Do you get frizzy hair in the winter? The “hair tuck” is here to help.
This easy hack—hiding or folding your hair inside your winter coat while outside—may not be a household name, but you may have seen it on the street in the winter months.
What started as an insider trend that Phoebe Philo championed back in 2010 in some photos for French Vogue—and then made it into one of the hallmarks of her runway shows for Céline—is now popular again, especially among Gen Z. That’s because it has many benefits for hair health beyond the undeniable coolness of the gesture.
Persuaded by all the street-style photos of people doing the hair tuck, I decided to make it a habit. First, for obvious aesthetic reasons, the aforementioned cool factor. And second, for its many benefits.
By tucking my hair inside my coat, I protect it from the heavy weight of my bags and backpacks that carry my laptop and other necessities as I commute. But I’ve also found it to be a perfect strategy for preventing frizz—especially in humid areas or on rainy days—and to avoid split ends.
Experts confirm that rubbing is one of the most frequent actions that damage the hair. Every time I overload my bag and do not put this trick into practice, I notice how that friction breaks my ends immediately.
Daily pollution is another major aggression that can cause high levels of damage to the hair fiber.
“The particles in suspension, smoke, and polluting gases are deposited on the hair and scalp, causing inflammatory and irritating reactions that can even cause hair loss,” Adolfo Remartínez, founder of Nuggela & Sulé hair products, tells Vogue Spain. While the hair tuck does not protect the scalp, it does at least alleviate the pollutant load on the midlengths and ends.
Maria Baras, director of Cheska Salon in Madrid, confirms to me that many of her clients practice hair tucking. Although sometimes they just want to make their hairstyle last, the expert confirms that it does have other benefits.
I can attest that, every time I do it, my hair is more polished and less tangled, which also benefits in the long term because aggressive brushing is avoided but also because it protects from extreme cold, another environmental factor that damages the hair.
“It’s true that there are many products that help in this regard, but that simple gesture of hiding the ends in the coat [also help],” she says. And one more thing: Baras stresses that if you are one of those who go out in the street with wet hair, something that should be avoided because it is the state in which the hair is weaker, the hair tuck allows you to protect it.
Easy and convenient? Now, that’s a hack for frizzy hair in the winter that we can get behind.
This story was first published in Vogue Spain.