At this point in my career, I’ve tried hundreds – maybe even thousands – of frizzy hair products. Some help temporarily banish the halo of flyaways around my roots while others just don’t do it for me, so I’m always on the hunt for a new hair hack to get the job done. One night on TikTok, I stumbled upon people rubbing aluminum foil on their heads to smooth frizzy ends and I immediately ran to my kitchen to grab a piece and try it out for myself.
In the videos – and yes, there were multiple – people simply ran a piece of foil over their hair to make it look sleeker. The results were pretty much instantaneous, which blew me away. I couldn’t explain how or why it works (science, I guess?), but it was clear that it did.
To test it out myself, I grabbed a piece of aluminum cooking foil that was about one foot by a half a foot wide. I was working with day four hair, which typically for me starts to look a little stringy at the ends and frizzy at the roots. I started by dividing my hair down the middle and pulling it over both shoulders. Then, scrunching the foil in my hand slightly, I wrapped it around one side of my head and pulled down, creating some tension with my hair. I also tried to smooth my roots with the foil by rubbing it on my scalp.
It took me a few passes to see results, but when I compared the right side to the left side, it was pretty clear. I repeated the process on the other side of my head using the same piece of foil and saw that section of hair become instantly smoother.
All in all, the frizzy hair hack took me less than a minute and delivered instantaneous results. Though the smoothing benefits only lasted about an hour or so, it made my hair look nicer for the photos I took immediately after trying it. I’m still not entirely sure how it works – maybe the foil is removing some of the static in the hair? – but the proof is in the photos.
Jessica Harrington is the senior beauty editor at PS, where she writes about hair, makeup, skin care, piercings, tattoos, and more. As a New York City-based writer and editor with a degree in journalism and over eight years of industry experience, she loves to interview industry experts, keep up with the latest trends, and test new products.
