Style minions!

Styling products are in abundance these days and why would they not be, it is what the glorious world of glamour revolves around! Like I say time and again – achieving the perfect hair is a long process that is a test of perseverance. The things that aid us in this beautifully challenging task are styling tools and products. Either of these alone is NO good – this is as real and significant as the food chain and there is no arguing with the food chain! There is a sequence in nature, an order of things and this is that order – prep with a base styling product, style with the right tools and finish with finishing products. Too much hassle??  I am sorry to give you a much needed reality check – good things don't come easy. Fabulous things are harder to come by! If you think this is more trouble than it is worth, you can kiss away your dreams of salon style immaculate hair! Period.

For the newbie in fashionista town, this would be a good place to start! If you wondered how to coax and manipulate you locks so they are luscious, well-behaved and around the clock gorgeous, here is your answer. Behold – the styling products!

Smoothening products: These are the holy grails for the Rapunzels with a straight mane. They make hair glossy, shiny, control the frizz and straighten it. These can be used on virgin or treated hair. They come in many forms under various brands – serum, cream, spray, mist. They are ideal for hair that needs just a little taming to be presentable or after styling; it essentially is the finishing touch, the polish! So, if your hair is extremely unruly, curly or frizzy, even the best smoothening products cannot miraculously give you magazine cover hair! You will need to resort to chemical straightening that you can maintain with these products, or embrace your curls that you can define, control and enhance with the right products.

Curl enhancing products: Pretty self-explanatory, this one! I feel curls somehow reflect the spirit of a woman, in the sense that they are complicated, difficult to understand, even harder to manage and tame! But ladies, if you have learnt how to reign in your curly or wavy hair, with the help of the right products, results can be nothing short of magical! Curl enhancing products help define the natural waves and curls in our tresses, making them those shiny ultra-feminine ringlets or waves that we all have been envious of at some point. They also help keep the curls defined and frizz-free until the next wash (as anyone with curly hair knows how thin the border between curly and frizzy is)! They are best used as a base before a blowout or the use of curling irons. These beauties again come in spray, mousse and cream forms.

Texturizing products: They basically add texture. Ever seen a girl with tousled, I-just-rolled-out-of-my-bed, piecey hair? This bottle of goodness is what helped her achieve that! We are talking separated, textured, moisturized, effortless waves. Of course, depending on the exact look, our man here must have had to work with dollops of mousse and even a hold spray! But you get the picture.

Volume enhancing products: These again will need to be used in combination with a bunch of other styling products. But simply put, they enhance the volume of your hair and in most cases, can be worked into any look you want. Whether you have short or long hair, whether you are styling it into humongous bouncy curls, beach waves or even the straight look, you should be able to find one of these volume experts that works for you! These come in cream, mousse and spray forms.

Holding hairsprays: Lastly, this one here is our safety net! Almost literally! It actually coats your hair with invisible particles and helps hold the look or hairstyle you very painstakingly created! I mean, look at that list above – there is sooo much effort that goes into creating the perfect hairstyle, working with all these products and tools. Holdspray helps keep it all in in place until the next wash, hence is the final act. Now of course you have a whole range from strong to medium hold products. Finding a good holdspray that works best for you is quite the challenge as most products tend to make hair sticky and stiff, giving it a rather unnatural look. The ideal product will give you flexible, natural lasting hold!

So now that you have the basic gyan, go explore and get started on your way to fabulous mane! PHEW!! That’s all for today, ladies!

xoxo