Hair Care Products and a Hairspray Revelation

One thing you should know about me?

I have hair issues.

My hair is terrible, with a capital T.  Flat, thin, doesn't hold curl.  I don't think I can express to you how really awfully bad my hair is.  I've tried soooo many different hair care products to try to give my hair more volume, to give it texture, to hold curl.  Hardly anything works.  I have had success for a short amount of time with two different volumizing products:

Aquage Uplifting Foam, $16+

This foam is meant to be applied while hair is still damp.  You then dry your hair, upside down for best effect, and it gives it volume.  The first couple of times I used this product, IT. WAS. AWESOME.  When I flipped right-side up after drying, my hair honest to goodness looked like a lion's mane.  It was crazy.  I've never in my life had volume like that.  My only complaint about it at first was that it made my hair crunchy wherever I had applied it.  But after awhile, it was almost like my hair became resistant to the product.  It no longer gave me crazy awesome volume, it just made my hair sticky.  It was a terribly sad day around the Gaddie household.  And so I began my hunt for a volumizing product that would work......again.

L'Oreal Boost It High Lift Creation Spray, ~$4, Target, Walmart

After searching for a good while for another volumizing product, I was out at a bachelorette party when my cousin fixed my hair and used this glorious stuff.  It's amazing.  Spray it on your roots, tease it up, hello volume!  Best part?  It's FOUR DOLLARS.  I'm a firm believer that you should not have to pay out the wazoo to get good stuff.  

While I've found a volumizing product that works, for now, I've basically been on the hunt for a hairspray that will hold my hair for-ev-ver.  Seriously, it's like the hunt that absolutely never ends.  I've gone through so many brands and types and price points it's ridiculous.  I've tried Garnier, White Rain, Suave, Big Sexy Spray and Play, Herbal Essences, John Frieda...the list goes on and on.  

Most recently, I had the thought that since the L'Oreal volumizing spray was working so well, I would try their brand of hairspray too. 

L'Oreal Lock It Weather Control Hairspray, ~$4, Target

This stuff is.....used ..okay.  It's better than any other ones I've used.  It holds my hair for a small amount of time, which is impressive considering most of the other hairsprays I've used don't even hold my hair until I get to work.  But.....this stuff smells horrrrrrrrrrrrible.  I can't even convey into words the smell this spray puts off.  It's bad enough in the bathroom when I'm fixing my hair, but I can smell it in my hair the rest of the day.  But I paid $4 and it does an okay job, so I thought I would use the rest of the can before I bought something else to try.

Yesterday, I was cleaning and reorganizing my bathroom closet and I found a trial sized bottle of a hairspray I'd honestly never seen before.  I have no idea when it was purchased, I have no idea where it came from, I've never even heard of this brand before.

Salon Grafix Freezing Hair Spray

This morning, while I was getting ready for church, I thought I would attempt an experiment.  Spiral curl my hair like I occasionally do and then spray my hair....half of it with the L'Oreal hairspray I had been using and the other half on this newly discovered brand-I'd-never-heard-of spray.  

Holy cow, guys. 

I curled my hair at 10:15ish this morning.  I took this picture at 7:15 tonight.

This is a picture of the side of hair that I sprayed with the L'Oreal spray. 

It's okay.  Like I said before, it's worked better than anything else I've ever used before.  I still see curl in my hair, which for 9 hours after I curled it, is extremely impressive.  That's seriously never happened before.  But you can see the areas that have fallen out, which is super typical of my hair.  

Now, this is the side that I sprayed with the Salon Grafix freezing spray.

I seriously can't even believe it.  NINE HOURS have passed, y'all...and my hair is still curled.  Do you even know what a huge, monumental feat this is??  This has never happened.  Ever.  I feel like I need to shout it from the rooftops:  "I'VE ACTUALLY FOUND A HAIRSPRAY THAT WORKS!!  AND DOESN'T SMELL GARBAGE!!  IT'S LIKE THE APOCALYPSE!"

Now, I just have to find this stuff for a reasonable price.  Baby steps, guys.