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To semi-quote Legally Blonde, the rules of a good curl hair gel are simple and finite. My requirements are that it has to work well, smell good, and ideally not cost an arm and a leg. That last point is flexible, though. I don't love it, but I'm willing to spend up to three dollar signs for something that nixes frizz, hits the level of hold where my 3b curls pull up just short of crunch, and lasts for at least two days (daily air drying is annoying).
Bumble and Bumble's Curl (Style) Defining Creme has been my go-to for years, but a few weeks ago the worst thing possible happened: I ran out while on vacation in a tiny beach town. Cut to exclusive footage of me in the bathroom, hearing that "empty, entirely empty" bottle wheeze. The rest of the vacation would've been absolutely sucky, if I hadn't stumbled on L.A. Looks' Extreme Sport Styling Gel, the $3 hair gel that is now my everything.
Honestly, I didn't have huge expectations. With all of four options to choose from at the tiny town's variety store, I headed home with the Extreme Sport nervously in hand (this is an underdog story). Postshower, I ran a quarter-size dollop of Kinky Curly's Knot Today leave-in conditioner through my hair, and scrunched in a nickel-portion of the blue gel per two-inch section. It smells ambiguously fruity, and went in a bit sticky—cue apprehension that frizz was about to show up.
But after air drying, I had the same bouncy, defined but not-crunchy curls that my $31 favorite always delivers, now for $28 less. Stunned, I looked up reviews, and realized this is the curl world's best kept hair secret—the product, and brand, nab excellent reviews across my trusted curl forums.
Elephant in the room: Bumble's bottle is far prettier. The Extreme Sport looks pretty globby, has a name like you should be hang-gliding, and if you turn it upside down the gel slides slowly down the slides. That's the consistency we're dealing with. But it works so well, and it's so cheap. Bumble has it beat for smell and aesthetics, but on all other fronts, the L.A. Looks has my heart. I'm just sad I went 24 years without it.
L.A. Looks Absolute Styling Sport Hair Gel, $3.29, walgreens.com
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