This Genius Aluminum-Foil Hack Smooths Frizz in Seconds

POPSUGAR Photography | Jessica Harrington
POPSUGAR Photography | Jessica Harrington

  • A hair hack on TikTok uses aluminum foil to smooth frizz.
  • Our editor tested the beauty hack on her fine, wavy hair.
  • See before and after photos of her hair using the frizz hack.

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.

POPSUGAR Photography | Jessica Harrington

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.

POPSUGAR Photography | Jessica Harrington

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.