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
hands, I can feel confident that it won't be sticky in my hair. Most commercial gels are made with ingredients derived from plastic polymers that are meant to be a bit tacky. That's what gives them hold when they are so cheap. But, take a look at the ingredients for the Spiral Solutions Firm Hold Gel: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 consistency of this stuff is interesting. It will shake a bit like jello if you bump the side of the jar. Here is a picture of the product in my jar of it. The first thing you'll notice is that it's not clear like a typical gel. Obviously, it's impossible to get a feel for the consistency from a still, but I think you can tell it's not like a normal gel. When you rub it onto your hands, it spreads out into a more clear film. It distributes really well though since it's not thick. It's so hard to describe! It's thin as far as gels go, but it has a definite presence/consistency to it. It smells just like all the other products in her line -awesome. It doesn't linger on me as much as I'd want it to actually.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 really like this stuff. It leaves my hair feeling productless, which is awesome. It also manages to provide very firm, crunchy hold for me. The crunch goes away very easily though, and I use just my bare hands to get rid of it. The above picture is using the gel over the Curl Enhancing Jelly, and it's a bit frizzy because it was taken after I went out in the rain. I've consistently used it over a leave in and curl enhancer with good results.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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