A funky gunk that rocks! - that is what Tigi’s Bed Head Manipulator cries out as soon as you remove the lid, but is it funky, is it gunky and will it actually manage to keep my hair in place in the face of gale force winds on a trip to the South Bank in the name of cultural enlightenment.





At £3.74 for a 30g tub it looks tiny, but hey, good things come in small packages (sometimes). This does seem incredibly cheap for a hair styling product that claims to do all sorts of things! This came in a beauty box some months ago and the missus ignored it like an elderly relative in a care home so I stole it and gave it a try.





This is what they say about it over at the Tigi website here





‘Be a Master Manipulator. Get whacked-out hair – spike, twist dreads or go punky. More mainstream? Get body and texture.





Support factor: 3

Texture factor: 5

Separated & textured with a matte finish

Pliable, supportive & long-lasting

Good for any hair length or texture

Separates & smoothes fly-aways.’





First of all, being whacked out means something completely different to me! It usually involves heavy nights out and waking up under a trampoline, falling down stairs or just simply forgetting which city I’m in (I kid you not). As for being a master manipulator, well, I don’t need any help with that thanks Tigi. Anyhow, once again I digress!





This has a lovely aroma to it, I say it has the smell of fresh apples, whereas my other half suggested it had a tropical hint to the notes. Either way, I think it smells delightful and doesn’t have any hint of chemical undertones to it, so no chance of being accused of smelling plastic.





Once you’ve stuck your fingers in you get that gunky feeling (just take a look at the picture below), it’s like a thick pliable goo on your fingertips, but actually, once spread across the palms and applied to hair it soaks in really well, absorbed into each and every strand it comes close to. Great stuff.









Now, the big thing - can you style with something that it so gooey and gunky? Well yes, actually I think it’s a breeze. On short styles it is fantastic and makes hair so pliable you can style anything, and I mean anything. At Halloween I styles a pair of devil horns (which I thought looked great) but as I was going out for a serious dinner with colleagues from work had to take out (booooo). On longer styles it doesn’t lose any of its appeal at all, and I like this when going for my ‘cable thief’ style (it looks like I’ve been electrocuted when trying to steal some copper cable).





I’ve added in a photograph of my hair styled using this to help you get an idea of what it is capable of - and to save me having to describe it to the N th degree (lazy, yes I know).





Me, being a bit of a tool in Perth on Halloween.....

It dries quickly, sets firm, but hair retains the ability to be restyled. As I’ve said, I styled horns but didn’t have to go and wash it out and start again. I simply used my palm to flatten my hair and then whoosh, with a flick across the top the spikes were back. Brilliant.





Fiddly as f*** to apply, but the results are simply too good to cast this aside and say “sod it”. I like the fragrance, it’s so refreshing first thing in the morning. It also appeals to the inner (many would say outer) child in me as it is gunky but by far and away the best thing, thankfully (otherwise it would be getting panned) is the hold. It isn’t going to hold massive spikes in place but on shorter styles it looks as though it has a wet finish for a few hours and then actually develops a matte look finish and for me, that makes it look as though my hair is staying in place naturally - excellent (said in a Mr Burns voice).





Yes, yes it is a funky gunk that rocks - and a product I will be keeping for when I need to style some extreme spikes.





RECOMMENDED





If you want to pick this up cheap, I would suggest you head over to ASOS here where it is currently available for the price above.



