want to make sure you take care of each one and preserve its strength for as long as possible!

Top tip: Wendy spent several months on a mission to understand exactly what makes a turban towel. She created the Haute Performance Hair Turban for Iles Formula with extra length that is great for accommodating hair extensions. Wendy added a perfect button-and-loop closure so that the hair turban would never fall off and picked a micro fibre to gently dry hair without friction, reducing static and breaking.

3. Choose the right haircut that adds easy volume

Have you ever thrown on your best outfit, aced your make-up, spritzed your favorite perfume yet still don’t feel put together when you walk out the front door? It doesn’t matter whether it’s taking the dog for a walk or heading out to an important work meeting: feeling good translates to confidence. Taking the time to speak to your hairdresser about the right cut and style for your hair type can help you get out of a thin-hair rut and save you time and energy styling your ‘do in the morning! We’re sure you have read our guide to choosing a hair cut based on the shape of your face, but thinner haired girls can also consider cuts like bobs (think blunt, choppy, or a-line) or lob aka the long bob (can be a classic cut which suits straight or wavy strands, or a blunt shoulder-length look).

4. Make sure you are eating right and consider taking a biotin supplement

Our final tip is a bit of a 2-in-1. The fact is, it doesn’t matter if you use the best hair care products if you don’t treat your body well from within. Making sure you eat enough good fats (think smoked salmon or almonds) and vitamins will ensure you give your body the best chance at being healthy. You can’t expect your body to give you your best hair or skin if you fill it up with junk now, can you?

As well as checking to make sure your hair care products are loaded with vitamin B (can we get a shout out to our favorite Iles Formula products!?), it’s also worth checking your diet to make sure you are eating enough biotin. Your body needs biotin in order to process fats and sugars, and although biotin deficit isn’t common. There are studies which have down that biotin supplements have a positive, visible effect on hair and nails.

5. Use the Iles Formula Finishing Serum for incredible luster and volume

Last but not least, we are going to let you in on one of our best kept secrets. The professional salons that use our products know it, but you may not! Our Iles Formula Finishing Serum is made from raw silk (real silk fabric). We process the crumbs that are left by silkworms in their natural environment (so no harm is done to the animals) – it’s actually waste that we transform into magic!

The magic happens when you place heat on our serum. The silk melts around the hair shaft creating a fatter feeling to the hair. It's only a cosmetic fix, but the best one out there to have your hair feeling thicker and protect it against heated tools, UV, color fade and humidity.  Over time it will also seal down split ends!

Here is how we recommend you apply it to wet hair when blow-drying:

• Take a pea size amount of the serum (Inhale. It smells incredible!)
• Apply the serum on wet hair, from mid-length to the ends of your hair, starting from the nape and working upwards
• Proceed section by section, applying the serum as you go along. This is because the serum dries fast and you want the silk to melt around the hair shaft to create thicker looking hair

Here is a before and after so you can see the results for yourself! In the photo below there is 40 mins between the first image and the last. We shampooed and conditioned with Iles Formula and applied our serum in the manner above.  No extensions and no retouch added just Iles Formula Signature Collection.

Pure magic! Wendy swears by this formula and never touches a head of hair without it!

Do you use Iles Formula products? Tag us on Facebook or Instagram so we can see the results! We love hearing from you.