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If you are a fan of smooth, straight hair, then you know the frustration of those pesky flyaways. And with the sleek bun making the rounds of hairstyle trend stories, TikTok feeds filled with Hailey Bieber-inspired slick bun tutorials, and the fact that an upswept do is the perfect style for hot summer days, I wanted to find the best product to make that happen.
My hair has some natural waves that straighten well with a flat iron – but if the humidity rises, I find it difficult to keep those flyaways from, well, flying away.
Over the years, I’ve tried everything to keep it smooth, from men’s pomades to gels that claim to keep the frizzies at bay. However, none of them work, or work for long. So I set out on a mission to find a solution once and for all.
I tried several flyaway sticks and hair wax sticks to see if they could help solve the problem. Short answer: both are much better than any gel, pomade or hairspray I’ve tried in the past.
The flyaway stick
This was my hands-down favorite, and I keep going back to it whenever I need a quick fix. Just take a little product on the wand, brush it across those pesky side hairs, and everything sits down nicely. It adds a great shine without a greasy look. A quick application lasts a long time too—at least a few hours. But you may have to reapply on really rainy, hot, or high-humidity days. The price is decent for a two-pack: one for the desk and another for the purse!
If you can get past your hair feeling a bit a wet after you apply the cream, this product worked well and kept my strays at bay. The scent reminded me of hairspray. The good news? This product lasted probably the longest of the mascara-style options, but I found it didn’t dry quickly.
This one had a light gel texture, and as many reviewers noted, the wand shape doesn’t allow for too much product at once, which can be a good thing! You may need to use several applications if you’re doing a lot of hair smoothing. It also takes a bit of practice to use—you need to sweep the wand in straight lines to avoid tangling it in your hair. Of the three wands I tried, I had to reapply this one the most.
The wax stick
With all roll-on hair sticks, you have to get used to the thicker texture—but this one provides shine with no visible gunky residue. I know because after I put it on, I used a close-up mirror to look. Nada! This is a good medium hold stick that should last for hours, if not a day, depending on your level of flyaway. This was my personal fave for a wax stick.
This one was more sticky and more yellow in colour than the others, but it moved smoothly through the flyaways of a high ponytail, bun and pieces sticking out of a braid. It lasted the longest of any of the products I tried. Unfortunately, that meant that although the hair at the side of my bun was smooth, it remained sticky. I could see it working well on hair that is coarser than mine, or with an updo that needs a strong, all-day hold.
Most of these products use beeswax as their main ingredient but this one also includes castor seed oil and fruit wax. The stick moved easily through my hair and with a bit of brushing there was no residue. It has a very sweet, strong floral smell so if you have issues with scented products, you may want to avoid this one. The product description says it is unscented but reviewers disagreed (so did I). The main downside is that I had to reapply a number of times in a single morning, so it doesn’t seem to keep those broken/baby hairs at bay as well as the others.
This was one of my favorites. It works well and doesn’t have an overpowering scent—it also lasted decently throughout the day! I thought it was the best in terms of taming broken hairs that tend to find their way out of any hairstyle. Depending on how coarse or curly your hair is, you may need a bit more of this. One thing to note: it’s somewhat drier than the others I tested, so you have to push down more on the stick and may need a bit more product.
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