A Shopping Guide to Taming Frizzy Hair: The Shampoos, Oils, and Hot Tools That Worked for Us

I’m a founding member of the frizzy hair club (don’t worry, we never meet when it rains) — and thanks to my job as a beauty product writer, I’ve finally cracked the code to smooth, soft hair. 

If humidity sends you running for cover and smoothing your hair is an Olympic sport, then you’ve come to the right place. Our team has tried hundreds of hair serums, oils, brushes, and hot tools firsthand, and we weren’t easy on ‘em. That hard work lead us to create this definitive list of the very best products for taming frizzy hair.

Ahead, discover the best products in every hair category, from an ionic hair dryer to a heat protectant that heals hair while adding gloss and shine.

Our Top Picks

Best Blow Dryer: BondiBoost Sonic Dryer

Compared to the other 33 blow dryers we’ve tested, the BondiBoost left our hair the smoothest and shiniest. In fact, no matter what hair type we used the dryer on — from pin straight to super curly — we achieved a frizz-free blowout without the need for any extra smoothing products on top. 

The shiny hair results are thanks to the hair dryer’s ion technology, which helps reduce static. It comes with an air concentrating nozzle and a diffuser attachment, and offers four heat settings, three power settings, and a cool shot button. It also has “smart memory” function which automatically saves your settings from the last time you used it; a nice feature for consistent styling but with a bit of a learning curve. 

Hair Type: All | Weight: 0.77 pounds | Wattage: 1,875 | Settings: 4 heat / 3 speed / cool shot / smart memory | Attachments: Concentrator, diffuser

Best Hair Oil: Olaplex Bonding Oil

Olaplex is known for its high-end, hair-repairing formulas, and the star product of its lineup is the No. 7 Bonding Oil. It’s lightweight, heat-protecting, and deeply hydrating. Not only does it strengthen and repair, it also creates glossy, smooth styles when applied on wet or dry hair.

Oil is able to penetrate deep into the hair strand to repair it and add the moisture that frizzy hair craves. Out of the 29 hair oils we’ve tested, the No 7. Bonding Oil won the coveted title of Best Overall. One thing to note: The No 7. Oil does contain silicone, which could be a red flag for some. But, for its impressive results, we think this golden oil earns a solid gold medal. 

Star Ingredients: Bis-aminopropyl diglycol dimaleate, grapeseed oil, fermented green tea oil | Key Benefits: Repairs broken bonds, offers heat and UV protection, fights frizz, helps maintain color vibrancy | Size: 1 ounce

Best Heat Protectant: Color Wow Dream Coat

The hype is real: The ColorWow Dream Coat really is as good as everyone says. We tested the heat protectant against all of its best-selling competitors, and this one was the clear winner. The two-in-one-formula works as a hair gloss and heat protectant at the same time, so it leaves hair feeling ultra-soft and unbelievably smooth while warding off heat damage at the same time. 

The product is also very easy to apply, with a handy spritz bottle and a weightless formula. Once applied, the product instantly absorbed into the hair without any greasy residue left behind. Although this is one of the more expensive hair products in our arsenal, the two-in-one benefits make it feel well worth the cost. 

Size: 6.7 ounces | Benefits: Anti-frizz treatment, hair gloss, heat protectant formula | Temperature Protection: Not listed

Best Shampoo: Curlsmith Frizz Control Cleanser

Shampoo can sometimes strip hair strands and leave them dryer and frizzier than before, but not the Curlsmith Frizz Control Cleanser; this shampoo made our hair look smoother and feel softer after just one wash. With continued use, the sulfate-free shampoo left our hair feeling healthier, shinier, and thicker. 

Like many surfactant-free shampoos, the Curlsmith shampoo is more challenging to create a lather with, but we think that some extra time spent working it into our hair is worth the incredible results. Don’t let the lack of lather fool you — we found that the shampoo effectively removed dirt and buildup during our curly hair shampoo tests. 

