A varied range of mousse.. (Shockwaves Mousse)

Member Name: ChemicalRomance

Product:	Shockwaves Mousse
Date:	04/06/09 (209 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Some do what they say on the tin..

Disadvantages: Others don't do what they say on the tin..

I have always wished that I had fuller hair, and when I try to curl it, curly hair that stayed curly once I had put the irons through it, but naturally I knew my hair would not do that.. Either because it is as stubborn as I am or because I just hadn't found the right product yet, but I wasn't giving up!

So I decided to try out the Shockwaves mousses - well the ones in particular that would apparently give my hair a bit more bounce and fullness, and ones that are meant to define curls..

Shockwaves mousses have been around for as long as I can remember, given I have used shockwaves products since I have really been taking notice of my hairs styling which is about ten years, so I'm sure the majority of you have either seen or used shockwaves products before.

Given that this category is a bit general and vague, I will review both mousses I used recently, so you can get a more accurate look at some of the Shockwaves brand of mousses, and there are a fair few of them, for a number of different uses in your hair, from frizz taming to curl enhancing..

The two I am looking at today are;

Boost It Heat Defence Volumising Mousse,
And,
Heat Defence Curl Mousse..

~*~ Heat Defence Curl Mousse ~*~

The mousse comes in a slender red can, that has the usual silver shockwaves logo down the side of it, and the wella symbol at the bottom, just in case you forgot who makes the product.. Or so you know who to complain to when it doesn't work!!
There is the little symbol of heat protection, and a little description of what it is meant to do for your hair, and the hold level it has, in this case it is level two..

The claim this mousse makes is that it helps to define or create curls and waves.. In bonus to that it is also meant to;
Condition hair,
Leave no sticky residue,
And be humidity resistant..

Does it work?

Well this was recommended to me by a friend a little while ago, because I was complaining about the fact that I try to curl my hair and it dropped out after like an hour - which annoyed the hell out of me! So I thought I would give this a try as she had used it on her own hair and it had worked a treat..

So I squirted some out into the palm of my hand, and smoothed into my hair, it has a very nice smell to it, one that sticks in your hair, even when you have curled it so much you would imagine it should smell like burning and singed hair. Thankfully it has a heat protection element to it so that is somewhat of a benefit and I don't feel so guilty putting the temperature up a bit, to get the curls exactly how I want them..

Applied to damp hair, this gives out the scent, and even though it says it's not going to make your hair sticky it is very advisable to wash your hands after applying because it does make your hands sticky and that's not what you want to be running through your hair, while you blow dry it or air dry it which ever you decide..

As your hair dries if you have a natural wave to your hair, then it will be a more pronounced wave to it, without really making it look all that curly, but I know with my hair I wouldn't want to go out with my hair looking like it does with just the mousse and being dried.. However though you can feel your hair getting softer as it dries which is not a bad thing, as I know I am a fan of having a nice sheen of soft hair!

When you curl it afterwards, if you do not already have nice curly hair you will notice that your hair will curl quicker, which is a bit of a bonus.. I actually have the Babyliss YouCurl, curlers, and sometimes my hair is not taking the curls too well which is a tad annoying, but then I know I should have used the mousse so I can't complain really! Add the mousse to the mix into damp hair and you could see a significant difference, my curls were more pronounced and had a much better shine and volume to them.. The biggest boost for me was that when I stepped out of the house, were I am so used to the curls dropping out within a few minutes, were they stayed all afternoon.. Even when they began to drop they just decided to look tousled.


~*~ What about the Heat Defence Volumising Mousse? ~*~

This mousse comes in the same can as the mousse I mentioned before except this one states it has level four hold, which almost indicates that your hair is not going to be nice to touch, almost crispy..

Well this mousse claims to;
Take hair to a great height without loosing flexibility or bounce..

It apparently gives;
long lasting volume,
natural looking body,
and heat protection..

Does it work?

To be quite honest, no it doesn't..

It gives styling tips, to brush the mousse through with a comb and dry hair with your head down to make the full affect.. Well I have honestly tried all these things and every other tip that friends have given me to make the roots stay up to give that volume, but to no avail..

The level four hold, as I mentioned before I suspected it would give me crispy hair.. Well I was right I dried my hair, and as it was drying there was no real difference in the way it looked or felt, the only real difference I felt was the roots felt more greasy than they had done before I had washed my hair in the first place..

Now that cannot be a good sign?

Well that annoyed me straight away, but I hoped the more I dried it the general greasiness might die down a little, but it only got worse.. When I had finished drying it, despite having rubbed in the mousse as instructed it still decided to be crispy in my hair, leaving the tips looking like I had dipped them in something sticky and left it out to dry in the sun..

I straightened my hair as usual and I couldn't actually leave it looking like it did with greasy roots and sticky tips because I couldn't go to work looking like that I'm sure people would have lots to say about it.. As for it looking more full bodied.. Think again, the fact that the roots were greasy and the tips were heavy and sticky any body that might have been disappeared my weight of my hair after using it.. The whole idea that it gives a healthy, natural look is a lie - unless as I said before my hair is just super stubborn and refuses to do what I want it to!!

~*~ Overall ~*~

I recommend the curl mousse if you really want to give more definition to your curls without giving a nasty sticky effect on your hair or your roots, it does give nice shine and a nice soft feel to your hair.. It is not a bad price either considering at some salons you would pay a premium for some products that perhaps wouldn't work so well.. I actually got my can of this from Boots, for £2.49, which is a bargain compared to some other products such as the Aussie ones that can be anything up to £5 a can!

I would say not to bother with the volumising one though, unless you are very lucky and have hair that listens to you when you tell it what to do unlike my hair.. I personally didn't like the feel it gave to my hair, the only good thing about it is that it gives a nice smell to your hair.. That however is not enough to outweigh the cons of this mousse, especially as you would pay £2.49 for something that means you need to wash your hair again!

Summary: Check the review.. Some not so good..