How to Get Volume in Natural Hair: 12 Effective Tips & Tricks

Tools and materials:

• Wide-tooth comb
• Hair clips
• Spray bottle
• Styling cream
• Styling foam/mousse
• Old t-shirt/camisole
• Blow dryer
• Coconut or other hair oil

1. Do a middle part

Starting with clean, dry hair, split your hair down the middle. 

2. Section further

Split each side into two sections and clip away the hair you’re not currently working with. I found sectioning my hair like this to be the evenest way to apply products but feel free to do it whatever way makes sense to you.

3. Dampen hair

Use a spray bottle to dampen your hair with water while stretching your curls. 

Then, comb the water throughout the section to really hydrate and detangle your hair.

Tip: In my opinion, the best way to get the most coiled, intact curls is to use 70% water and 30% hair product, not the other way around as most people think. Hydration is super important!

4. Apply styling cream

Use your fingers to rake a styling cream through your hair. This will act as a base to give you the most moisture. 

After, use the praying hands method to drag the cream through your hair. 

5. Apply styling foam or mousse

Apply styling foam or mousse to your hair. The one I’m using also doubles as a heat protectant. 

Because the product is super watery, I used a t-shirt to scrunch out the extra product and liquid.

Those two products alone are already clumping the curls so perfectly! 

6. Finger coil

Now to really define my curls, I like to use a finger coiling technique by rolling the hair from the bottom to the root with my fingers. This really helps with frizzy pieces.

7. Repeat 

Repeat steps 1-6 throughout the rest of your sections.

As you work, don’t go super heavy with the product near the roots as this will weigh your hair down and make it flat. Instead, use light products at the root.

Additionally, for this tutorial, we’re going to skip the gel as we want our hair to come out soft, not crunchy and hard. Gel cast can be a contributing factor to why your hair may be weighed down.

8. Plop your curls

Plop your curls with an old t-shirt or camisole and let it sit for 20 minutes or so. The key with plopping is to let your curls scrunch up.

This is really good for hair that’s type 2-4A. If your hair is type 4B or 4C, I recommend skipping this step as your hair is already super tight.

Plopping is a great alternative to diffusing, which can make your hair shorter and compact despite giving you beautiful definition. 

9. Blow dry

On standard low heat, lightly blow dry your hair for a few minutes.

This is my hair after blow-drying, and you might be thinking this is the biggest it can get, but I’m going to show you how to get it even bigger and elongated!

10. Apply a hair oil

Take any hair oil - I’m using coconut oil - and take just a few drops. 

Rub it into your hands, then start massaging it into your scalp.

Adding oil to your natural hair tends to frizz up your hair and make your curls a lot thicker, so it’s really good to do this specifically to your roots to give it some lift. This also encourages hair growth!

Do the prayer hands method with the remaining product on your hands to elongate your curls and spread the oil. Then give your hair a good shake.

11. Pick at roots with a comb

Take a wide-tooth comb to cause some more friction at the root by picking out your hair.

12. Blow dry again

Take your blow dryer once again, on low heat, and pull against your hair as you apply heat to stretch your hair some more.

Here’s the final look!

How to get volume in natural hair

Now that you know how to get volume in natural hair, go off and style your own hair! It only takes a few products and a bit of attention to really increase the volume and size of your hair.

If there’s one takeaway from this video, it’s to use hair oil. Oil tends to frizz up the hair when paired with friction, so applying that oil and friction to the inside of your scalp where no one can see is the best place to work on plumping up your curls for the best lift.

If you enjoyed this hair volume DIY tutorial, let me know down below and definitely come back and tell me how it works for you.

Products used

• OGX Organix Hydrate + Defrizz Shampoo and Conditioner Set
• Texture ID Hair Styling Creme
• Texture ID Thermal Multi-Styling Foam