Product Review- VERB Sea Spray
VERB Sea Spray
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Reviewed at 4.5 out of 5 Stars (150 Reviews) could this lightweight salt spray be the right fit for all your styling needs?
Simple Review
Pros:
Fresh scent of mango and coconut
Product does not clog in the sprayer
Cruelty-free with natural ingredients
Cons:
Not effective on shorter, stiffer hair types
Some users experienced drying and strange texture
Long Review
My Experience
I love sea salt spray products. I think they are great for pre-styling purposes and when added to the hair before blow-drying they can really emphasize textures and provide great volume. They aren't the easiest product to find locally and can be pricy to import from outside of Canada. If I'm not willing to spend more money on products, then I'm pretty sure you don't want to either. So when I heard of VERB's Sea Spray, I knew I had to check it out for myself.
VERB is a product line that is carried at Sephora, which (in my opinion) makes it easier to obtain compared to products from exclusively online retailers. You can actually go and take a look at the product, as well as try out a tester and there isn’t that chance of getting a product damaged in transit to your home. As well, Sephora has a return policy for products if you're not fully satisfied [1], so I feel more comfortable recommending things to clients if they can get them from there. VERB as a product line is also unique in that it commits to pricing all of its products at $22 (with some exceptions on larger products). They believe that anyone should be able to access quality hair products and I really support that philosophy. I want my clients to access great products that help them get the most out of their hair so that they can feel confident in how they look. However, none of that matters if the product itself doesn't actually do its job, so let's get into what I think of the VERB Sea Spray.
Positives
I enjoy the packaging, I find the sprayer does a great job of applying the product evenly (an issue that I had with the TIGI Salt Spray). The scent of this product is also one of my favourites as it has a mango & coconut fragrance that is light and refreshing. I definitely don't feel that this product is drying at all, despite being a salt spray.
When looking at the ingredients list, this product does not have any parabens or harmful sulfates and many ingredients are naturally derived from flower and seed extracts. It appears to contain Magnesium Sulfate, which may seem scary and contradictory to the claim of no sulfates. However, Magnesium Sulfate is shown to help strengthen hair and enhances the ability to absorb moisture and proteins [2]. As well, this product is PETA-certified cruelty-free meaning that VERB does not test their products on animals. There are certainly a lot of positives for this product on many different levels that make it seem like the perfect addition to anyone's hair arsenal. There's just one little problem...
Negatives
The product just doesn't seem to work at all on my hair. Keep in mind that the product is designed to be lightweight in hold (it says so right on the bottle) and so it's not overpromising anything to consumers. However, I was disappointed to find that it was more of a nice-smelling water than an actual styling product. I have been testing this product on myself for the past couple of months, and I haven't had a chance to try it out on any clients with different hair types to see if the results would be the same or not. For reference, I have stiff, straight hair of medium density, and the individual strands of my hair do not bend easily without applying heat. I could never apply any kind of salt spray without using a blow dryer as that would do absolutely nothing for my hair. With that in mind, I have used this product with a blow dryer and have tried what I can to scrunch and add texture/volume with my hands and even then, I feel as if there is nothing in my hair.
Is this product useless??? Despite my own personal experience with the product, I can't ignore the 100+ 5-star reviews that support this product. These positive comments focus on the product's ability to give a soft, wavy texture that doesn't feel dry. It does not cause the hair to frizz for those with finer, curly strands of hair. Many of these reviews provide images of longer, less stiff textured hair compared to mine. The product seems to perform well for this type of customer who has more hair to work with and wants a subtle wave! However, when looking a little deeper at the positive reviews on Sephora, many of them are actually "incentivized". Meaning that the reviewer received something to write their review (be it money or a free product). It's hard to ignore this added level of bias as it impacts how genuine these reviews actually are and how helpful they can be to other consumers. The 1 and 2-star reviews (13 of the 150) seem to mirror my experiences with the product, where it didn't do much for texture. Some reviewers find the scent to be too strong and others find that it is still drying and leaves a strange texture afterward.
So would I recommend this product?
I definitely would not get this product again for myself, and I would not suggest it to my clients who are mostly men with short hair. Despite all the benefits I mentioned about accessibility, affordability, and ingredients, this product simply does not do the trick. However, you may enjoy the VERB Sea Spray if you have longer hair at a fine to medium hair type. Though I would much rather suggest the TIGI Texturizing Salt Spray as it performs so much better, despite its shortcomings that I’ve mentioned here.
Hope you found this helpful!
My name is Wesley, I am a Barber located in the city of Calgary helping my clients become more confident with all things related to their hair by providing customized haircuts that suit them best while demystifying all the complicated hair information out there!
