“Mermaid Waves” Are All Over My Summer Mood Board, so I Tried 13 Cult-Loved Sea Salt Sprays

Picture this: You’re heading back up to your hotel room after a day of swimming in the ocean and baking on your lounge chair, reading your latest Kindle download (The Let Them Theory by Mel and Sawyer Robbins, thank you very much). A day in the sun has left your skin bronzed and hair, dare I say… perfect? Fully expecting to wash your head before dinner, you’re stopped dead by your reflection in the mirror—your mane a curtain of delicate curls and tousled texture styled by the saltwater—and decide to instead show off the ‘do that the waves designed.

If this sounds highly personal, it’s because this was me not even 48 hours ago—but now I sit in my New York City apartment itching for ways to recreate that beachy, bedhead hair that I’ve saved 10 million times to my S/S 25 Pinterest board. Remembering that I happen to be a beauty editor, I reached into my Rolodex of celebrity hairstylists to ask which products I should be using to impart dreamy mermaid waves, and the answer was unanimous: sea salt sprays.

“A good sea salt spray gives hair a natural texture and body without leaving it dry, sticky, or crunchy—it should feel like you’ve been at the beach, but better,” explains the celebrity hairstylist behind Lindsay Lohan’s “almond milk” waves and countless stars’ textured blowouts, Dimitris Giannetos. “[It] adds grit, soft hold, and enhances natural waves or bends in the hair, making it look effortlessly lived in.”

While you can take a curling iron or straightener to your strands to create these loose, lazy waves, what’s even easier is taking a few spritzes of this type of spray to your hair and calling it a day. Curious, I took a look back on what sea salt sprays past Who What Wear editors have sworn by and added my own 2 cents.

Below, the 13 best sea salt sprays for mesmerizing mermaid waves that will rival your Pinterest saves.

The Best Sea Salt Sprays, At a Glance

• Best Overall: Oribe Aprés Beach Wave and Shine Spray
• Best Drugstore: Not Your Mother’s Beach Babe Texturizing Sea Salt Spray
• Best Splurge: Balmain Hair Texturizing Salt Spray
• Best for Dry Hair: Ouai Texturizing Wave Spray
• Best Texturizing: Bumble and Bumble Surf Sea Salt Spray

Best Overall: Oribe Aprés Beach Wave and Shine Spray

Best Texturizing: Bumble and Bumble Surf Sea Salt Spray

Best Vegan: 14th Night The Natural Surf Spray

Best with UV Protection: Sun Bum Sea Spray

Best for Dry Hair: Ouai Texturizing Wave Spray

Best Drugstore: Not Your Mother’s Beach Babe Texturizing Sea Salt Spray

Best Splurge: Balmain Hair Texturizing Salt Spray

Best for Volume: Sachajuan Ocean Mist

Best for Dyed Hair: R+Co Rockaway Salt Spray

Best for Thinning Hair: Reverie Mare Mediterranean Sea Mist

Best for Damaged Hair: Unite Hair Beach Day

Best for Softness: L’ange Hair Sea Salt Texturizing Spray

Best Hydrating: Briogeo Soft Wave Spray

Hot Tools for Beachy Waves

FAQ

What are the best ingredients to look for in a sea salt spray?

As you’ve likely gathered from the extensive list above, there are seemingly endless ingredient combinations within sea salt sprays, but at the core of (almost) every formula is magnesium sulfate, dead sea salt, or plain sea salt—aka, salt. However, there are also saltless texturizing sprays that offer beachy waves without this briny component, including Briogeo’s Soft Wave Spray and Ouai’s Texturizing Wave Spray, which get their movement from coconut sugar and rice protein.

As for the other ingredients, you should typically keep your eye out for hydrating ingredients that cancel out the drying effect of salt, often including other aquatic elements sea kelp and algae.

Do sea salt sprays dry out your hair?

While sea salts are typically based upon a commonly dehydrating ingredient, salt, they should not be noticeably drying on your hair. Most sea salt sprays are fortified with other hydrating or vitamin-rich marine ingredients that strengthen the strands and balance the scales that its salt frontman may tip. However, sea salt sprays aren’t the best products for everyone. “I wouldn’t use it on hair that’s super dry, heavily processed, or right after a fresh color service since salt can pull moisture and dull the tone,” explains Giannetos.

When is it best to use sea salt spray?

Contrary to its name, you don’t have to be at the beach to use a sea salt spray. You can spritz these wave-making formulas onto wet or dry hair, depending on your specific product’s instructions, and you can allow it to air dry for a more natural, curl-forward effect or style it with a heat tool to get a look with extra volume.

However, Knight also advises users with curly hair to take caution. “Some curly hair textures can be brittle, [so] I’d advise using a leave-in conditioner before the salt spray to avoid drying it out too much,” he explains. “Experiment, and make sure to keep your hair hydrated, always!”

How We Tested

Years ago, a Who What Wear beauty editor rounded up the best sea salt sprays according to her own personal testing. I assessed her picks and gave this running list a facelift, adding a few of my own favorites for beachy waves, and consulted the pros for a few of their tried and true recommendations, including professional tips on how and when to use sea salt sprays. The result is the list above, consisting of these 13 products and all of the reasons why you shouldn’t hesitate to add them to your cart here and now.

Who’s Who

• Dimitris Giannetos is a celebrity hairstylist based between Los Angeles, New York, and Paris who regularly works with celebrities like Kim Kardashian, Lindsay Lohan, and Gigi Hadid.
• Sami Knight is a Los Angeles-based hairstylist whose work has been seen on the likes of Lily-Rose Depp, Adele, Laufey, and more.
• Sarah Yang is a lifestyle writer who often covers beauty, health, and wellness. She tested and reported on many of the products in the original story.
• Alyssa Brascia is an associate beauty editor at Who What Wear who has spent years searching for the perfect sea salt spray. She’s finally found her answers with these tried and true picks, which she assembled via her own testing, Sarah Yang’s recommendations, and celebrity hairstylists’ picks.

This article was originally published at an earlier date and has since been updated.