Fashion & Style

Find out what hair styling products really can and can’t do for you.

If you’ve perused the hair care section of your neighborhood drugstore lately, you’ve seen the glut of hair products available for purchase. Beyond just shampoos and conditioners, there are gels, spritzes, hair sprays, pomades, mousses, and reconditioners, among others. What do you buy? Better yet, will it work for you?

There are things that styling products can and cannot do. It’s wise to know the limitations so that you don’t waste money on products that won’t do anything for you besides empty your wallet.

First, a lot depends on your hair type. Is it straight, wavy, curly or kinky? Is it fine or coarse, thick or thin? You need to determine exactly what kind of hair you’re working with so that you buy the best products for it.

The only products that will permanently make straight hair curly or curly hair straight contain harsh chemicals of some sort. Of course, as new hair grows in, it must be treated to match the existing hair. Short of chemicals (and the permanence that comes with them), however, there are many products that can temporarily give you a different look.

Gels are made to hold the hair in place. They come in formulations ranging from thin consistency to thick. The thicker the hair, the thicker the gel should be. While gels will give you hold, most gels also make the hair somewhat hard and stiff. It’s probably best to skip gels if you want a flexible hold. While a gel can “mold” a look into place (better for shorter hair), it can’t change the texture of the hair much.

Mousses tend to give a softer hold, but mousses aren’t for every type of hair. Most mousses work better on thin hair, since they add volume. For very thick, curly hair, mousses won’t do much. It would be virtually impossible to take a head full of tight kinks and turn them into soft waves with mousse. For those with fine, straight hair, mousses can give the illusion of thickness, but they’re not going to turn thin hair into a lion’s mane. They will temporarily make the hair appear thicker in relation to how thin it was to begin with.

Deep conditioners will condition hair that’s in relative good health, but if your hair is full of split ends and is damaged beyond repair due to excessive or careless coloring or perming, the only solution is to cut it. No shampoo, conditioner, gel, mousse, etc. can fix a split end. Once the hair is split, it’s split permanently and needs to be cut so that it doesn’t continue to split all the way up the hair shaft, creating more damage. There are products than can make the split end appear to be repaired, but this is only a temporary fix.

There are non-chemical products that claim to straighten curly hair. For the most part, they work best on loosely curled hair. Even then, a hot blow-dryer may be needed to complete the straightening process. On highly textured hair, however, these products are generally ineffective—there’s just too much curl in kinky hair. Another thing to take into consideration: how will this product hold up in humidity? The hair may straighten out beautifully in the bathroom, but once you step outside, the humid air may cause your hair to puff up again.

Styling products can help achieve a certain look if your hair is already textured for that look. Products can’t perform miracles, such as turning an Afro into a silky sheet of Rapunzel-like locks. Many of us have probably seen famous hairstylists tout styling aids in magazines or on television. It’s important to remember that they have years of training and experience at their disposal, plus many utensils the average person just doesn’t own.

It’s best to research the products you buy. If possible, ask friends or associates with similar hair if they’ve used certain products. Styling aids make a lot of claims; some are true, some are false, or some may be true for others, just not for you. Once you find products that work for you, it’s best to stick with them so that you’re not constantly on the hunt for that one miracle product that promises you’ll never have a bad hair day again.

Written by Delores Sandeen – 2002 Pagewise