Gone Granola: Results of Hair Spray Test

We’ve gone granola in this family and I have been researching and replacing everything we use with green products, no chemicals. It’s hard work, let me tell you, and there are some things that just don’t lend themselves to being green, hair spray being one of them.

If you grew up using your mother’s Aqua Net, like I did, and think of hair spray has a staple item, like I definitely do, then going granola (back to nature, being earth-friendly, more health conscious) can be the source of some seriously bad hair days. I tried not using hair spray at all and my husband thought my hair looked “fine.” Of course, I knew that meant that it looked like crap.

So, I went to the Skin Deep: Cosmetic Safety Database and searched through all the hair sprays, trying to find some that were rated 2 or less — there weren’t that many — and I picked three non-aerosol products: Beauty Without Cruelty Natural Hold Hair Spray, Jason Natural Cosmetics Thin-to-Thick Hair Thickening Hair Spray, and Magick Botanicals Fragrance Free Hair Spray. There wasn’t an aerosol hairspray that was rated 2 or less — so much for my mom’s Aqua Net.

I ordered all three sprays from iHerb.com (love that place almost as much as I love amazon.com) and have spent the last month trying them all under varying conditions. BWC and Magick Botanicals were $6.85 for 6 oz bottles -- but when my order arrived, my BWC was an 8.5 oz bottle -- and the Jason spray was $4.80 for an 8 oz bottle.

The Jason spray was rated 0, and I really wanted to like it, especially since it smells so good, but it’s pretty much worthless as a hair spray. The only thing hair spray-ish about it is that, yes, you do spray it on your hair. It doesn’t hold anything in place and even wetting your fingers and running through you already-sprayed hair doesn’t give it any oomph. Maybe it really isn’t meant to be that kind of a hair spray. But, hey, it smells really good, so I left it in my bathroom to use as an air freshener.

The Magick Botanicals spray is rated 1, so I tried hard to like it best, now that I’d ruled out the Jason spray, and I must say that it is a very close second to the BWC spray. It’s unscented and definitely offers more holding power than the Jason spray, but it just didn’t quite measure up to the BWC spray. It seemed like it left my hair a little bit wetter and kind of separated it more. It’s hard to explain exactly what I mean, but in the end, I just preferred the Beauty Without Cruelty spray. But, having said that, if I couldn’t get BWC hair spray, I would definitely be happy with the Magick Botanicals spray, and you can buy it in gallon containers from their website, so you can refill the spray bottles — a lot less waste.

Beauty Without Cruelty Natural Hold Hair Spray is rated at 2, and I’m not sure they should call it “natural hold,” because that implies to me that it’s probably not going to act much like a hair spray at all. Anyone who uses hair spray routinely knows you need “extra hold” or “ultra hold” in order for it to be good at its job! Having said that, though, BWC is very good at its job, but it doesn’t give you such a strong hold that you can’t get your fingers into your hair after you’ve sprayed it. It’s unscented, but the smell is still familiar to me, like maybe I’ve used a similar product before. I spray it on and have time to rearrange things before it dries, and it holds my style very well. I’m very happy with this product, but I don’t think you could go wrong with either the BWC or the Magick Botanicals spray.

There you have it, another pressing decision made and another item crossed of my huge list.

MacUpdate Promo through September 10

MacUpdate’s latest promo bundle still has two more days to go. I bought it, of course. Some people collect salt and pepper shakers; some people collect Barbies. I collect applications.

I already own LightZone and Alarm Clock Pro and wasn't motivated to buy this bundle until the day I checked (yes, I check every day, even when I’m on vacation. I check the MacUpdate promo and I check MacZot) and saw that TidyUp was being offered to the first 3,000 purchasers. All of a sudden there was more motivation to buy. I've been waiting for TidyUp to be on a promotion for a long time, a really long time. So long, in fact, that I thought it was never going to happen. So I decided to check out the next most promising app, or the one I think that I would be most likely to use, anyway, Norkross Movie, and I was instantly impressed. I haven’t actually created anything useful with it yet, but I know I will.

I figured at this point, even if I never used any of the other applications, I would still have $89 worth of applications for $49. So, I bought the bundle and am starting to wade into the other applications. I’ve got kids writing school papers, so Bookends and Mellel will come in handy. I’ve been toying with the idea of purchasing MacJournal for a while now, so I can cross that off my list of “Applications to Seriously Consider” (it’s a very long list).

As for LightZone, my 11-year-old daughter has done some amazing things with her photos all by herself. The application is very intuitive and they have great tutorials on their website. It's impressive, it really is. You can set up iPhoto so that the default editor is LightZone. I hope it gets unlocked so more people will use it and spread the word about how awesome it is.

And, Koingo Software is offering a discount to all buyers of this bundle, their Utility Package for only $19.95! That’s a crazy deal! I already owned several Koingo apps, and bought the Utility Package a few months ago when it was on MacZot for half-price. This is even a better deal! The Utility Package includes lifetime free upgrades and licenses to every application on their web site ... AND licenses to any application they come out with in the future! Plus, they have licenses on some of their applications for Mac and Windows. This Utility Package is normally $80, and you get it for $20. Seems like a no-brainer. The offer expires September 30.

Even if you don’t buy the bundle, you should check out the developer videos. They are very entertaining. It’s nice to see that they are people, just like you and me, with kids, cats, not the super humans like I usually think. People who can code, of course, so I guess they are not EXACTLY like you and me. Look at their surroundings in the background— surprisingly tidy. That’s another way they are not like me.

Here I sit, with a drink and a memory ...

That’s a line from an old Willie Nelson song, "Good Times." It seems apropos right now because that’s what I’m doing, just sitting here. I don’t have the drink, and I can hardly remember what I wanted to post about. Maybe I should GET a drink and that will help jar my memory.

I’ve been meaning to update my website for more than a year now, and one of the things I wanted to do was add a blog. I always have SO much to say and SO many opinions to share with anyone who will listen that I figured a blog would be great. Well, it’s ready now, and here I sit ... thinking ... thinking ... and I’m completely at a loss for something to blog about! I guess it has to come naturally. Something is going to have to make me mad or disgusted or thrilled or pleased or incredulous. Right now, I’m just not feeling it [big sigh]. Better leave the application open so I can jump right on it the minute I’m motivated.

I’ll come back later with that drink.