How to Tame Flyaways: Pro Tips from Chris Appleton + Color Wow Experts

Flyaway hair: seems like a tiny issue, but it can majorly undermine your overall look! 

The devil is in the details… and wild, random strays and frays sticking out of your hair seriously subtracts from any finished style, whether it's glassy waves, bombshell volume or a sleek, snatched pony. 

So, how do you stop flyaways from sabotaging smooth, polished styles?

Color Wow’s Dream Team—including Chief Chemist Dr. Joe Cincotta and celebrity stylist Chris Appleton—agree: the key is a two-part strategy. 

1. First, set your style up for success by upping your hair’s moisture level  

2. Then, use pro styling techniques (and easy hacks!) to banish any rogue strands that show up. 

Here’s your complete, expert-approved flyaway fix—powered by Color Wow’s top-tier hydrators and pro styling essentials.

First: What Are Flyaways?

What causes flyaway hair?

Some flyaway hair is actually baby-fine hair that is emergent growth, and even if it needs a little taming, new hair growth and re-densification is usually a welcome addition! 

Other flyaways are a result of your own hair care habits: anything you do that causes hair to lose moisture, break off or get roughed up can result in flyaways. 

So any or all of these habits can contribute to those pesky strays and broken bits: 

• Heat styling damage that causes moisture loss
• Rough brushing (especially when hair is wet and therefore at its weakest) 
• Friction in cold weather that results in static electricity (think hats and scarves)
• Humidity or dry air (excess atmospheric moisture causes frizz; dry air causes static) 
• Chemical treatments that disrupt hair’s cuticle (hair colour, hair straighteners, perms) 
• Products that dehydrate hair, including harsh chelating shampoos, hair sprays that douse hair in alcohol, gels that create a hard crunchy cast, thickening products that expand strands with dehydrating resins or salts.  

Part 1: How to Prevent Flyaway Hair Before It Starts

Prevention Tactic 1: Hydrate, hydrate, hydrate!  

1. Always use a hydrating conditioner after shampooing

A rinse-out conditioner is always important to detangle and renew nourishing moisture, but if you’re fighting flyaways because your hair is dry and dehydrated, you need to amp up the hydration factor.

2. Add a hydrating mask to your shampoo rotation

If your hair is very dehydrated or overprocessed, Money Masque is a deep hydrating treatment that goes deep to infuse strands with healthy levels of moisture.

3. Treat static-prone hair to a pre-blow-dry heat protectant formula

Are your flyaways the result of broken, damaged hair? Then, before blow-drying serve your strands a strengthening Dream Cocktail, that’s infused with fortifying Kale.

Activated by heat, this powerful heat protectant and strengthener is proven to reduce breakage by 50% with just one blow-dry. 

If your hair is very dehydrated, we suggest you serve up our Coconut-infused Dream Cocktail to damp hair before blow-drying.

This potent moisture boost is heat-activated (AND a heat protectant) that leaves your hair silky, hydrated and “immune” to static-induced fly-aways. 

Want to keep moisture locked in AND achieve speed-you record-setting blow-dry results? Just apply Speed Dry Blow-Dry Spray to damp hair and comb through before you hit the “on” switch.

A pro-stylists’ fave, Speed Dry cuts blow-dry time by up to 30%, and less heat means that your hair maintains an optimally healthy hydration level.

Prevention Tactic 2: Seal the Deal with a Strand Resurfacing Treatment 

How to keep hair smooth, polished, glossy and put flyaways on long-term lock down?

Start Dreaming! Our New Dreaming Advanced Repair and Refinishing Treatment smooths, fills and polishes the surface of strands.

In minutes, this easy in-shower mask visibly repairs damage and seals out humidity to prevent puffing, fluffing, frizz and flyaways. 

Use it every 3-4 shampoos and discover flawlessly smooth, glossy hair that’s easy to manage, refined and aligned, with no puff, no fluff and  powerful, proven resistance to  humidity that lasts for days.

Part 2: How to Get Rid of Flyaway Hair (the Chris Appleton Way!)

Now that your hair is hydrated, prepped and styled, here’s how Chris Appleton keeps his celeb clients photo-ready:

Use a flexible-hold spray with heat protectant to tamp down those strays

Not all hairsprays deliver hold, heat protection AND crunch-free, movable results.

Chris's go-to? Cult Favorite Flexible Hairspray.

“It gives flexible hold with zero crunch—and won’t cloud your colour,” says Chris. This extremely versatile working and finishing spray is buildable, brushable, and safe to use with heat tools (more on that below).

Here are 2 of Chris’s secret hacks for controlling wayward, unwanted flyaways.

1. Use a natural bristle brush + Cult Favorite to flatten flyaways without flattening your style

Rather than spraying directly onto your head, Chris loads Cult Favorite onto a natural bristle brush, then gently sweeps through the hair.

This technique distributes product evenly, lays flyaways flat and keeps the style touchable, not stiff.

2. For Baby Hairs, apply Cult Favorite with a Toothbrush

Those fine, fuzzy, unwanted wisps hairs around the face? Chris uses a toothbrush sprayed with Cult Favorite to sculpt them into place.

“It gives you invisible control without clumping product near your hairline,” he says.

Chris Appleton’s “on-the-spot” frizz and flyaway fixes

A staple in Chris’s kit, Pop + Lock is a hybrid serum/oil that smooths down fly-aways on contact and gives any style a brilliant, high-gloss finish (with no greasy feel).

Another quick fly-away hack? One-Minute Transformation moisture-rich styling cream, which absorbs on the spot. Just smooth it on… frizz, frays and fly-aways are gone.  Nothing left but polished perfection!

Flyaways 101: Your Questions Answered

Are flyaways normal?

Yes, flyaways are totally normal and common across all hair types. They’re often caused by new growth, breakage, or dryness.

Why do I have so many flyaways?

Excessive flyaways can be a symptom of dehydration, or damage due to harsh brushing or heat styling). Humidity and static can also make them more noticeable.

Can you cut flyaway hair?

No! Cutting will just create more short, broken bits of hair. It’s better to increase hair hydration and use styling products to smooth flyaways into place. 

Not sure where to start on your Color Wow hair journey? Take our 60-second hair quiz to discover the perfect personalised routine for your hair type.