Is hairspray ALL bad?

[pullanmuru]

I'm a rockabilly girl and on an average day I put my bangs into a pompadour similar to this (not me in the pic, sadly I might add ;) ): http://www.flickr.com/photos/thebeholder/3600831884/

But it seriously just doesn't stay put without either back combing and/or hairspray and/or gel/mousse or some other styling product. So I use hairspray...and my original question is: is it all bad for my hair??

I probably know the answer to this question, which is yes. But can you recommend any other hair styling products which would be less damaging? Or are there hairsprays out there that are more gentle to the hair than others? I would assume that strong hold sprays are the worst? Any ingredients in them that I should avoid ?

Or do you have any tricks up your sleeves, that you could recommend to help hair stay in desired shape?

[ZoeSophia8]

I'm not exactly sure about hairspray or the ingredients of the same, but I think that method or certain gels / mousses would be less damaging than back combing, for sure.

My current methodology is to avoid chemicals in general and try to find natural alternatives, but there's definitely a "to each their own" going on with that. If something works for you, then it works! Have you noticed any visible damage on your bangs as a result of using hairspray?

[Dars]

I think there might be some hairsprays that have drying alcohol lower on the ingredients list than the majority, however I could not tell you any brands or their effectiveness. But in a nutshell, yes hairspray is drying to hair.

But on the other hand if you are only using it on your fringe, you would be cutting it more frequently than the length of your hair. The benefits of using hairspray may outweigh the negatives. I strictly do not use heat on the length of my hair but I do heat style my fringe regularly with no heat protectant because I trim it so often anyway.

Try searching for flax seed gel or aloe vera gel on the forum, they are commonly used homemade and natural styling products.

[Konstifik]

I'm no expert at this, but if I've got things right, the "point" of hairspray is to sort put a sort of glue on the hair. It sticks the hair together, which isn't the bad part. The bad part is when the hairstrands are separated from each other with a wax-strip effect. Cuticles are ripped off together with the glue.

If I've understood it all correctly, that's the real damage with hairspray.

[Sagi1982]

Whats your hair type? I have coarse hair and can put it in a pomp with any styling products. Some time ago I made a tuto on instructables.com with just oily hair.
My pomp before fixing:
http://img824.imageshack.us/img824/4570/79731223.th.jpg (http://img824.imageshack.us/i/79731223.jpg/)

[ktani]

I'm a rockabilly girl and on an average day I put my bangs into a pompadour similar to this (not me in the pic, sadly I might add ;) ): http://www.flickr.com/photos/thebeholder/3600831884/

But it seriously just doesn't stay put without either back combing and/or hairspray and/or gel/mousse or some other styling product. So I use hairspray...and my original question is: is it all bad for my hair??

I probably know the answer to this question, which is yes. But can you recommend any other hair styling products which would be less damaging? Or are there hairsprays out there that are more gentle to the hair than others? I would assume that strong hold sprays are the worst? Any ingredients in them that I should avoid ?

Or do you have any tricks up your sleeves, that you could recommend to help hair stay in desired shape?

There a a number of alcohol free hairsprays on the market and you can get natural brand ones as well. The ingredients will vary.

Most use polymers and gums to hold the hair and you will need to clarify at some point. Harm the hair? No.

[heidihug]

I use hair spray most every day on my bangs/fringe. I'd look like a sad and greasy moppet without it. I use non-alcohol hair spray (from Sally's, sorry I forget the brand) and it doesn't seem to be a problem. Plus - its on the bangs, which I cut pretty frequently, so I don't really have a problem with some incidental damage. It'll be cut off, anyway.

[pullanmuru]

I'm actually worried about the combing the hairspray out-part than the actual hairspray, when I think about that's probably when I feel the damage might occur, like one of you guys stated. I mean when I comb my bangs I can hear little noises that might be the bond of hairspray breaking or IN FACT the hairs breaking. This concerns me..

What's adding to the problem is I'm growing my bangs longer. They've been really short for a while and I'm now in the point where I can just about do the pomp but I do need some product as there are shorter hairs in front that need to be "glued" with the rest.

Oh, and my hair type is fine, I think..