Hair Products and Dead People

Note: The following post is completely and obsessively hair focused. You may want to skip this one if you a) naturally have hair like Farrah Fawcett, b) have hair like Sinead O'Connor in the late 90s or c) are male.

As you can kind of tell from my profile picture, I have curly hair. This has caused me tremendous angst as a child and young adult. I'm finally reconciled to my curl, but that doesn't stop me from believing in that "magic product." You know, the one that makes your curls large, soft, bouncy, alluring, frizz-free... you get the point. This has caused me to waste all kinds of money over the years.



Recently I shelled out a car payment to have a "curly haircut professional" cut my hair. She cut it dry instead of wet to "work with my natural curl." I have to say, that kind of made sense to me. What did not make sense was spending another car payment on her recommended products. I've been using them for about a month now, and I'm not impressed.










This is Devacurl AnGEL. Here is the official PR on it:
DevaCurl Angel 32 oz (946 oz) Hyper-Angelic Conditioning Gel, part of Deva
Products is a gentle heavenly and clear frizz control light weight get that
conditions as well as holds. PH 6
What is Angélls function? Angéll is a clear, light weight, moisturizing and defining gel. It crystallizes the wet curl formation until it dries, protecting it from outside interferences such as wind which can cause friction & frizz when agitated.

Supposedly you put it on while your hair is wet, and then let it air dry. I'd say this is average in performance. The plus is that your hair is not crunchy, but I think it is also frizz prone. With Baltimore's humidity, this is an issue.







This is Set Up and Above. Again, the PR:

DevaCurl Set Up and Above 3.8 oz (115 ml), part of Deva Products, formally Set me Up is A versatile, moisturizing styler for optimum hold, lift and shine. Botanically infused with jojoba, olive oil and cupuacu seed oil.

Directions:Apply a generous amount of Set Up & Above! to the palms of your hands. In a rustling motion, move the product through the hair and scalp to create maximum lift, seperation and texture. Style to your individual needs and enjoy the
benefits of Set Up & Above!

I was using this on my dry hair (after using the gel above) to help with frizz control. Not too successful. So you can imagine my surprise when I actually take time to READ the label and it says to use on wet hair. I tried that last night and let it air dry. The results are not pretty. Thank goodness I have no dates tonight! I'm like Frizzy McFrizzerson up in here.





Meanwhile...







Behold the got2be glued. This stuff is exponentially cheaper than the special curly hair products above. And it works pretty well all things considered.

I will say that it makes your hair kind of crunchy at first, but you can smoosh out the crunch without getting too much frizz. And it lasts for a couple of days!

I find it ironic that it is marketed to the teen crowd as being exceptionally good for creating spikes and mohawks. And when I told the curly hair specialist that I was using it she acted completely shocked and appalled. According to her it leaves a film on my hair that even shampoo can't remove (not that you are actually supposed to shampoo curly hair all that much). Oh no! Not film!

And then I started thinking, maybe it's the film that takes away some of the frizz. So maybe I'm actually loving me some film and I don't even know it. Maybe film was Farrah's secret that she has now taken to the grave.



PS Shabaz Muffalet's shoes still squeak. I am no longer amused.

PPS Blogger, your spacing sucks. I am beginning to hate you. Can anyone recommend a better blog host?