Tuesday, January 26, 2016

beauty tuesday: oribe grandiose hair pumping mousse review

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I know I've lamented about the fact that my hair does not hold a curl nor keep its volume very well in the past. A couple of days after posting my most recent hair curling routine, I saw a post on Glamour's facebook with a clickbait title of "You'll never believe the one thing you need to make your curls last!". I'm always one to fall for clickbait, but I really was expecting something outrageous like "use snail mucus " or "wrap your hair in maple leaves and dry with a heating lamp". Nope, turns out the thing you won't believe will make your curls last is...mousse. 

While the article was clickbaity, it did bring up some good points about straight haired girls using mousse to make curls last, and their recommendation with the Oribe Grandiose Hair Pumping Mousse. As a lover of their texturizing spray, and also as someone who had a little bit of an Amazon giftcard left, I figured why not? 

what it promises: 
Each luxe pouf gives hair an exaggerated sense of body and structure, without the slightest hint of crunch. All-day memory leave styles supremely soft yet set, for hair that's thicker, fuller, larger than life. 

how I use it:
After I've air dried by hair 50% of the way, I use my Kiehl's smoothing cream all over, and then my Aveda tonic at my roots (review here). Then I'll put the smallest "pouf" I can get out of the bottle, flip my hair over, start at the ends of my hair, and then work it up towards my roots. Then I dry as I normally do. 

what I like:
They're not lying when they say it isn't going to cause any crunch. I've tried some cheap mousses in the past that did leave my hair crunchy, and that doesn't happen with the Oribe Mousse. That's not to say that you won't feel it in your hair, because you will, but it's definitely not the crunch I remember from high school.

And my curls really did last longer, which is the whole reason I even started using it in the first place! It's not perfect, and they did loosen up quite a bit, but I noticed a visible difference in how long the curls lasted throughout the day. My hair just overall looked thicker and bouncier than it normally does. 

Lastly, while I enjoyed the smell of the Oribe texturizing spray, it could be overpowering at times. The mousse barely has a smell at all, which is great. 

what I don't like:
What I liked about the Aveda volumizing tonic is that it does give you volume without make you feel like you have product in your hair. I can't say the same for the Oribe mousse - it does make your hair feel just a bit stickier than it does on its own. That means you feel you have to wash it sooner because it feels greasier. I also think it makes my hair the next day look a bit flatter. That's definitely the trade-off between having naturally smooth hair, and having hair that holds a curl. 

Also, lets be honest, $38 for a bottle of mousse is a bit (!!!) outrageous. 

would I buy this again? 
I don't think so - it's just too expensive for something I could maybe get at a lower price point. I love the results on the first day I use it though, and I do really enjoy that it makes my curls last longer, so I intend to use it on days I need them to not disappear in ten minutes, but I don't think I'll be buying a second bottle. I will look for a slightly more reasonably priced mousse though, so if you have any recommendations, I'd love to hear them!

ps. that's the Target organizer I was talking about a few weeks ago! Isn't it cute?!