Review: L.A. Looks Power Spikes Gel

Most curlies will tell you that our hair changes as the seasons change. During the summer my hair has volume, it’s bouncy, it’s generally manageable and easy to style. During the winter, it’s another story all around. The loss of moisture in the air seriously affects my hair, and I have to tweak my routine to get the curls I want. Lately, I’ve noticed that my hair seems to have developed an aversion to glycerin, in my stylers anyway. Glycerin seems to turn my hair into a rat’s nest. It’s loses definition, it gets crazy frizzy, and looks a hot mess. So…….it was time to hunt for a new glycerin-free gel. Enter L.A. Looks Power Spikes Gel.

L.A. Looks Power Spikes Gel is a seriously hard-hold gel. It’s a 12 hold, on a scale of 1-12. L.A. Looks didn’t even have a 12 point scale until they came out with this gel, it only went to 10. In my opinion, Power Spikes is a fantastic alternative to Biosilk Rock Hard Gelee. It’s got just as much hold, and you get more than 3x the product for a fraction of the cost. I paid around $2 for a 20 oz container of Power Spikes at Wal-Mart, and in comparison I paid around $13 for a 6 oz container of Biosilk Rock Hard Gelee at CVS.

So how do I use L.A. Looks Power Spikes Gel? So far, I’ve only really used it in the winter, when my hair need more moisture. I typically use Boots Curl Crème, aka Pink Boots, right after my leave-in. Then I take a dime size amount of Power Spikes and start scrunching it in. Usually I do this 3 times, so I end up using probably slightly more than a quarter size amount of gel. Some days maybe a little more or a little less, depending on the weather and how my hair is behaving. Then I continue with the rest of my usual routine.

Power Spikes is one of the only drugstore gels that I've found that can give me the hold I need. The only drawback I've noticed is that it sort of smells like a man. Like men's bodywash or something. However, I don't mind, because the smell dissipates as soon as my hair dries. All in all, Power Spikes is a keeper.

Have you tried it?

Review: L.A. Looks Sport Hold Gel

What curly girl doesn't try almost anything they can get their hands on? I am constantly on the look out for new products, new techniques, and almost anything that may work for my curls. I've been reading all over the boards at Naturally Curly, about L.A. Looks Sport Hold Gel.

L.A. Looks Sport Hold Gel is readily available at almost any drugstore. It's also super cheap, I think I paid $2.50 for my bottle at Wal-Mart Neighborhood Market, and I got the really big bottle. It seems like everytime I go to Wal-Mart, I bring something beauty-related home.

So I have a few things that I require in a gel: hold, no flakes, pleasant smell, non-drying, no silicones, no alcohol, and no mineral oil. Since I no longer shampoo my hair, making sure that I'm not using silicones or anything that isn't water-soluble is very important. L.A. Looks Sport Hold Gel meets all my criteria, so let's get on with the review.

I went about my normal hair routine: cleanse with No-Poo, condition with One Condition and I use a small mixture of One Condition and B'Leave-In as my leave-in. I then scrunch out excess water using an old t-shirt or Curls Like Us Curl Cloth. Then instead of using ArcAngell, I scrunched in L.A. Looks Sport Hold Gel. I could tell immediately, by the way it felt going into my hair, that it was indeed a hard hold gel. They just feel different, they don't have the same slip as a regular or light hold gel. In my experience, most hard hold gels also seem to dry faster, alcohol or none. Maybe this is what allows them to really set the hairstyle?

So, after I'd scrunched to my hearts desire, and used the Curls Like Us Curl Cloth to help set my curls, I diffused. Using my diffuser is the ultimate test for any hair product that I use, if it won't hold my curls in place while I diffuse, it probably won't hold them in place for the rest of my day. After all, I have a 4 year old little boy who likes to wrestle, and play crazy. Guess what, L.A. Looks Sport Hold Gel passed. After diffusing my curls, they looked awesome, super hard, but awesome. So I used a little MirrorCurls to SOTC, and my hair looked great. It's shiny, bouncy, and I think it would stay in place if a tornado happens to tough down.

Have you used L.A. Looks Sport Hold Gel? Did you like it? Any other awesome gels you think I should try?