“Obviously, the blowout [trend] was largely my fault. I mean, I’m proud that I did that…but now there’s this in-between,” Webb told me this spring. “Right now, there’s a big movement for air-drying, but air-drying doesn’t work [for me]. It kind of sometimes works, but it’s a crapshoot. You would never go out to do something important, like a meeting or a date, with the risk of the crapshoot of air-drying your hair.”
As a fellow crapshoot-adverse person with wavy hair, I got my hands on the products back in April and have been testing them ever since. Here’s how it’s gone so far.
About the Line
Messy is launching with five products: shampoo, conditioner, a rough dry cream, silk spray, and overnight hair serum. Other than the $34 serum, they’re all $32 and launching initially on ItsMessy.com and Sephora on June 24.
Before I get into a breakdown of the three standout (for me) products from the line, I have to say one of the best parts, overall, is the fragrance. The musky, herbaceous scent is definitely strong—I feel like I can skip perfume when I use the line on washdays—but I also think quite lovely and sophisticated. “Fragrance, as you might imagine, was really important to me,” Webb says. “The Drybar fragrance was so well received, so [for Messy] I wanted to create something that’s really beautiful and timely to where I am right now.”
I asked the brand to send some product to Mia Santiago, a hairstylist I’ve worked with on photoshoots in the past, for her professional thoughts, and she also called out the fragrance. “The very first thing I do with any new product is hit it with the ol’ sniff test. This scent? It’s IT,” she says over email. “Luxurious, herbal, oudy perfection. I had people literally stop me to ask what perfume I was wearing, and I had to be like, ‘Oh, this? It’s my hair.’ Off to a banging start.”
I Am Enough Rough Dry Style Cream
The styling cream, which has a texture that’s slightly thicker than your average leave-in conditioner, is clearly meant to be the hero of the line. It’s to be used on days when you only want to partially blow-dry your hair, which isn’t a way I’ve ever seen a product positioned before. With that in mind, perhaps it’s not surprising that it took me a few tries to figure out how to use it.