The Best Volumizing Hair Stylers

This cream takes the top spot on our list for its universality: From straight hair to curls, thinning to full, Sachajuan’s volume cream adds moisture and lift to any and all. And, like most stylers, you get even more body with a blow dry, though it’s optional of course. But a blow drying will decrease shine and add ample volume when applied at the roots, while you’ll get a touch of sheen if it’s left to dry in clean, damp hair. This salon-favorite cream also shields your hair from heat damage caused by the blow dryer, so it’s a cut above other stylers that do little or nothing to prevent frizzing, splitting, and breaking.

Volume and texture are often used together in the hair-styling world since a product that does one often does the other (but not always). This spray from R+Co Bleu gives lift to the roots of the hair and can be finger-combed through the rest of the hair to help separate, define, and chop up the texture. The brand’s proprietary sugar-molecule complex fortifies hair simultaneously, more or less conditioning the hair as it volumizes. Use it on your hair after applying your usual styler, or give your roots a midday zap with it to get some lift for the remainder of the day.

While BYRD’s salt spray styler leads with its texturizing powers, it’s also a terrific volumizer for this very reason. When your hair gets extra definition and separation, it naturally lifts on top of itself as opposed to settling neatly into place. This texturizing spray is a blend of coconut water, sea salt, quinoa proteins, and sea buckthorn extract, which all work together to protect hair from sun damage, repair existing strain, and give it weightless lift, as if you just emerged from the ocean, and let it all dry with its perfect sea-water texture.

While it’s not positioned as a mousse, that is what I liken this body-building liquid to, in terms of how it foams into the hands and massages into the roots of the hair. Give a few pumps into damp hair, comb it through, blow it dry, et voila! The heat activates this liquid’s amino acids and pumps volume, shine, texture, and lightweight control. It’s like whey protein for hair, for all that glistening, admiral body it builds.

Volume is often the last thing curly-haired people seek out. In fact, they want taut, hydrated curls — and volume can often indicate a lack of buoyancy, nourishment, and control often the unruly curls. However, for those times that loose-curl and wavy textures want all of those things plus healthy, defined curling… you’ve got this nourishing curl jelly. It finds frizzing, poofing, and drying, and delivers lightweight curls without any gel-like crunch.

The second most universal product on this list, V76’s molding paste does far more for volume than advertised. Target the roots of your hair for some lift, whether you prefer to apply it dry or damp. And, if you apply it damp, you can let the hair dry on its own for added touchable texture, or blow dry it for ultimate volume (with that heat-activated paste holding it up at the base of the hairs). Paste is a product that every guy should have, given its many use cases — and this is one we co-sign wholeheartedly. It can also be reactivated midday with a wet comb or fingertips, and restyled as needed, perhaps for a post-work Happy Hour.

Big, soft, touchable hair: That’s what Oribe promises and delivers with this mousse. It’s the volume-maximizing product you need, especially for the pompadour or quiff of your dreams. Plus, since it’s Oribe, you know it’s chock full of hair-nourishing ingredients, too: First, there’s panthenol and wheat proteins to reinforce and strengthen each strand, sunflower seed oil and vitamin E to condition and hydrate, as well as the brand’s signature complex (comprised of fruit and flower extracts) to preserve keratin levels and prevent sun, heat, and pollution damage.