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Many hair sprays are formulated with a chemical that is terrible for your hairstyle, because it causes your hair to droop and lose its style almost the instant it is applied.
Our favourite wisely chooses to not use this chemical in their aerosol hairspray and that’s one of the main reasons their hairspray has become such a cult beauty item.
Sebastian Shaper’s secret
The secret to Sebastian’s formula is: water. That’s right: simple H20. Many companies use water in their aerosol hair sprays because it’s a cheap way of filling a can. But when water contacts the hair, it loosens some of the internal bonds and causes the hair to lose its style. If you can avoid water in your hairspray you’ll get a much better hold. Of course, there are other ingredients in the formula that control how well the hairspray holds, but water is the big one.
The best two holding polymers
The other secret to great hair spray is to look for styling polymers that provide high humidity-resistant hold with flexibility. Many hair sprays use only one type or the other other, but the best hairsprays use a combination. Look for these two ingredients on the label:
- VA/Crotonates/Vinyl Neodecanoate Copolymer
- Octylacrylamide/Acrylates/ Butylaminoethyl Methacrylate Copolymer
Water is bad for your hairstyle, but if you can’t afford Sebastian shop around for other hair sprays that don’t use water. How can you tell? Turn the can over and read the ingredient list.
Hair sprays that are “all wet”
If you like the way Sebastian makes your hair feel, you’ll want to avoid these brands that formulate their hair sprays with water:
- Pantene Pro-V Texturize
- Suave Max Hold
- Herbal Essences Body Envy Volumising
- Got 2b Styltini
- Garnier Fructis Style Volumizing Anti-Humidity
- Dove Hairspray, Extra Hold
- Rusk W8less Plus Shaping and Control
- Aussie Instant Freeze
What's your go-to hairspray?
This post originally appeared on The Beauty Brains and has been republished with full permission.
