Two Texturizing Sea Salt Sprays

It seams like I am repeating myself a bit by always mentioning that my hair is longer.  But it is! 🙂  …and I figured that it might also be calling for a slight adjustment in the styling products.  Don’t think for a moment that pomades would be falling in disgrace.  Not a chance!  Pomade is still the No. 1 hair styling solution for this guy.  But with more hair to manage, the pomade might benefit from a little help from other solutions.

My exploration in hair products has gone into new directions with the recent testing of the Johnny’s Chop Shop spray and clay.  Specifically, the Johnny’s Chop Shop Trigger Happy texturizing spray.  Basically this stuff gives the hair some grittiness and volume or thickness.  When I bought it, I figured that it was some sort of hairspray in the traditonal sense; something that sticks everything in place. Or maybe, some sort of pomade helper to get some height in that pomp or quiff.  Yes it does that, but it does a bit more in the sense that you get a fairly interesting result and because the hair is now a little styled, you use less pomade and get better results.

This texturizing spray is inspired by another product called a “Salt Spray”.  This is essentially a salted water vaporizer.  It adds some element of salt to your hair,  it will cause it to bond together , make it look ticker and possibly give it some height.  The Trigger Happy spray is not a salt spray, but it fits into that product space.  Think back at the last time you went into the ocean and how this affected your hair.  These spray will give you somewhat of that as the starting point.  I tried one this morning called: Not Your Mother’s Beach Babe Spray.  A totally amusing name which reminds me of my favorite Barber shop in the Ottawa Market, Not Your Father’s Barber.

I should mention that I was opened to trying this “texturizing middle” step as I was already working with the REUZEL grooming tonic.  The tonic is a good product and it certainly improved the overall results of my styling attempts.  That being said, the Trigger Happy and the Beach Babe Sea Salt Spray  gave me results that are a notch above.  The Grooming tonic is a slightly oily product.  No matter how good or light the oil might be, it will have a weighing down effect on hair.   Texturizing spray or salt spray has the reverse effect, by bonding the hair with a very light solution thus allowing for more volume and height.

Application is rather simple and to the point:

• Wash your hair,
• towel dry,
• spray a few squirts in your mop,
• dry you hair with a dryer (use the cold setting on the dryer to save that  precious hair)
• style with pomade,
• look better than if you didn’t do anything

You may be concerned about how this will work with the pomade?  So far, I have tried about 5 different pomades with the Trigger Happy spray and the results have been the same in all cases.  My starting point is fluffier hair that requires less pomade and renders better results.

You may also inquire about how the introduction of this product will affect the washability of your hair?  It seams to change nothing with this stuff coming out with just water.  I am now rinsing my hair every day and washing every other day.  I am not aware of buildup or undesirable side-effects.

I usually don’t compare products side by side in these posts as I prefer to give a full run down on one give products or companion products, but here since we have already reviewed the Johnny’s Chop Shop Spray and Clay together, it seam to make sense to simply compare two slightly different texturizing solutions.

When looking at the ingredient list, the Beach Babe salt spray is dirt simple with only 8 ingredients and where the no. 1 is obviously salted water.  The Trigger Happy spray is a tad more complex and listing 11 ingredients and where the salt is in 6th position.

When comparing the results of these two sprays, the Trigger Happy spray was nicer to work with and gave results that were longer lasting as the product interfered less with the pomade.  The Beach Babe spray is a true salt spray and the grittiness aspect is a tad more pronounced.  I also found that it rendered a more matt finish in the hair.  Lastly, it slightly impacted on the longevity of the pomade.  Granted, we are talking about allot hair and we can’t be expecting a miracle every day.  The Beach Babe spray as a fantastic coconut beach scent, while the Trigger Happy has no real discernible fragrance.

Price wise the Trigger Happy was purchased for $10 on sale at London Drugs and the Not Your Mother’s Beach Babe spray was bought from Amazon Canada for $12.

The Beach Babe Salt Spray (236 ml) does offers 100 ml more for the same price and it is considerably easier to find in Canada.  That being said, there are a number of salt sprays out there and I will most certainly try a few others.

You can shop for these products using these links: