Sabrina Rowe Holdsworth is a celebrity hairstylist and founder of NTRL By Sabs, a natural haircare line "formulated with textured hair in mind." However, if you have high porosity hair, Addam Artist warns that mousse may not be the best option if the formula is alcohol-based or has no moisturizing properties: " Overly porous or damaged hair can become stiff or brittle with a mousse; this applies to any curl pattern, from 2A to 4C, and can be naturally occurring or caused by chemical treatments." Instead, he suggests a curl cream or a leave-in conditioner with an anti-frizz hair serum. But I thought it would be helpful to share with you the criteria I’m looking at when testing and comparing these new mousses to the Pantene Defined Curls Mousse. Because it’s not all about the ingredients or results.

We've got the formula to bring out your best curls with our Herbal Essences Totally Twisted Curl-Boosting Hair Mousse. So I thought, let’s test together! If you’ve tried mousses that have or haven’t worked for you, share your results and recommendations in the comments on this post, so we can all figure this out together. We hope you try some of our recommendations and let us know what you think about them in the comments area below. Clairol originally wanted to reach out to a younger, more natural audience or target market. They therefore created the Herbal Essences brand as a way of appealing to the younger generation. At the time that generation was all about being closer to and more in touch with nature. They favored raw, natural products over chemical-based substances and opted for products that were primarily based on natural ingredients. Clairol saw a gap in the market and managed to capitalize on the trend quite successfully. Hair mousse may be most well-known for its volumizing benefits, but it's also a star curl styler. Mousses for curly hair increase fullness by creating space between strands with their aerated foam formulas, enhance the shape of spirals with plumping ingredients like polymers, and can provide conditioning benefits via boosters like silicones and botanical oils. And experts agree that mousse is one of the best products for naturally curly hair, to enhance the bounce and shape of fine or thin curls, or to help hold curls in straight hair.Curlies love that this mousse both smoothes and holds a curl for extra control over your curls, especially in high humidity. It works well for wash and goes and twist outs, and we’ve seen curlies rave about this product across a wide range of curl patterns. This wonBest of the Best awardsfor Best Mousse for Coily Type 4 Hairand for All Hair Types voted by the NaturallyCurly community. Addam Artistis a hairstylist, colorist, and educator based out of Art and Autonomy Salon in New York, NY. He was the former artistic director for ISO Hair Products, a division of Joico/Shiseido Cosmetics . The Good Housekeeping Institute Beauty Lab tests hair mousses both on consumer testers and in the Lab using technical protocols. Testers evaluate the mousses at home for their ease of use and performance, and in the Lab, scientists test them on human hair samples, with half a head styled with no product and the other half with the hair mousse to gauge its effects.

Another botanical-filled product, Cloud is a lightweight formula that delivers body and manageability to all hair types. Volume and texure come from natural corn starch, tilia tomentosa bud extract, and sugar cane extract, while sweet almond, linseed, olive leaf and arnica extracts detangle, protect against heat, enhance shine, and help prevent frizz. Alicia Bailey is a hair texture specialist as well as the global education manager at Design Essentials. Ingredients: Water, Isobutane, Propane, Polyquaternium-4, Fragrance, Crassula Angustifolia Flower/Leaf/Stem Extract (Lavender), Propylene Glycol, C9-11 Pareth-8, DMDM Hydantoin, Disodium EDTA, Citric Acid Herbal Essence totally twisted curl boosting mousse Umberto Giannini Curl Whip Mousse If you're not sure where to start, here are a few tips from hairstylist Addam Artist to help you find the best mousse for your hair type: Jasmine Rilington is a h airstylist, cosmetologist, and founder of The Glam Room , a brand specializing in haircare products that work for those who are going through chemotherapy or are struggling with hair loss from conditions such as alopecia.

This silicone-free, multi-action mousse moisturizes, strengthens and volumizes in one step. Antioxidants rejuvenate fine hair, and bamboo extract adds shine and strength to delicate, fine strands. This mousse helps to bring out natural texture and to minimize frizz. With coconut oil and shea butter, this creamy mousse-cream hybrid enhances curl definition and fights frizz while leaving hair soft and moisturized. It smells great, too! Longevity– if I use it consistently, washday after washday, will it dry my hair out, weigh it down, cause any scalp issues etc? Does it still look good on day 2 and 3, as it did on washday? Wavies love using this mousse to fight frizz and encourage their curls to clump. For best results, use this in addition to a little bit of your favorite gel. People with a looser curl pattern also like that this mousse encourages curl formation.

For years, I used the Pantene Perfect Curls Shampoo and Conditioner and the Pantene Defined Curls Mousse (No. 5) my curls always looked consistently amazing! It wasn’t until Pantene discontinued the Perfect Curls Shampoo and Conditioner that I had to put more thought into what hair care products I used. I don’t have to think about it, because for almost 20 years it was Pantene Defined Curls Mousse. That was it, that’s the only styling product I used for my curly hair! But has Pantene Defined Curls Mousse been discontinued?! Fans of this much-loved product appreciate that it does not dry crunchy, and they like its mixed-berry scent. The paraben- and silicone-free mousse boosts curl patterns, even in humid and damp climates.The concept behind the Tousle Me Softly Mousse is volume! It’s a high volume formula for dry or wet hair. It will give you similar results regardless of which hair type you have. I would personally recommend this product for straighter hair types. The mousse doesn’t provide as much direct volume as the Curl Boosting Mousse by Herbal Essences. Those stylish but messy runway looks could use the lift.

I’ve been using the Pantene Defined Curls No. 5 Mousse for almost 24 years! When people ask me if I could only use one styling product for the rest of my life, what would it be? Mousse adds humidity protection to your curls. The leave-in benefits of the ingredients in a good mousse can provide all-day humidity and frizz control, so curls stay defined and shine. How to use hair mousse for curls Results– are my results the same as they are when I use Pantene Defined Curls Mousse? Are they as defining and long-lasting? Does it give the same hold? Some images in this post are from Pantene Defined Curls Mousse, other images are from the new mousse I’ve discovered that is the best like-for-like replacement. Can you tell the difference? For medium curls (3b-3c), a more lightweight, medium-hold mousse is great for defining and separating your curls. This will reduce frizz sans the "crunch," while allowing your natural curl pattern to move freely.Say hello to soft, shiny curls. This lightweight foam gives tons of body and volume, which is great for those looking to enhance their waves. With plant-based UV protection and cell-rejuvenating, antioxidant ingredients, your hair will stay vibrant and healthy, while looking its best. If you have fine or thin curls, live in an environment where your curls tend to go limp, or like the combination of a volume boost, shaping, and softening properties, curl mousses may be for you. Meanwhile, curl gels typically offer stronger definition and hold with less volume and conditioning and curl creams usually provide more hydration with less hold and fullness. I’m sorry it took me so long to get this post out amidst all the panic. Testing takes time, and I didn’t want to publish anything until I had an alternative mousse to recommend for you. I’m absolutely delighted that the one I found is affordable AND my 20% discount code CURLMAVEN works on it at LOOKFANTASTIC!