Ever since I asked my stylist to hack a few inches off my wavy hair earlier this month, I’ve been wearing it straight pretty much daily (it’s a Lloyd Christmas thing). I started looking for hair straightening products sans silicones, scoping beauty aisles and reading labels, and quickly realized that they’re few and far between.
Even though I’m not totally against using hair products that contain silicone, I find that with products where they appear way up high in the list of ingredients, they tend to weigh down my hair and eventually lead to even worse frizz down the road. Plus, I like to keep my hair guessing by switching up my routine.
I found Living Proof’s Straight Spray ($29 for a 5.5-oz. bottle) last weekend at Sephora (it’s exclusive to the store). It’s a lightweight aerosol styling spray designed to straighten and protect hair from damage without the use of silicones, oils or resins. Instead, it relies on a molecule called PolyfluoroEster, which Living Proof claims prevents water from finding its way into the hair shaft and messing with your straightened ‘do.
It’s supposed to work on wet or dry hair, but the directions recommend applying to hair that’s clean and wet. Just mist hair evenly for 5-10 seconds holding the bottle 6 inches away. Then comb through and style with a blow dryer or flat iron.
I try to keep heat on my hair to a minimum, so what I like to do is shower at night, and then let my hair dry while I sleep. In the morning, I’ll spray it with Straight Spray, then use my Sedu flat iron to smooth out the waves.
So far so good, although I haven’t been able to tell if it does a better job of protecting my hair from heat damage than my budget $5 go-to from Tresemme. I think it does beat my budget love, though, when it comes to straightening prowess and longevity, as it seems to keep my hair straighter for longer periods of time, and I don’t feel like I have to touch up with my flat iron as often between washes.
I’ve also noticed that when I let my hair down after I shower with it up in a ponytail, my hair looks straighter than it usually does when I use other products.
Oh, and the scent? Love. It’s like a mix of lavender flowers with sweet tea and mint.
Living Proof Straight Spray is pricey for a hair product, but if you straighten your hair often and would like a silicone-free spray, it might be worth the splurge.
PRICE: $29 for a 5.5 oz bottle and $17 for a 1.8-oz. bottle
AVAILABILITY: Available exclusively at Sephora
MAKEUP AND BEAUTY BLOG RATING: A-
Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,
Karen
P.S. It’s that time again, Kate Spade fans. Sample sale time! From now through 11:59 p.m. Pacific Time on September 1, select items are up to 75% off. All sales are final, and the discount varies, but on some items, it’s HUGE! Might be a good opportunity to get in a little early (admittedly very early) holiday shopping.
I’m just sayin’. 🙂
Oh, and for what it’s worth, attack the shoes first (learn from my mistakes!); then hit up the accessories. Those seem to go fastest.
Kajal Couture says
August 30th, 2011 at 10:20 amI saw the Kate Sale! But I have shopped a lot recently so I am going to skip this one.
I wish I could sample that straightening spray. I tried the Living Proof dry shampoo and leave in conditioner and didn’t like either one.
Karen says
August 30th, 2011 at 1:11 pmWow, you’re so strong!
I ended up getting Holiday presents for friends and family. For the last two years I’ve left shopping up to the last minute and I refuse to scramble this time around.
kiwikiwidragon says
August 30th, 2011 at 10:45 amToo bad it has fluorocarbons, they seem to be making a re-emergence in the beauty world. I received a sample of a redken product in my Birchbox this month and lookey lookey, cfcs. Also so in the Tresemme dry shampoos and hairsprays. Bummer, strike another off the list. Sighhhh
Karen says
August 30th, 2011 at 1:10 pmHi Kiwikiwidragon,
I’ll keep my eye out for something without the fluorocarbons. If I find anything I’ll let you know!
Have you received any must-try items from Birchbox lately?
luv2smilexo says
August 30th, 2011 at 10:52 amI have been quite intrigued by Living Proof and this product seems like it might be right up my alley. Do you find it really eliminates frizz?
luv2smilexo recently posted … An Eye of the Day for Fall
Karen says
August 30th, 2011 at 1:09 pmHi Luv2smile,
I think it does. My hair’s mildly frizzy, though. I’m not sure how well it handles hard core frizz.
What are you using right now?
Nina says
August 30th, 2011 at 11:36 amcant wait for the KS sample sale! <3
Karen says
August 30th, 2011 at 12:17 pmIt’s going on right now! Head on over before all the good stuff is going, going gone!
Nina says
August 30th, 2011 at 1:49 pmsilly me was waiting to get paid before i even looked at the site! little did i know, we got paid today! off to do some damage!
Karen says
August 30th, 2011 at 2:11 pmYou’ve got willpower, and that’s a GREAT thing.
Let me know what you end up getting! 🙂
My furbaby says hi, btw… he’s sleeping on my lap.
