It’s an odd week when I don’t blow-dry my hair more than once. I know I shouldn’t be blow-drying that often, especially while still undoing the damage from regular Revlon One-Step use — but I’ll take a bad blowout over my air-dried hair any day. In their natural state, my uncombable curls are less Vivian Ward eating pancakes in a Beverly Wiltshire penthouse suite and more chain-smoking Carrie Bradshaw on the “Single & Fabulous?” cover of New York.
Because my hairstyling routine involves a lot of heat, I take care with the rest of my hair maintenance. That means anything from introducing another shampoo and conditioner combination to cleaning between hairbrush bristles. Over a year ago, I overhauled my entire hair-care routine — including removing the True Botanicals’ Hair Shine & Protect Hair Cream Oil that once gave me shampoo-commercial shine, which I even wrote an ode to for the Strategist. Its replacement? Ceremonia’s Guava Rescue Spray.
Here’s the thing: For a long time, True Botanicals’ oil seemed to be everything I needed it to be. Unfortunately, it appeared dull on my roots after a while and started weighing down the Rapunzel-like length I was working on growing out. I went down a rabbit hole of beauty-related sub-Reddits and Sephora customer reviews and found the aptly named Rescue Spray. Now I don’t even know how many bottles I’ve gone through. It’s truly been the do-it-all solution to the problems that come with heat-styling and has finally cut down on my “Bride of Frankenstein” frizz.
Ceremonia’s Guava Rescue Spray is made with smoothing blue agave, breakage-reducing avocado oil, and guava-fruit extract for a UV barrier. (Apparently there is science behind this!) It smells tropical but not in a Jimmy Buffett–tribute–concert way. (Those with very sensitive noses may stay away.) I can spray it on my hair when it’s almost air-dried or dripping wet with the same result: a blowout that makes me feel like I’m cheating on my hairdresser. I need anywhere from three spritzes (when my hair is shorter) to seven (when it’s longer) to get through all of my hair. It detangles my towel-dried hair that would otherwise get tugged by a Mason Pearson brush. It fights frizz from the highest temperature settings on my Dyson Supersonic. It makes going through my hair with a big Wet Brush not feel like I’m losing a game of tug-of-war. It’s good post-blowout too. It smooths down flyaways and naughty baby hairs easily.
I like to think my Guava Rescue Spray–sprayed strands look better than what I’d see in a shampoo commercial, even when going several days between blowouts. And Ceremonia’s spray does it all for around half the price of True Botanicals’ oil. I’d dropped my Olaplex habit for True Botanicals, then I dropped True Botanicals for Ceremonia, and now I’m not looking back. I’ll be evangelizing about its virtues to anyone within listening distance. It’s already been making the rounds in our own Strategist circle, too. Fellow writer Lauren Ro and my editor Hilary Reid bought bottles during the last Sephora sale, and Emma Wartzman sprays hers on right out of the shower. Each of us has different hair textures — from straight (Lauren and Hilary) to curly (Emma and me) — and all of us are equally impressed. I won’t be searching for a replacement. Consider this an official “This Thing’s Incredible” addendum: It’s the best heat protectant I’ve ever tried.
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