This is the best gel on the market, bar none. It should be, because it costs us a fortune to make. It’s the best not because it has the strongest hold (it doesn’t—it’s got a light to medium hold). It’s the best because it doesn’t damage your hair like almost every other gel does, by drying it out. Our gel actually conditions the hair while it’s on, because of the costly ingredients we use that the drugstore gels don’t (there’s a reason they cost $3.99 at Walgreen’s, and if you don’t mind what they do to your hair, by all means, be our guest!).
First, we use Panthenol, a miracle ingredient for hair. It’s obviously in our shampoo and conditioner, but we don’t know of any other gels that contain it. Panthenol helps to condition, thicken and repair the hair shaft, and is especially useful here because gel rests on the hair all day long. Next, the co-polymers we use are highly sophisticated (we can say in all honesty “state of the art”) and are responsible for the way the gel holds in a natural, rather than a “helmet-head” manner, and do so all day long. Also, this gel has a nice modern matte finish, rather than an ‘80’s shiny one. Very lightly signature scented.
USAGE INSTRUCTIONS: After washing your hair and gently towel-drying it, comb or brush it into place. Place a small amount of gel into your palm, rub your hands together, and work the gel through your hair. Style it as you like, using a comb, brush or your hands. You can allow it to dry naturally or blow-dry it. Once it’s dry, you can leave it as it is, or “break” it, by running your hands, a comb or brush through it. It will look more natural this way (it won’t be discernible that you have gel in your hair) but will still stay in place. For a super-duper “only when I’m going out look because I wouldn’t hassle with doing it otherwise” see Styling Cream below for how to use both products together.
TIP FOR FOLKS WITH THINNING HAIR: This info is for people, like me, who have thin hair and want to thicken it up, add volume, whip up some magic. This doesn't work with cheapo gels, try a side-by-side and you'll see for yourself, I can't tell you why other than the same old thing, that we use better ingredients.
I don't like my hair to look too styled or like a helmet--I just want more thickness and volume. So here's what I do. After shampooing and conditioning, I lightly towel dry (don't rub the heck outta your hair or scalp, that's the last thing those of us with thinning hair need because it tears at the hair) making sure to leave my hair a little wet. When I say "a little wet" I just mean that it still has some amount of moistness, not sopping wet.
Then I squirt out some gel into my palm. If you have pretty short hair like me, then I'd squirt out about one-quarter teaspoonful (you don't need to measure, I'm just giving you an idea here) and if you have longer hair, then increase the amount. Rub your palms together to coat both palms, then apply your palms to your hair, making sure TO WORK YOUR HANDS UP AND THROUGH YOUR HAIR, don't just smash down on top of your hair so that the product is all applied to the outermost layer of hair. That smashdown-on-top approach totally goes against the volumizing principle we're working here. Rather, you want the gel to be applied to as many hairs as possible--bottom, middle and top--and the only way to do that is to work up from the bottom and THROUGH. Can't emphasize this point enough, for some reason some gay men don't get it and straight men, don't even get me started.
Now you've transferred the gel from your hands to your hair. Remember, when your hair dries with the gel on it, it's going to sort of stay in that position so now is the time to move it around the way you like it. To avoid helmet head, I use my fingers rather than a comb or a brush and I just place the strands in a general direction that looks good and also take care not to smash the hair down but rather use a little uplift. Doing so ensures that when the hair dries, it will have "memory" of staying up rather than just lying flat. Put a little wave in it and jeepers, your hair will be a little wavy when it dries.
Now let your hair dry, and don't be impatient--make sure you wait a good 30 to 45 minutes before touching it. [Since originally writing this a whole bunch of people wrote in and said, "This is way too long" and "Why can't I blow dry it?" Jesus. You can't blow dry it because it defeats the whole purpose. If the [few] hairs we have are whipping around like that they're not going to appear thicker and more volumized or stay in place when they dry, which is our end goal. Only people with tons of hair would ask such insensitive questions.)
When it's dry, it's time to "break" it. That means to banish the gel's wet look by running your fingers or a comb or a brush through your now-dry hair. Again, for a more natural look I use my hands and fingers, not a comb or a brush, and I basically just run my hands and fingertips gently through my hair over and over until it looks like there's no gel in it. Even though my hair is straight as a pin and generally rather lifeless, if I put some wave in it with the gel, it's retained after I've "broken" it and looks thicker and covers my scalp with more volume. Try it and see!
6oz/177ml
INGREDIENTS: Purified water, PVP/VA copolymer, TEA-carbomer, Propylene glycol, Rose bud extract, Bitter Orange extract, Carrageenan (irish moss) extract, French lavender essential oil, Washington peppermint essential oil, Tunisian rosemary essential oil, Panthenol, Allantoin (from comfrey plant), Diazolidinyl urea (anti-microbial), Dime-thicone copolyol, Polysorbate 20, Disodium EDTA
PEOPLE WHO LIKE IT: say it’s the best gel they’ve ever used because it holds their hair in place all day in a natural “ungelled” look 2) it’s got the perfect hold level—not too strong so it looks like helmet hair, not too light so the hair is flying away
PEOPLE WHO DIDN’T LIKE IT said the hold wasn’t strong enough, they were satisfied with cheaper products
