The Beach (In A Bottle): Which Sea Salt Spray Is Right For You?

In case you haven’t noticed, springtime is here and summer’s right around the corner.  The weather is warmer, the sun is beating brighter, the layers are coming off, and people are flocking to the beaches.  My Instagram feed is literally flooded with pictures of warm sunsets and happy beach settings, and  naturally it’s making me long for a beach day of my own.  Unfortunately things have been so busy for me that I haven’t even had a chance to make it down to the coast to watch the sunset yet.  My solution?  Bring the beach to me.  LUSH Cosmetics has created “Sea Spray” hair mist which is described on their bottle as “A sea water and sea salt spritz to hold hair in place while giving volume, texture and shine.  Grapefruit and neroli blend into a beautiful perfume for your locks.”   Ever since I’d seen that product on the shelves at LUSH, I’ve been wanting and meaning to try it.  I was hesitant at first because the bottle is $13, but fortunately for anyone wondering about this product, I waited so long to buy it that a handful of generic versions have since popped up on the shelves of Walmart & Target.  I love a good budget friendly product, even if it is the generic version, so I jumped at this opportunity to try and compare a few of them to each other, and to the real thing. 

I chose three generic versions that I picked up from Walmart, all three were around $5.  One was “Beach Babe Texturizing Sea Salt Spray” by Not Your Mother’s, the second was “Moroccan Sea Salt Spray” by Organix, and the third was “Beach Trippin Salt-Infusion Waving Spray” by Schwarzkopf’s got2b line.

I listed and pictured the products in order from most favorite to least favorite, and I’m happy to announce that I was pleasantly surprised by how effective these sprays were.  All three produced the same effect: texturization, light hold, and volume.  The only differences between the products was that the “Not Your Mother’s” spray left your hair with a slightly glossier appearance whereas the other two left your hair with more of a matte finish.  Though, I found that either way both finishes looked nice and both left my hair looking as if I’d just left the beach.  And since they all gave the same end results, I had to base my favorites on scent and bottle functionality.  Nitpicky, I know, but that’s what reviews entail, nitpicky little details that can make or break a decision on whether or not to buy this or that.  Now back to business… As far as my likes and dislikes goes, I picked the “Not Your Mother’s” spray as my favorite because it smells of coconuts, which in my opinion reminds me of the beach more so than the other scents.  The “Moroccan Sea Salt Spray” by Organix is my runner up only because the smell of coconuts remind me of the beach more than argan oil does.  The “got2b” salt infusion spray is my least favorite, and to be quite honest I really did not like this one at all simply because the bottle’s spray nozzle produced a strong direct stream which shot straight through my hair and into my ear.  Not pleasant.  I tried rinsing the nozzle with warm water in case it had gotten clogged, but it still had that strong stream and this time it got my eye.  Bad choice on my part, fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me…that saying goes for beauty products too apparently.  So yeah, bad bottle functionality lands that one in the “I wish I wouldn’t have bought that and then lost the receipt” category.

Here’s a visual for you:

Here’s what I did:

I sprayed the product on freshly washed, slightly damp, towel dried hair.  After spraying my hair I ran a wide toothed comb through it to distribute the product more efficiently before loosely pinning it up into 3 vertically stacked buns.  I let my hair air dry before taking it down.  *Letting it dry in the buns really allows the waves to set into place (I have straight hair).  Those of you with naturally curly or permed hair can simply spray product into hair and scrunch to give your curls a soft touchable hold.

The Real McCoy:

After trying the three generic products I went ahead and purchased the real McCoy form LUSH, and while it is an absolutely amazing product, it’s still a product that delivers the same end result as the generic versions deliver.  The only thing that sets LUSH’s “Sea Spray” apart from the others is it’s sophisticated scent.  It’s scented with grapefruit and neroli giving it a fresh floral scent accented by soft citrus notes.  In the end, it comes down to price and smell.  They all do what they say they do, which is good, so now it’s about finding the scent that suits you and the price that suits your budget.