Sea salt texturizing sprays have been marketed towards the naturally wavy crowd for quite some time now. Sea salt is a 100% unprocessed, unrefined ingredient that encourages natural curls to form with a mild hold and no tacky or greasy residue, for that “just went to the beach” look and feel. For women with tighter curl patterns sea salt may be drying, but for looser, less fragile textures like Type 2 waves sea salt can provide soft, natural hold.
Similarly, sugar cane extract has curl enhancing capabilities. When used directly on the scalp, it can also unclog pores and act as a clarifying treatment to exfoliate and promote hair growth. Last week we received a new product in the office to try–Sweet Definition Texturizing Sugar Mist from Keratin Complex. We’d never considered trading in our salt spray for sugar–so of course, we wanted to see if there was an actual difference between the two. Three of our wavy haired editors put Sweet Definition to the test against a salt spray, Brooklyn Beach Hair, this is what happened.
Susonnah, 2a
It left my hair a little frizzy, and it dried kinda crunchy…
What are your initial thoughts?
Scent is good, it definitely smells sweet but not like candy. More like a sweet perfume. The sharp blue color seems a bit unnatural, but I suppose this isn’t a natural product anyway.How did you apply it to your hair?
I refreshed my hair with it by first spraying my hair with water to get it damp. Then I liberally sprayed it all over my waves, focusing on the outside and inside of my hair. Then I scrunched it with my hands, and flipped my hair over to pick at the roots and get more volume.Final verdict?
Cristina, 2c
I was worried about stickiness…
What are your initial thoughts?
I typically like a thicker product than a spray like this, I tend to gravitate towards cream gels for my Type 2c waves so this was a real departure for me. My first impression was that I was not going to like this product–it’s an unnatural blue color and is not the type of product I usually like to put in my hair. It felt a little sticky on my hands, and was very viscous and liquidy.
How did you apply it to your hair?
After I cleansed and conditioned my hair I plopped with a Curly Tee Towel for about 15-20 minutes. Once my hair was partially dry I applied DevaCurl B’Leave-In. This leave-in conditioner has a very gel-like consistency so I thought that would help me out with hold since the sugar spray didn’t feel like a strong hold product. Then I sprayed the sugar spray throughout my hair. Because I was worried about stickiness I didn’t spray too much of the product, probably around 15 sprays, concentrating on the ends.
Final verdict?
The product actually gave me really nice definition and hold, I’m really happy with the way my curls turned out when I used sugar spray. It was a good hair day! I could maybe use it again, but it won’t be something I use regularly because it has drying ingredients in its top 5 ingredients and I prefer to go with stylers that also provide moisture. My hair is very damaged from bleaching it platinum and dying it last year, so I don’t want to do anything more to jeopardize its health. If my hair was healthy, I probably would use sugar spray more because I liked the results.
Laura, 2c
I would use the sugar spray again, but with a little cream to provide more hold…
What are your initial thoughts?
The bottle has a simple see-through design and the liquid inside is an aqua blue. The spray is a liquid that feels like water but leaves a sticky residue when left on your fingers too long. The scent was more masculine than the salt spray but was enjoyable and made my hair smell great for a longer period of time.
How did you apply it to your hair?
I applied the sugar spray similar to how I apply my salt spray. When my hair was wet I sprayed generously all over my hair and scrunched it. When dry I did not apply any more product since the sugar spray left my hair with less frizz than the salt spray.
Final verdict?
The sugar spray also did not have as much hold as I like my product to have but it did not leave my hair as frizzy as the salt spray. It left me with looser waves similar to the salt spray which I liked. I would use the sugar spray again, but along with a little cream to provide more hold throughout the day.
[prodmod]This post is based on our editors’ honest opinions and is not sponsored.