Here’s a really useful list for anyone who styles their hair using gels or waxes. The following is a list of organic hair styling gels and waxes that contain really good ingredients that, rather than causing your scalp harm, may actually help feed your hair and thus do some good.
Aveda Control Paste Around $25 – $30 for 1.7oz
Primary ingredients: Marshmallow, Linseed, Black tea, Guar beans, Organic flax seed.
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John Masters Organics Bourbon Vanilla and Tangerine Hair Texturizer Around $20 for 2oz
Primary ingredients: Castor oil, Shea butter, Panthenol, Bourbon vanilla oil, Orange flower oil, Tangerine peel oil, Grapefruit peel oil, Vitamin E, Vitamin C.
Max Green Alchemy Scalp Rescue Styling Gel Around $15 for 2oz
Primary ingredients: Licorice Root, Coltsfoot Leaf, Yarrow, Burdock Root, Calendula, Horsetail, Nettle, Aloe Vera Leaf, Lemon Tea Tree, Tea Tree, Lavender, Rosemary.
Green People Organic Styling Gel (Aloe Vera) Around $17 for 200ml
Primary ingredients: Aloe vera, glyceryl, wheat germ oil, avocado oil, panthenol (vitamin B5), faex (vitamin B), rosemary oil, lavender oil, olive oil, sunflower oil and preservatives.
Dr Bronner’s Organic Lavender Hair Conditioning & Style Cream Around $8 for 178ml
Primary ingredients: Water, coconut oil, jojoba seed oil, ethanol, avocado oil, Organic hemp seed oil, lavender oil, xanthan gum
SANTE Natural Hair Wax Around $9 for 50ml
Primary ingredients: Coconut oil, lanolin (wool wax), beeswax, jojoba seed oil, Behenyl alcohol, sesame seed oil, lecithin, ascorbyl palmitate, tocopherol, hydrogenated palm glycerides citrate, parfum.
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Whats the best shampoo for hair loss? Intelligent Nutrients Certified Organic Styling Gel Around $12 for 150ml
Primary ingredients: Aloe vera, alcohol, various man made gums (from plant extracts), lemon peel oil, 1 Etyhl Palmate, various seed oils.
John Masters Organics Hair Pomade Around $22 for 57g
Primary ingredients: Olive oil, beeswax, mango butter, babassu oil, jojoba seed oil, wheat germ oil, bay laure) oil, cedar atlas oil.
John Masters Organics Sweet Orange & Silk Protein Styling Gel Around $17.50 for 237ml
Primary ingredients: Aloe vera leaf juice gel, water, guar gum, sorbitol (sugar alcohol), sclerotium gum (plant derived), silk protein, panthenol, arabic gum, hydrolyzed soy protein, mandarin orange peel oil, cedarwood oil, sodium benzoate, potassium sorbate, honeysuckle flower extract.
Giovanni Wicked Wax Styling Pomade Around $9 for 200ml
Primary ingredients: Water containing rosemary, nettle, wild Bergamot, California Poppy Seed, Rose Hips, man made chemicals including Ceteareth-25, Glycerin, PEG-7 Glyceryl Cocate, Disodium EDTA and, Titanium Dioxide.
Simply Skin Food Hair Wax Around £7 for 60ml
Primary ingredients: Olive oil, coconut, castor, beeswax, cedarwood, rosemary and lemon essential oils.
Jason Salon Range Hair Care Styling Gel Around £8 for 150ml
Primary ingredients: Purified water, alcohol, Methacryloyl Ethyl Betaine/Acrylates Copolymer, Witch Hazel extract, aloe vera, bergamot fruit oil, orange oil, panthenol, biotin, glycerin, carbomer, lemon peel oil, grapefruit peel oil, several other man made chemicals.
Marie Dean Cherry and Plum Styling Pomade Around £8 for 114ml
All ingredients: Kokum butter, shea butter, plum kernel oil, cherry kernel oil, vegetable wax, avocado oil, organic jojoba oil, soybean oil, kukui nut oil, mango butter, castor oil, fragrance, vitamin E, botanical extracts, rosemary oil extract.
I decided to include this pomade because although it only contains one organic ingredient it contains lots of nutritious natural ingredients and no manufactured chemicals.
The Verdict
So which is the best in terms of quality ingredients that will benefit your hair and scalp? Depending on what type of product you want to use I would either go for the Simply Skin Food Hair Wax, the John Masters Hair Pomade, the Dr Bronner’s Organic Lavender Hair Conditioning & Style Cream or the Green People Organic Styling Gel. Any of the products on this page are good though — and I scoured the web for a long time to find these. There are lots of rubbish hair waxes and gels out there, but these are really the cream of the crop (no pun intended!).
Update: Having added the Max Green Alchemy gel to this list, this is now my number one choice of gels.
If you know of any other premium hair waxes or gels not listed here, let me know using the comments form below and I’ll give you my verdict on the ingredients.
Is hair gel or wax bad for your hair?
I try to advise against using hair gels and waxes. See “Does hair gel cause hair loss?” for more details.
Using hair gel or wax isn’t going to cause hair loss in the vast majority of cases. However it may have a dettrimental effect on hair growth if hair gel is left on the hair over night, day after day. I advise that if you’re using hair gel or styling wax, wash it out of your hair before bed, to prevent it from embedding into your scalp and clogging the pores. However, if you’re using the hair gels and waxes on this page, leaving them in your hair overnight is much less of a problem.
Using hair gel or wax to your hair’s benefit, rather than its detriment
Think about this — if you’re using hair gel or wax every day, you’re coating your hair (and as a result your scalp) with chemicals.
Now think about this — if you swapped your supermarket gel or wax for a high quality, nourishing gel or wax, your hair and scalp would instead be coated with organic nutrients — this is clearly far better for your hair. So try to make sure you use high quality, ideally organic, hair styling products.
If you have any suggestions for other styling products, or you’re wondering whether the gel you’ve used has caused your hair harm, leave a question or comment using a form at the bottom of the page.
