Do you ever feel like there's a humectant at every single hair products you own? Do you ever think about why you look like a poofball everytime you go out for a minute in winter? Well, this gel wants to save out heads and I'll be happy to let it.
The Giovanni L.A. Hold Styling Gel is a very affordable hair gel that doesn't contain humectants. It promises strong hold and doesn't contain any protein. Although there are some seed extracts in the ingredients so if you're really sensitive to protein it might not work for your hair. It retails for 260 Crowns at eshops here but overall it's very affordable. I have only the travel size which I got for 90 Crowns and it contains 60ml of product. It's also CGM approved.
I really appreciate when people sell samples and travel sizes because at this point I have so much hair stuff that I could sell it myself. I was very curious about this gel because I love some other products from Giovanni L.A. like their foam and leave-in. And it's also a gel without humectants which I don't really own many of. The weather is crazy there days and if you have wavy or curly hair you probably know the struggle. You spend the whole evening on the perfect washday and poof...it's gone the next morning 5 minutes after you walk out the door.
As I said it's a strong hold gel, it's without glycerin and it's also cruelty-free. It should be OK for any hair porosity but my porosity is high so I can only vouch for that. I have dense, high porosity 2B waves that can take a lot and I love using gel. This one is pretty thick in consistency and does get a little sticky on your hands. Let's see how it works.
Wash day
I always wash my hair in the afternoon/evening and I wanted to have a good wash day because the next day I had an event I needed to look good for. So I decided to go with this gel and do a couple other steps. I feel like I should include which other products I used so you have a comparison and know which products I use with it. It might seem like I use a lot of product and I do. But that's because I have very thirsty hair that requires quite a lot of care and hydration and I also have a lot of it.
First, I had to clarify the hair a bit. I didn't do a proper cleanse for a couple weeks, since I made my hair blue. So I used the Curlsmith Detox Kit and skipped the mask for once so I didn't weight down the hair too much. I love the detox kit, it just feels like a spa treatment for your scalp. I had a little trouble with detangling which I usually don't have but I managed.
Now the gel is kind of thick and when you start scrunching it starts to glue your hands to the hair and the waves are straightening themselves. That sucks but you can start scrunching with your towel or a shirt to prevent that. I just went with the hands and scrunched more in place near the head. Then I plopped for about 10 minutes and diffused my hair. After diffusing I let it airdry for a couple hours to get the 100% crust and scrunched it out. My hair didn't feel weighted down, it felt like there's no product in it at all. You can see that the definition is quite impressive and the volume is also there. It's not the best washday ever but I like the definition I could get with my Denman brush.
Weather test
This is my hair the next day in the morning, I don't have very good pictures. It takes me about an hour to get to work and it requires a lot of walking outside so I was expecting a lot of frizz once I get to the office. It turned out that there's barely any frizz at all.
I was a little mad because the definition got lost while I was sleeping but the hair looked quite voluminous and I'm all about that volume. It also felt nice and lightweight. I went to pick up lunch during the day which required staying outsite in the wind for 15 minutes. I was very surprised once I got back home after 12 hours away that there's really not much frizz at all.
There's always a little bit of frizz in my hair because I play with it a bit and I'm a wild sleeper so not even bonnet keeps it safe everyday. But the frizz I get from weather is very different and I don't see that at all. So I would say that this combination with the gel on top worked wonders for me in this weather. You can see a little bit of frizz right around my face but that's usually caused by my face shield that's attached to my glasses and sometimes clips some hair by accident.
Final thoughts
Is this my favorite gel ever? Probably not but there's a lot to like. It's very affordable and it comes in a travel size which is great if you just want to try it. I also checked how it performs in this awful autumn/winter weather and honestly I can see a difference between this one and my humectant-packed gels. The frizz is really a lot smaller.
What I dislike about the gel is partially the texture because it does get quite sticky. You can also mix it with water of more liquidy gel but I like my products to be kind of ready to use. One thing I noticed was that my hair did look a little weighted down after a couple days. I don't think this gel is exactly lightweight and I'm not sure if it would be good for low porosity or fine hair.
Overall, I can see myself using it again because I like what it does for my hair but I feel like I have to be more careful with the combinations. I will probably use more lightweight product in combination with this gel so I can get my hair as lightweight as possible. But I would recommend it as a nice humectant-free gel if you're on a budget.
Have you tried any Giovanni products? Let me know in the comments and thanks for reading!