“The best way to use a hair mousse is to really pump out a golf ball–size amount into the palm of your hands and then use your fingers to take small amounts and slowly rake it through the hair, starting at the ends and using the remaining amount of mousse to be scrunched into the roots,” says King. “If you have curly hair, I would do the same thing, but always scrunch into the hair. Do not rake through the hair because this can create frizz. So always scrunch into the hair, starting at the mid-lengths to ends and then ending the last amount scrunching at the roots.”
The great thing about mousse is that it can work for all hair types and textures. “Mousse is really good because it encourages really defined curls or coils in type 3 and type 4 hair,” he says. “If you have type 1 or type 2 (think poker-straight hair or hair with a wave)—where you’re looking for the maximum amount of volume, maybe looking to hold in any waves or shapes you’re creating with your blow-dry—then hair mousse is the ideal product to give you that hold but also give you volume.”
We put several hair mousses to the test, and these 16 below are the best mousses that are deserving of your hard-earned money.