15 Air Dry Hair Products to Skip the Blowout and Banish Frizz

If the last thing you want to do today is spend hours blow-drying your hair, we’ve got just the thing for you: styling products that give you definition without the heat.

Not only does air-drying your strands minimize styling time, but it also protects your hair against heat damage. However, without the right products, your mane can descend into a frizz fest, whether you’re air drying thick, wavy hair or superfine strands. To avoid this, pick up an air dry hair product that will help define your natural texture and ditch your heat tools once and for all.

Want to know which buzzy products are *really* worth buying? Sign up for our shopping newsletter to uncover our favorite finds.

Chaz Dean is a celebrity hairstylist, colorist and the founder of WEN hair and body care line. Dean has over 25 years of experience, and his salon has served the likes of Ming-Na Wen, Nicole Murphy, Gilles Marini, Alyssa Milano, Gwyneth Paltrow and others. WEN is also the winner of multiple QVC Beauty Awards.

To compile this list of the 15 best air dry hair products, I researched trend reports and scoured the internet for popular brands to see what people were talking about. Ultimately, I considered over 20 products and asked fellow PureWow editors to test different formulas, ranking them on scent, ease of application, texture, finish and longevity.

Sometimes, your hair just needs a break from the heat—and that’s the beauty of air dry hair products. You get the volume, texture, shine and shape without frying your strands. However, to get the most out of your product, there are a handful of things to keep in mind.

First, you’ll want to consider your hair type and texture. For fine and thin hair, lightweight products (like a mousse or gel) are the way to go because they won’t weigh down strands. However, those with thick and curly textures usually need more moisture, so heavier creams and oils are the best bet. Meanwhile, wavy hair tends to respond well to mousses and foams, which define beachy locks.

Then there’s the application. While it will vary from product to product, Dean advises applying it to soaking wet hair. (You can wring it out; it doesn’t need to be dripping.) Granted, it may not work for all products, but try it at least once, and you may find the results are better.

“[When you apply products to damp hair], two things happen,” Dean elaborates. “Number one, they don't absorb into the hair shaft. Number two is if it's damp, it means you've usually already towel dried it, which means you've already started to cause frizz. by towel drying it. Now you've already lost the battle because your hair is already frizzy and you're not going to win that battle. If you put [product] in soaking wet hair, it absorbs into the hair and you're avoiding that frizz.” He gives the example of putting up wallpaper. If you allowed the surface to partially dry before sticking on the wallpaper, it’d be bumpy and uneven. The same thing is happening with your hair when it’s damp. 

When looking at ingredients, Dean advises prioritizing high-quality essential oils, botanicals, extracts and even hyaluronic acid. Skip synthetics if you can, and be weary of high-protein formulas. “Protein is a hardening agent,” he notes. “It’s meant to strengthen [your hair], but if your hair is dry and brittle and you add [protein to it], you're causing it to be more dry and brittle and you then have breakage.”