There are two products that have been giving me nice, textured voluminous hair lately. One is new and the other not so new.

I’m a huge fan of big hair. Huge. If I could have massive, messy hair every day for the rest of my life then I would die a very happy woman. I have had reasonable success in the past with Bumble and Bumble Surf Spray on the texture front, but nothing – and I mean actually nothing, has come close to the borderline religious experience I am having with Maui Wowie by Philip B. It came in a gift box from Net A Porter at the beginning of this month, and after some initial skepticism I can now confirm that my mind has officially been blown.

It’s one of those really fine sprays, so it’s more like a mist than a spray and it smells sensational – like the beach! I have used it on wet and dry hair but find that it works best on damp hair, spritzed in at the roots, mussed around and then blown out. Mega textured with a reasonable amount of volume. I am so in love I can’t even tell you. The best bit? The texture holds for ages. The volume not so much, but the texture – oh yeah!

The volume is where Oribe comes in. Dammit, I wish it wasn’t such a good product because the price makes me feel a bit sick. GBP38 for a 300ml can that lasts me about a month?! Bloody hell. It’s not available anywhere in Dubai and no website will ship it here so I have resorted to begging colleagues in work to bring some back from the UK for me. Sad but necessary considering it’s amazing volumising/dry shampoo-esque abilities.

Here is a not very good picture of my hair a few hours after being doused in both the aforementioned products.

Now, I can cope with a repurchase of Maui Wowie as it’s only GBP18 (less than Bumble and Bumble Surf Spray) but I can’t cope with another Oribe purchase for two reasons; 1) I can’t actually get my hands on it and b) there has to be a cheaper dupe of this somewhere, right?

Has anyone heard any positive rumblings about V05’s supposed dupe or Charles Worthington’s one? Is it worth my while to brave the apocalyptic weather conditions in Ireland in a few weeks and do a search in Superdrug/Boots? Please advise! 🙂