What's the Best Shampoo for Fine Hair?

By Carl Keeley
Apr 8, 2019

Do you have Fine hair? Then you’ll be familiar with the struggle that comes with shampoo shopping.

With fine hair comes a range of issues, from a lack of volume to an excess of frizz if your locks lack moisture, or perhaps you suffer from weighed down hair if it’s over hydrated.

Fine hair can look completely amazing when it is looked after correctly but it’s a delicate balance to arrive at.

Hair that is on the finer side is more prone to breakage, and since hair growth slows as you age, the damage from improper care becomes more obvious. As we get older, the diameter of the hair shaft reduces, meaning you may have the same amount of hair follicles, but with individual strands that are thinner, it may show up as less volume.

So what shampoo should you use for your fine hair? These are the shampoos you need to defy hair that feels flat, limp or just generally a bit meh.

These are our picks for the best shampoo for fine hair:

Shampoo for fine, thin hair

If you have fine hair, and not a lot of it, then you will know about ‘dos that end up flat as a pancake. To avoid this you’ll want to make sure that your scalp and roots are as clean as possible to help boost overall volume without stripping too much away from the rest of your hair. Whatever shampoo you use, the best way to achieve this is to cleanse your scalp only – keeping the shampoo away from the lengths of your hair. This way the bulk of the cleansing will happen where you need it to give you the lift you’re after.

Try: Original Mineral Fine Intellect Shampoo 

For a shampoo that will cleanse your fine hair and build volume, without weighing your locks down,  

Original Mineral’s Fine Intellect Shampoo pumps up fine hair with the regenerating properties of Jojoba Seed Oil. Enriched with Lilly Pilly and Rosehip to build firmness into the hair roots, promoting fullness and volume to fine locks, this weightless formula will increase the diameter of each hair shaft to prevent an unsightly flat head.

Shampoo for fine, dry hair

If your fine hair is also on the dry side, you will be no stranger to excess shedding, breakage and tangled tresses. It’s an extra challenge when you’re faced with hair that’s both fine and dry, as it means you need additional moisture to restore your strands without weighing them down.

Try: Shu Uemura Urban Moisture Shampoo

Your fine, dry hair needs Shu Umera's Urban Moisture Shampoo to gently cleanse while offering

lightweight hydration. With Moringa Extract and Red Micro-Algae to rebalance moisture levels and add intense nourishment, dry hair is cleansed and purified as well as protected against future damage.

Shampoo for fine, curly hair

Caring for hair that is both fine and curly means steering clear of harsh chemical ingredients such as sulphates and silicones that can add weight to fine curls. Choose a gentle formula to moisturise your fine, fragile hair without drying it out.

Try: Oribe Ultra Gentle Shampoo

Oribe’s Ultra Gentle Shampoo is specially formulated to extra gently cleanse and hydrate your fine curls without dragging them down. Highly moisturising, yet weightless, Oribe’s Signature Complex (Watermelon, Lychee and Edelweiss Flower Extracts) delivers full-bodied results and incredible softness and shine.

Shampoo for fine, oily hair

So your hair is as fine as a newborn babe’s, but also oily? If you’re tired of struggling with dull, flat, wet-looking hair, you need a formula that will cut through the build-up of oil and heavy ingredients without drying it out.

Try: Original Mineral Original Detox Shampoo

This deeply cleansing shampoo is designed to remove the natural build-up of oils that can cause you to look dull up top. Formulated to neutralise and balance excess oil from hair and scalp without drying. Australian River Mint cleanses without stripping essential oils to invigorate and cool the scalp.

Shampoo for fine, short hair

If your hair is both fine and short, you may prefer to amp up the volume so that your scalp doesn’t show. You can achieve this with a volumising shampoo that not only adds fullness but thickens every individual strand of your hair every time you wash.

Try: Oribe Shampoo for Magnificent Volume

The perfect volumising shampoo for fine, short hair, Oribe’s Shampoo for Magnificent Volume contains body-building, high-tech polymers to create uplifted volume and thickness. This weightless keratin enriched formula also contains rare botanical extracts which absorb into the hair shaft to leave them plump, lush and strong.

Shampoo for fine, thick hair

Fine, yet thick hair? Trust us, there’s such a thing. When you’re dealing with baby fine hair but a lot of it, you will often struggle with frizz, hard to tame flyaways and tangles. A conditioning shampoo that is far gentler than regular cleansers can be the solution which is why we actually suggest using a co-wash.

Co-washing – short for “conditioning washing” – is a no-shampoo method also referred to as cleansing conditioning or “no-poo” shampooing that replaces harsh cleaning agents with detergent-free, all-in-one formulas that gently cleanse, balance and refresh hair without stripping or drying it.

Try: Shu Uemura Essence Absolue Cleansing Milk Conditioner

Shu Uemura’s Essence Absolue Cleansing Milk Conditioner is ideal for fine, voluminous hair to reduce flyaways, tangles and frizz, its generously conditioning formula will tame a fine, thick mane without compromising completely on the cleansing aspect to gently smoothes away impurities for an extremely soft cleansing without detergents. Hair is deeply moisturised without being weighed down.

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