Products I use most often
This blog accompanies a reel about the specific products I use most often when setting and brushing out my hair. Non of this is sponsored but I can’t be specific without details like the brands. There’s a few home made things in there and some Dutch (I think) brands you might not be able to find abroad. That being said I genuinely believe patience and skill are far more important for great hair than any specific product.
Lets get to it! First up is setting lotion. I spray this on dry hair to slightly dampen the hair before rolling. The best ever still is the one I make myself from linseed/flax. You’ll find my recipe here. But I often end up grabbing Reuzel’s Grooming tonic because it too gives a nice shine, feels light and has a the bonus of an extra nice smell. I dilute the grooming lotion 1 part reuzel to 1 part water to avoid my hair feeling and looking too greasy. If you wash your hair every day you don’t need to dilute at all. Reuzel Grooming Spray is available world wide in many online shops.
Next are pillow rollers (google this term for several places to buy online) these are sponge rollers but without the hard plastic stabbing your skull. You can roll nice and tight which is what I prefer and pop them in the washing machine every few uses to keep them fluffy and clean.
I then tie a large, preferably cotton or other breathable fabric, scarf around the rollers for protection, comfort and for looking slightly less strange.
I have a lot of different brushes but I would say the essential ones are:
- a good comb for details and back combing
- something with a rat tail to section off hair easily
- a boar bristle brush to smooth.
I honestly don’t notice the difference between natural and plastic boar bristle brushes. Many of my combs have had a very short lived career because I have a lot of hair and not a lot of patience with combs. Once I bought the three rowed neon pink Denman I’ve not had any more combs dying on me. (Google Denman D12 detangle and tease) That would definitely be the one I would tell you to splurge on. Anything that can easily be cleaned is a plus because the product build up with vintage hairstyling is quite heavy.
Which leads me to the products that cause the most build up: Dry shampoo/volume powder and hairspray. For both of these products I usually bulk buy whatever is on sale. My favourite cheap home made option for dry shampoo is cornstarch. Just use a make up brush and add it to your roots.
I often use dry shampoo to spray on my rollers before I take them out. This is the easiest way to get it closest to your roots and after you loosen the curls you’ll have automatically spread it throughout your hair. I use this to give my hair a bit more grip. Clean or greasy hair just wont hold shape as much as starchy hair will. Beside that it gives volume and It saves a lot of backcombing as well!
Hairspray I apply in multiple thin layers. That way my hair keeps its movement and it doesn’t feel like I am wearing a ‘hair helmet’. You can add more layers during the day if needed. I use whatever strong hairspray I can get my hands on and have yet to find an alternative for aerosol cans unfortunately.
You might be wondering why I’m not mentioning any pomade. Well, I just don’t use it. It makes my hair heavy and droopy and frankly looking very greasy no matter how little water based pomade of whatever brand I use. If I really need something to calm down frizz I use hairspray and wipe the can on my hair to smooth or I use hand cream on my hands, let that dry, and run my hands over the frizz. But I kind of like a little frizz. It feels authentic 😉
Hope this was helpful! The accompanying reel is posted here and if you’d like to make requests or have questions feel free to contact me there! Brands for my Dutchies: Hairspray Wella Ultra Sterk (4) and dry shampoo Andrelon Kokos Boost of (meer neutraal geurtje) Verassend Volume.