Key Ingredients: Coconut butter, sunflower seed oil, squalane, argan oil | Sulfate-Free: Yes | Size: 12 ounces

Best Hair Brush: Briogeo Vegan Boar Bristle Hair Brush

Frizzy haired folks know the fear that a hairbrush can instill — not only is the process of brushing out curly or knotted hair painful, it can also lead to an even frizzier ‘do. Unlike standard plastic hairbrushes that can create static, boar bristle brushes are designed to help evenly distribute oil from the scalp to the rest of the hair, which minimizes frizz. The Brigeo Vegan Boar Bristle Brush doesn’t use real boar bristles, but the vegan fibers perform just like them. 

We tested out 26 different brushes on real testers with curly hair, and the Brigeo brush impressed us with its ability to quickly detangle our strands without disrupting our curl pattern. It is slightly heavier than some of the other brushes that we tried, but that also gives our hair a more luxurious feel. 

Bristle Material: Boar, nylon | Hair Type: All hair types | Weight: 3.99 ounces

Best Leave-in: Crown Affair Leave-in Conditioner Cream

We sing the highest praises possible for this luxurious leave-in cream. The Crown Affair cream single handedly revived our dry, over-processed hair: transforming highlighted, straw-like hair into soft-as-silk tresses. When we ran out of the product, our hair looked drier and felt weaker, but the purchase of a second bottle brought us back to a glossy state.

We’re not the only fans of the Crown Affair leave-in. The miracle-working product was also used on Julianne Moore for the 2024 Critics Choice Awards to “add texture and definition” as well as “tons of shine” to her hair, according to her hairstylist Mark Townsend.

Key Ingredients: Tsubaki-seed oil, meadowfoam-seed oil | Sulfate-Free: Yes | Size: 5.1 ounces

Best Hot Hair Brush: Bondi Boost Blowout Brush Pro

For a quick, smooth blowout, the Bondi Boost Blowout Brush was one of the best and fastest working hot air brushes that we’ve tested. Using this brush, we achieved a silky smooth blowout in only 17 minutes. The results were shiny and soft, even without applying any anti-frizz serum on top. The oval-shaped brush dries the hair while it styles, adding volume to the root thanks to its large barrel and unique shape.

The Bondi Boost brush challenges (and, in our opinion, beats out) many expensive hot tools on the market. And, for just $70, the drying and styling tool feels like a steal. We do wish that it had an easy-to-use cool air function, but for the price, we’re still blown away by the quality. 

Heat Settings: 3 | Cord Length: 9.8 feet | Voltage: 120

Best Flat Iron: Chi Lava 4D Hairstyling Iron

We all know that hot tools can cause damage to the hair, so if your hair already tends to be dry, frizzy, or damage-prone, then it’s important to choose a less damaging hot tool. That’s why we love the Chi Lava 4D flat iron — compared to every flat iron we’ve tested, this one smoothed and straightened our strands in just 10 minutes, which means less time potentially damaging the hair. 

It’s made with Chi Lava minerals and ceramic plates, designed to help tame frizz and create sleek styles in less time than most flat irons. If you’re planning on using the flat iron to create curls, this isn’t our top choice because it lacks a little bit of the necessary slip, but for straight styles we highly recommend this one. 

Temperature Settings: 5 | Width: 1 inch | Material: Chi Lava minerals, ceramic

Behind the Scenes

We test out hundreds of different hair products every year in our lab, and then send the best products home with our diverse team of testers. With continued use, we can see how well the products perform over time. For this story, we combed through our numerous hair product tests to find the products that best smoothed out frizz.

Some of the ways we tested these products include: 

• Spritzing dry hair with water after applying hair oil to see if our strands could fight the frizz 
• Using heat protectant on half of our head before going in with a blow dryer and straightener, then comparing the unprotected side’s results to the side we applied product to 
• Lathering hair with copious amounts of shampoo and comparing the results on curly hair types 

Why Trust Us 

Cai Cramer is a PEOPLE staff shopping writer of two years, who frequently covers beauty and has battled her frizzy hair for her entire life. For this story, Cai combed through (pun-intended) multiple hair product tests conducted on testers with all different hair types, including dry, curly, coily, and straight hair. She also spoke to hair stylist and salon owner Rogerio Cavalcante, who provided key insights on the science behind frizzy hair and how to achieve smooth, glossy locks.