Nina says
August 31st, 2011 at 5:45 amhi Tabs! 🙂
i have a couple of things in my cart …. mostly jewelry, and 2 purses. omg bad. 😀
Nicole says
August 30th, 2011 at 11:55 amThanks for recommendation! 🙂 I go between straightening my hair & wearing it wavy on some days to give the locks a break from the heat of a blow dryer & flat iron so products that are good to our hair are a treasure to find.
Not sure if you’ve tried the Garnier Fructis Blow Dry Perfector creme or not but I currently use it on my straight days & I really like it. Can’t say for sure about it containing silicone or not cause I don’t have the tube in front of me but it does have Argan Oil in it which we all know by now is super nourishing to our strands. When I get out of the shower I rub the Garnier creme thru my damp hair & let my hair air dry almost all the way. Then when i go to blow dry or flat iron straight, it’s so much easier to work the wavy kinks out and my hair is super soft & shiny without any weigh down. It’s some really good stuff that you or your MBB readers may wanna give a go some time. 🙂
Karen says
August 30th, 2011 at 1:08 pmHi Nicole,
Thanks for the drugstore rec! I’m always down for budget hair products. I’ll make a note on my iPhone and check it out next time I’m at Target. 🙂
What other drugstore hair products do you like?
Jessi says
August 30th, 2011 at 12:06 pmWhen I was younger I had stick-straight hair, but as an adult it has turned thick, wavy, and frizzy. I’m at a loss of how to care for it and I miss my straight, easy to care for hair. I’ll have to try this out! Thanks Karen!
Jessi recently posted … Revlon Just Tinted Nail Polish Swatches
Karen says
August 30th, 2011 at 1:07 pmHi Jessi,
Mine did the same thing when I hit my teens. Have you ever visited the Naturally Curly website? It’s got lots of useful tips and articles for gals with wavy or curly hair.
Kimberly says
August 30th, 2011 at 4:39 pmJessi: I’m a curly girl, and I swear by DevaCurl products. *cone-free deep conditioner for daily use, and low-poo to wean you off the SLS lather. I also love An-gel for styling.
NeenaJ says
August 30th, 2011 at 12:16 pmI’m so glad the topic of hair came up! Have you tried any of the new wave stylers (they look like ginormous crimpers or 3 curling irons stuck together)?
Ulta is running 20% off right now, but am unsure which one might produce the most natural looking waves. Thanks!
Karen says
August 30th, 2011 at 1:06 pmHi NeenaJ,
Here’s a link to a review I did for Ladies’ Home Journal from last year for the Revlon Deep WaverL.
Let me know if you have any other questions!
NeenaJ says
August 30th, 2011 at 2:31 pmThanks!!
veronica says
August 30th, 2011 at 1:27 pmI got a bottle of this recently as well (they sent it to me for review) along with the Full mousse. I already have straight hair, so it does help with the flyaways a bit, but I’m worried it might weigh my hair down a bit. Love the Full mousse though!
Karen says
August 30th, 2011 at 2:10 pmHi Veronica,
So far I haven’t had any issues with volume. My ends stay pretty fluffy when I have it on.
Have you tried anything else from the line? I think I want to explore it further…
Gaby says
August 30th, 2011 at 2:16 pmI once tried a Living Proof product to help me straighten my super curly hair but I have to say I was a little disappointed in that, first: it was way too expensive for such a small quantity; second: it barely did anything different to my hair. It was still a mess to deal with and it didn’t make it any straighter than normal. Maybe my hair is just TOO curly lol.
Ruchita says
August 30th, 2011 at 4:06 pmThanks for the review! I straighten my hair fairly often, so I’m always on the lookout for new products. I’ll have to try the Tresemme product as well.
I’m currently using Sebastian Trilliant, which works great on my fine hair, but not sure if it has silicones.
Kaoyee says
August 30th, 2011 at 4:07 pmI exercised some serious willpower today and opted out of buying anything at the Kate spade sale. I did shoot some hints at the hubby though…like u said…early holiday shopping! Let us know what you got from the sale!
Kimberly says
August 30th, 2011 at 4:37 pmThanks for reviewing this. I keep my curly hair *cone-free, but it’s getting long and messy and I want to start straightening it again.
Could the person who mentioned fluorocarbons above elaborate? Wikipedia had little say on their environmental impact other than there have been several investigations regarding negative impact.
Kim says
August 31st, 2011 at 7:23 amHi Kimberly, I didn’t mention it, but the EPA has a Phaseout schedule for HCFCs on their website. The gist of all CFCs is studies suggested that they could accumulate/be trapped in the atmosphere and deplete the ozone layer/lead to global warming. I’m not an expert by any means, but this link has some info if you’re interested…
http://www.unep.fr/ozonaction/topics/hcfc.asp
MaryAsk says
August 31st, 2011 at 1:34 pmThanks for the review, I have naturally curly, thick hair, and always like to keep it straight. I straighten my hair with a great flat iron I bought at safrons, it’s the Karmin G3 Salon Pro with ceramic tourmaline plates to avoid damages, it heats up really quick and it works very good because it only takes me a very short amount of time to get my hair completely straight.