Key Ingredients: Hibiscus flower extract, prickly pear seed oil, moringa seed extract | Who It’s For: Fine hair types, straight to wavy hair types
Best Scent: Verb Sea Spray
Why It’s Worth It: Even if the beach is miles away, the Verb Sea Spray will manifest your beachiest waves yet. Its refreshing, heady scent of coconut water and mango is enough to get us spritzing, but it provides much more than a tropically fruity aroma. Its formula is infused with magnesium sulfate (also known as sea salt) to enhance texture, wave definition, and body. This hair-boosting cocktail also contains antioxidant-rich additives like seaweed and kelp extracts to improve shine and softness.
Key Ingredients: Seaweed extract, kelp extract, sweet almond fruit extract, sunflower seed extract | Who It’s For: All hair types
Best for Soft Waves: Briogeo Superfoods Banana + Coconut Hydrating Soft Wave Texture Spray
Why It’s Worth It: Leave it to Readers’ Choice Award-winning brand Briogeo to make a wave spray that’s so hydrating, that it has to be included in the name. Not to mention, it smells like someone bottled the beach. Don’t let the salt-free formula freak you out—this spray will still give you the tousled hair of your dreams, thanks to coconut sugar, which creates soft, piecey waves.
Key Ingredients: Coconut sugar, banana extract, coconut extract, aloe vera | Who It’s For: Fine, medium, and thick straight or wavy hair
Best Shine Booster: R+Co Sail Soft Wave Spray
Why It’s Worth It: R+Co’s Sail Soft Wave Spray promises to give you the dreamy mermaid hair you want with some shine to boot. “This is great for girl-on-the-go beach texture,” says Dawson. “Put it on dry hair and scrunch in for lightweight texture.”
Key Ingredients: Amla, sea kelp extract, castor oil, aloe vera | Who It’s For: All hair types
Frequently Asked Questions
What does sea salt spray do?
In its most basic definition, sea salt sprays mimic the wave-defining abilities of salt water. There are quite a few hair products that will add texture to your hair looks, but cosmetic chemist Ginger King is keen on salt. “You add any particles to the hair, [and they] will create volume such as mud, dry shampoo, starch, etc., but the difference is the effect,” she tells Allure. “Sea salt spray can work as a light texturizer with some hold. She says to think about the salt on a margarita glass; “it sticks so it has some ‘hold factor’ when it is wet.” King notes that sugar can also work as a texturizer, but she prefers salt because of its antiseptic properties.
Tips for styling with a sea salt spray
When it comes to creating beachy, soft waves, there are actually quite a few ways to go about it: braids, scrunching, and even your flatiron can do the trick. But, no matter which styling route you choose, a sea salt spray is essential to nail this classic, surfer-inspired look.