Kristin Ess – Instant Lift Thickening Spray

2 Reviews

1. 

   gleefulCurlew6

   Reply

   The Texan inside me loves big, fluffy Dolly Parton hair — but my deepest insecurity probably has to be my perceived weird head shape. I think it’s flat in the back — whether this is true or not is up for debate, but I’ve tried multitudes of volumizing products throughout the years, from TFH’s thickening hairspray and serums, volumizing mousse and leave-ins, BedHead’s SuperStar Oribe’s dry texture spray — you name it. TFTI? Maybe. Who knows. So when Kristin Ess came up on my radar, I had to try out her Thickening Spray. This product was VERY difficult to locate and I live in a large, metropolitan city.

   I currently use the BedHead SuperStar serum which I use after showering and blow-drying (read: heat damage!!!) — what I love about the Kristen Ess spray as an alternative is that I can just spray it onto dry, clean hair. Totally less fussy. No blow-drying, no heat damage, no breakage. And I have medium density Asian hair that’s prone to breakage, so I like to minimize damage as much as possible. If I leave the product in my hair it acts almost like a dry shampoo and keeps my hair matte the next day. However I don’t recommend spraying this on already oily, second-day hair because it’ll make your roots look piece-y and dirtier! The volume holds better and longer than the SuperStar (where I have to “fluff up” often), just be sure to spritz it on while your hair’s upturned to give it more lift.

   Also, you’ve heard correctly: the scent is POWERFUL. The Thickening Spray smells like a floral fragrance – notice I said fragrance. It doesn’t smell cheap or tacky. It smells like a perfume you’d get at Sephulta or Nordstrom. You smell it first upon first spray, and anytime your hair shifts, or when you fluff up your hair with your fingers. I personally don’t mind it, but I try to be conscientious and considerate about other people around me so I fumble less with my hair when I’m at work (a good thing?) and if there’s people around. But the effect IS very touchable — there’s absolutely no crunchiness and there’s still movement in the hair.

   This is a better product than Oribe’a dry texture spray which costs $22 for 2.2 oz, meanwhile this KE spray was $17 for 8.45 oz at Target. It’s currently in my rotation and I’ve packed it with me to go traveling, so that must say something!

2. 

   pitifulKitten6

   Reply

   I have been searching for some of these recently released Kristin Ess products at my local Targets and they have not been easy to find. I was able to get a hold of three and this is one of them. I have fine, thin, highlighted hair so thickening products are my favorite and I don’t often find ones that give volume and softness but this one does. It is not off the charts volume, but a noticeable thickening of my very thin hair. I have used this two times and have loved the results. It does not rough up my hair to get the volume – it does a great job of keeping down the the frizz along with VERY touchable volume. The odd thing about this one is the smell. As others have mentioned online, most of these product have a very strong floral scent – a little too much for my taste but not enough to make me stop buying it. This one smelled just bad – a sharp chemical smell that was jarring. The smell does not linger so it is not a big deal but just really odd since the other products seem to be heavily fragranced. For touchable volume, I highly recommend trying this at $14.