Product repurposing

We do it all the time: Leave-in conditioners as rinse-outs and vice versa, moisturizers as stylers, the list of repurposed products goes on and on. I have recently decided to do this with a product I previously insisted I would not use anymore. What about you?

Here's my product: Sta-Sof-Fro Hair and Scalp Spray, AKA "the stuff in the brown bottle".

Here's how it's meant to be used: The bottle says it's "an exclusive blend of softeners plus protein designed especially for dry and damaged hair. Special moisturizers soften and condition hard to manage hair and add long lasting sheen without messy build up." It goes on to say that it is recommended for maintenance of curls, waves, naturals, and braids. Note that the "curls" and "waves" are chemically induced, as this product was originally designed to moisturize the Jheri curl and other similar chemical processes. You're supposed to spray it on and massage it into the hair, so it's actually a styler in addition to being a moisturizer and conditioner.

Here's how I use it: Finishing spray.

Here's why: Back this summer, when I ran out of BRX Braids and Extensions spray, and Wal-Mart didn't have any at the time I went looking for more, I substituted the Sta-Sof-Fro, even though I knew that the way I normally used it did cause build up, contrary to the assertion on the back of the bottle, at least in my case. I tend to be a little heavy-handed with products. There was a day when I applied it to my hair the morning after a cowash and tried to style it. My hair pitched an immediate fit and went all rough on me. Granted, there were some other things in my hair from the previous day's detangling session, but I wasn't expecting my hair to cut up so stiff. I rinsed everything out in the kitchen sink, slapped a ton of Long Aid Moisturizing Gel Activator on my head, hoped for the best, and proceeded to ignore the brown bottle for weeks. I did this one other time with similar results.

Then, last week, I got an idea. I decided to spray a little on hair that was already styled, just to see what happened. I was already spritzing—I mean dousing—my head with my leave-in concoction and/or water twice a day in order to keep it from feeling like it was auditioning to be a Brillo pad; how much worse could this be?

Surprise, surprise! As a moisturizing finishing spray, this stuff works for me! I style my hair, mist it all over with a light application of Sta-Sof-Fro, and that's it. I don't rub or massage it in, I just let it sit where it lands after being propelled out of the bottle. I use far less of it than I ever used to style my hair, yet my hair is soft and silky to touch; it feels the best it's felt in over two years. And while it is a little oily right now, a good cowash and rinse will take care of that, and it's not tacky the way Long Aid usually leaves it. I don't maintain a lot of curl definition with it, but once all the moisture is sucked out of it, it frizzes anyway; at least this frizz is soft, and the moisture seems to last all day. I like this current use for this product far better than its previous use. If they still make the lighter version, I'd be willing to try it.