The Scoop on the Goop
I swear to God, I don’t know how you people do it. I’ve gone into stores and taken a jog down the aisles devoted to the care and feeding of hair. Miles and MILES of bottles that are supposed to make your hair do everything but the watusi! It’s enough to make you pass out from sensory overload! I stand there and try to put myself in the basic consumer’s shoes. I get dizzy and nauseous from the sheer number of gels, mousses, and sprays. Which one is right for my personal tresses? What’s a spritzing spray as opposed to a spray gel? If I use “firm hold," will I become a cement head? I’m going to try to make sense out of the morass of descriptions on these styling aids. Please remember these are the opinions expressed by the management, (just me) so I don’t get hate email from the salon of your choice. I’m NOT telling you to buy something at (your local variety store) for your hair. Just trying to define what you might be buying. The difference is that in a salon, you have a stylist to tell you this stuff.
GELS AND MOUSSES
Okay, both of these are to make your hair fuller, tamer, and bouncy and all that jazz. The wisdom has always been, gels are stronger and mousses won’t weigh down your hair. However, those little guys in lab coats have been fiddling with em and now gels don’t weigh your hair down so much and mousses are a lot tougher. (I still think gel could whip mousse in an arm wrestling match though) Styling gels come in all kinds of ways. They glop..They glaze..They spritz. When you’re trying to decide what one is best for you, consider your hair. Is it fine? Thick? Frizzy? My theory is the heavier the hair…the stronger the gel. If your hair is fine, you can still use gels. Just look for styling lotions or glazes. Spray gels are good to use too. The word is light, light light. If the product is heavier than your hair, it ’ll roll over and play dead. Folks with fine hair are looking for volume. Folks with thick, heavy and possibly naturally wavy hair are looking for control. Gels are great for controlling thick hair that isn’t listening to you. Gels are also good for hair that takes one look at a humid day and screams FRIZZZZ!!!
Now mousses are like fat free gels, but they have oomph to em! They don’t seem quite as confusing, but you need to watch a few things. They have more alcohol in their makeup. That can be drying on your hair. The stronger the mousse, the more alcohol it has. There are conditioning mousses out there which attempt to offset that, but folks with fine hair beware. As you well know, too much conditioner maketh the hair lay down not up. But if your hair is chemically treated or dry these are great. There are also color mousses out there. These are generally harmless and should…I say “should” wash out in one shampooing. If you have chemically treated (permed or colored) hair though…pass these up. Your hair is porous and that means that the color might not be willing to vacate the premises.
Tami K. Coxen
So there you go ladies...and gentlemen too! Be sure to commit this to memory because Tami isn't finished yet. Next week she returns with the goods on sprays and other neat stuff! By this time next week, you will be able to go into a shop and know exactly what you are looking for!
This Week's Mini Tour
*Join us for a tour of a few sites that should inform.
All About Hair - If you weren't blessed by great hair, visit this page. If you know why your hair behaves as it does, you are halfway home. Topics cover frizzy, dry, permed and more. Compliments of "All About Hair".
Question of The Week
Is there a way to get my nails to grow faster? ~ Sarah
Don't I wish! You can count on your nails growing about and eighth of an inch per month but thats just on average. I'm sure my nails grow faster. Anyway, take care of what you have by protecting them with strengtheners etc. It doesn't matter how fast they grow if they keep breaking on you!sb :)