Dry Hair

Are you Asian? Could be a vitamin deficiency, I guess you've tried the obvious and used a strong conditioner?

Have you tried having your hair thinned out a little at a hairdressers? Also you might want to look into a leave-in conditioner, there are lots on the market.

Are you cutting your hair too short?

If i have my cut to short it sticks straight up. I leave it a little long and use Kiehls herbal shampoo and amino acid conditioner.

Its the only shampoo I've ever used that made a noticeable difference and keeps my scalp moisturized. I have minimal or no flakes now where i used to have terrible flakes.

i have a similar situation. when i was young my hair was awesome, but i cut it and got a flip like everyone else in the ninety's. now i am stuck with super short hair or else it becomes like brillo. short, dry, course and generally unmanageable.

Try lotion. Yes lotion. I have thick wavy hair that looks, for lack of a better word, "puffy". I've tried every product I could get my hands on...and the only thing I've found that last all day, provided control (but not extreme hold, not gonna defy gravity) is body lotion. I personally use Vaeleine hair/face lotion.

paul mitchell the conditioner (leave-in) -- or just budget for a hair cut more often.

I'm sure your shampoos are part of the problem. Every shampoo I tried was terrible and made my dandruff worse except Kiehls herbal dandruff which got rid of the Dandruff completely after a few weeks. Descriptions like 'too short' and 'mid-length' are subjective and there is no way for me to know if your hair is similar to mine. I'll simply say that I keep my hair long enough that my barber can cut alot of texture into it and I can still comb it back. You need to do the same, find a length that works and find a barber that works for you. I went on Google maps and searched 'barber' then looked up the comments that people made on each shop it helped me narrow down who I wanted to use. Prior to that I tried 4-5 stylists with only maybe 1 being any good and 1 that was really good but didnt nail it. FWIW there is little correlation between price paid and haircut quality received. My best haircut cost $20, my worst cost $60.

Do not wash your hair frequently, especially after using a heavy product. The buildup of product is heavy and will prevent it from standing up.

Burt's Bees makes an avocado pre-shampoo treatment that you should check out. Use that, follow up with a heavy product, and go a few days of just rinsing and I'm sure you will see improvement.

first, you gotta start off with a good haircut. i also have very thick and coarse asian (chinese) hair an djust about every stupid cow lick you could have. i get a haircut about every month and half to 2 months bc i've got a medium length cut - think zac efron's new shorter cut like how he slicks it back *cringes, zac efron* yeah, its expensive - but my guy gives me the best haircuts i've had in my entire life. he's so good that styles i didn't think i could pull off with my texture, he makes happen. he costs $50 but i can schedule little 'in betweener' appointments with him to thin out my hair at the 3 week mark for free if i want - kinda how most high end places like this will give ladyfolks a complimentary bang trim or guys a neck cleanup. seriously, checkout yelp reviews of the nicer salons in town, bc it all starts with a good haircut. secondly, maybe trying wearing it a little longer. my hair sticks straight up until it gets about 3.5 inches long. if your going for the spikier tousled look go shorter of course but i like mine to lay down or be long enough to slick back old school style. either way, you probably need to texturize (or thin) the hell out of your hair to make it manageable, if poofy is your problem right now. thirdly, my miracle holy grail product is Kiehl's Creme with Silk Groom. get the big $30 bottle. it lasts me half a year. when you get out of the shower and your hair is damp, take a quarter sized dollop, and work it in - i let it air dry. it smooths everything out, makes it softer, adds a bit of healthy looking shine, and de-poofs it, and best of all doesn't feel like there's anything in it. when i wanna go for something more 'styled' i use this stuff as 'primer' then add other products like waxes etc to style more. fourthly, try washing your hair every second or third time you shower. i don't mean don't let water touch it, i'm just saying don't shampoo it every day bc that strips it of all the natural oils that help weigh your hair down/make it less poofy. i definitely run water through it and scrub my scalp, i just don't shampoo. sometimes on my off days i'll just condition my hair, but not shampoo it. try a combo of all these things, bc if i can get compliments on my stupid cowlick-y, difficult texture you can too.

Calcium and wen hair treatment