I Tried the Headband and Hairspray Volume Hack: See Pictures

Published on 8/22/2023 at 5:20 PM

I have very fine hair, which oftentimes equates to flat hair. (I don't make the rules, I'm just telling it like it is.) I'm always looking for ways to give it a little oomph, be it with a new product or a styling hack. When I came across a recent video by hairstylist and TikTok creator Matt Newman where he used a headband and some hairspray to give his roots a nice lift, I instantly thought to myself, "Wait, I can do this."

If not for the '90s headband trend that made a comeback last year, I wouldn't have one of these trusty accessories lying around my house. Though I didn't have the exact kind that Newman used in the hair hack, I did have a knotted headband, which could serve the same purpose.

So I decided to give it a go. Keep scrolling to see how it worked.

When I decided to give this hack a try, I was working with two-day-old hair, so it was a little bit more limp than usual. I started by putting the headband around my neck and then took a fine-tooth comb — I used the one from the T3 Detailed Hair-Care Set ($35) — and coated it in some Verb Ghost Hairspray ($20) before brushing through my roots, as Newman instructed. This felt a little counterintuitive to me, as I don't use hairspray much on my scalp — only on my ends to set a style. Then, I pulled up the headband and gave my roots a spray with more product.

In the video, Newman goes back over his roots with the comb and some more hairspray with the headband in place, so I followed his instructions to a T. I won't lie to you, though: I was a little nervous about how much product I was applying. The final step of this TikTok beauty hack was to give your hair a cold blast using a blow dryer. I used my Dyson Supersonic Hair Dryer ($430) — a tool I have a deep, deep love for — by holding down the cool-shot button and did a couple of passes over my scalp. The purpose of this step is to help set the roots and lock them into the lifted position that was created with the headband and spray. Once finished, it was time to take off the headband and see how well my efforts had worked.

When I removed the accessory, the hair around my face stayed back, and without the headband, I was looking a little windswept. Using my fingers, I tried to shake them out a bit to make my hair lay properly against my head, paying extra close attention to the curtain bangs around my face.

At first, I wasn't sure if the hack had worked for me, but upon inspecting the before and after pictures, I was able to see a difference in the roots around my face. It was subtle but there nonetheless. Truthfully, I'm glad the results weren't super dramatic, seeing as I was trying this out with my everyday look and didn't want anything too done. Considering how simple it is — all you need are a comb, a headband, some hairspray, and your blow dryer — I say give it a try.