How to slick back your hair without gel: 3 methods to break the morning habit

A dab of gel, a small brush, you pull it back and everything stays in place. The result is sleek and lasts all day, which is why you go back to it every morning. A few months later, you pay the price.

Gel is not a forbidden product, and slicking your hair back is no crime. What causes damage is the combination of a drying formula and daily tension in the same place. There are three ways to achieve the same look without store-bought gel, and one condition common to all three: the hair fiber must be supple to start with. Our step-by-step tutorial details the six steps of the Rituel Texture®, which is the preparation on which all slicked-back styles depend.

What gel does to the hair fiber

Many styling gels hold through a combination of short-chain alcohols, which speed up drying, and film-forming polymers, which freeze the strand in the position where it was left. On a fiber that already tends to lack moisture, the first effect is immediate: the strand becomes stiff, it crinkles under the finger, and the slightest head movement breaks it cleanly at the fold.

The second effect is slower, and it is the one that sets in without us noticing. The film does not rinse out with clear water. It builds up, traps sweat and flakes near the roots, and then requires a more detergent wash to remove it, leaving the hair even drier afterward. The white residues that appear after two days are not a dosing error, they are the previous layers coming back up.

Then there is the point on which we are most firm. It is not the gel that thins out the temples, it is the tension, and the gel only makes it bearable: it allows you to pull harder without the hairstyle falling apart within the hour. Without it, the hand stops on its own when it pulls. This is why we prefer the three methods that follow, and not just for their composition.

Prepare before slicking back

Slicking back is not a treatment, it is a styling: it fixes the state in which your hair is at the moment you style it. A dry fiber resists, stands up in the first hour and forces you to compensate with tension. A supple fiber settles almost on its own.

This is why the most beautiful slicked-back styles are done in the days following a complete Rituel Texture®, every seven to ten days, and not on hair left alone for three weeks. At the time of styling, La Crème Coiffante replaces gel in its role as a softener: it helps maintain the hydration provided during washing and leaves the strand mobile, which no fixative does.

Two very common reflexes should be discarded from the outset. The first consists of spraying water before styling, then every morning to revive it. Avoid wetting your hair every day: the water evaporates in a few hours and the fiber ends up drier than before, until it becomes porous from repeated cycles. The second consists of applying an oil or butter to seal before the cream. This is not the order we follow: it is La Crème Coiffante that holds the hydration, and a drop of light oil can come as a complement on the ends, between two routines, if they are dry.

Method 1Aloe vera gel

It is the only one of the three that provides water at the same time it gives hold, which makes it the most indicated when the edges are already weakened. The preparation takes ten minutes and one requirement: filtering.

Cut the necessary quantity from an aloe leaf, let the yellow sap drain for a few minutes, take the transparent pulp and blend it. Then pass everything through a chinois, without skipping it: the remaining particles are visible in the hair once dry and are hard to remove. The resulting gel is applied to damp hair, to slick back as well as to define curls. It keeps for three days in the refrigerator, and the rest of the leaf can be kept in the freezer without damage.

Its limit is that of its softness: the hold is supple, it lasts a day, and it is not enough for a very tight bun. This is an accepted flaw, and it is generally good news for the hairline.

Method 2Flaxseed gel

It is the most holding of the three, the one that comes closest to a store-bought gel, and it is prepared for a few cents. Count about 20 g of flaxseeds for four glasses of water. Heat while stirring until the mixture thickens and coats the spoon, then filter immediately: once cooled, the gel becomes too dense to pass through and the seeds remain trapped.

The hold lasts from two to four days depending on the density of the hair and the weather. Without a preservative, the gel keeps for one week in the refrigerator, no longer, and a mixture that has changed its smell is thrown away without hesitation. We give other versions of it, with their dosages, in our article on natural gels for coily hair.

One method remark, because it applies to any fixative, homemade or not: apply it to hair already coated with La Crème Coiffante, never directly on the bare fiber. The gel then works over a supple layer, and the strand does not end up frozen dry.

Method 3The scarf technique

It is the one we recommend daily, because it requires no preparation and shifts the fixation from the product to the fabric. The hold comes from the tightness of the scarf during drying, not from a film placed on the hair. Once the scarf is removed, the hair is slicked back and remains supple to the touch.

1. 01
   Start with a supple fiberIdeally in the days following a Rituel Texture®. If the lengths are dry, redo them with a little La Crème Coiffante worked between the palms rather than with a water mister.
2. 02
   Apply La Crème CoiffanteA dab spread over the entire hair, a little more on the edges and baby hairs, which are the finest hairs on the head.
3. 03
   StructureBrush from the forehead to the back with a soft brush, following the shape of the skull, then tie without tightening. If the skin tightens around the tie, the elastic is too low or too short.
4. 04
   Place the scarfOver the whole head, tight enough to hold, never to the point of marking the skin. It is the mechanical action of the fabric that fixes the slicked-back style.
5. 05
   Let dryFifteen to twenty minutes, until completely dry. Removed too early, the slicked-back style lifts within the hour. The same scarf is put back on at night to prolong the hold.

For the baby hairs, a small soft brush and short movements following the natural design of the contour are enough. Do not try to make them take a shape they do not have: they are the ones that give out first, and they take months to return.

Protect your temples

Whatever method is chosen, it is repetition that decides. The tension regularly exerted on the hairline is the recognized mechanism of traction alopecia, documented in women and young girls who often wear braids, flat braids, and pulled-back hairstyles (Khumalo et al., Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology, 2008). Caught early, as long as the follicle is only irritated, it can be corrected. Once established, it leaves a bald strip that does not always grow back.

If the hairline has already receded, stop pulled-back hairstyles completely to see if the hair comes back, and have the scalp examined by a doctor or dermatologist in case of clear patches or smooth areas without regrowth. An edge rebuilds slowly, when it rebuilds: it is better to space it out too early than too late.

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