Gels are really tricky I think. There are so many ways they can go wrong. Take a leave in, for example. It can be too heavy, or too light. It can have too much slip, or not enough. It can have the wrong ingredients for what your hair likes. But other than that, there's not too many ways to mess it up. With gels on the other hand, there are infinite ways to go wrong. Everything from the ingredients (humectants or no, protein or no, PVP or no, polyquats or no, etc), to the application (too much and you'll get sticky, too little and you'll frizz), to the distribution (hard to get it even when just scrunching), to consistency, to hold, etc etc etc. Since it's the last thing you put on your hair (other than perhaps a butter to scrunch out the crunch with), I think it's pretty critical to find a good gel if your hair needs one.
The Spiral Solutions Firm Hold Gel is the first gel I've ever encountered that does not leave my hands sticky after using it. This is huge for a couple reasons. 1) It's just nice. It doesn't make you feel the need to wash up after doing your hair. And 2) if it isn't sticky on my
Ingredients: water, dehydroxanthan gum, hydroxyethylcellulose, polyquaternium-4, fragrance, brocolli seed oil, silk amino acids, panthenol, aloe vera powder, benzylalcohol-dha, vitamin e, sea algae extract, dead sea salts, citric acid
Nothing to be afraid of in there that would make it sticky. Polyquat-4 might raise some hairs on your neck, but remember, the lower the 'quat number, the easier it is to remove. Polyquat-4 essentially evaporates from your hair on its own. Here is a must read on gels and their ingredients from the Curl Chemist.
The directions say you can "scrunch a small amount through wet hair" or "can also be applied to dry hair to smooth frizzies." I've only used it on wet hair for hold because my hair just doesn't like anything applied when dry. This stuff has really nice, clean hold. It doesn't feel sticky when drying, but still creates that film cast or mold or whatever you want to call it that holds your curls in place during drying. It holds up very well under diffusing, and the dry time with it was significantly (like 5 minutes) less then when I was using a different gel with the same base products.
I generally use about 3 peas worth on each side and then another nickle size blob upside down. So the amounts are actually smaller than what I would generally use with another gel. I find I just don't need quite so much with this as I do with a typical clear gel. I then scrunch out some water with my Curls Like Us towel, and apply a little bit more FHG. The weather in the time I've been using it has been dews around 15-30 range. There has been some rain, and it held up pretty well considering how much I have to walk around outside as a college student. It doesn't provide curl enhancement for me beyond what the Curl Enhancing Jelly does. I haven't tried it without a curl enhancer underneath yet.
All in all, I think this is a solid product. It gives good hold, shine, lacks the tacky stickiness of many clear gels, and it's consistent for me in a moderate variety of weather conditions. I'm hoping this one holds out through the humidity of the mid Atlantic summer. Then I will be truly in love
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