Five of the best: Hair Detangler Spray Review

My girls have what some might call “tricky” hair. It’s beautiful and blonde and deeply photogenic. But it is curled and tangles easily and is the bane of my life every day at 7:20am when we are trying to get out of the door on time for school.

And so I gathered up the five bottles I have recently bought at local supermarkets and chemists, and we declared that we would put them Head-to-Head – if you’ll pardon the pun- to see which Detangler Spray works best.

Here are our thoughts:

1. Tantrum My Delicious Detangle Spray, £3.50 Waitrose:

The packaging on this bottle is really distinctive without being nauseating. We loved the squeeze handle which was much much easier for The Girls to use than the other bottles. It had wide coverage with each spray and The Girls liked the smell. LBG says that it makes her hair easy to brush and Dimples found the spray so easy to use. I thought that it gave good coverage and did help with tangles.

2. L’Oreal Kids Sweet Pear Tangle Tamer, from £1.99 Tesco:

Glaringly bright packaging that coordinates with other bottles in the range. This has a really strong pear smell which I didn’t like,  and pump action spray which I needed to help with. It definitely made a difference to the ability to brush their hair, though that may be because they needed to spray a lot of it to cover their whole head. LBG loves the smell of this one. Dimples formed no strong views.

3. Johnson’s Baby No More Tangles Spray, £2.95 Boots:

Fairly plain packaging and another pump action spray, though both girls could manage this on their own. This had a wide area of coverage with every spray so there was much more even distribution of spray. I really felt this gave a better-than-average detangle. The scent was nice but in no way overpowering. LBG says she thought it didn’t spray well. Dimples thought it looked boring.

4. Schwarzkopf Supersoft Kids Detangling Spray, from £2.00 Sainsbury’s:

Clearly marketed at girls with the pink bottle and fairy logo this spray was probably our least favourite. The berry scent was very strong and neither girl liked it. The pump on this was too tricky for either of them to use without help, though the distribution was quite good. It did help detangle their hair though. And they loved the packaging.

5. Vosene Kids Extra Shine Detangler Spray, £2.00 Asda:

The key selling feature for me- as with any parent of school-aged children- was that the Tea Tree Oil in the detangler helps keep nits at bay. Though it reminded me of teenage years, the smell of the spray was not too strong and the girls quite liked it. The round bottle was easier to hold when spraying that some of the flatter bottles, but the spray needed adult-help. Their hair definitely brushed much easier with this spray and looked very shiny to boot.

And which did we think was the best?

The Girls’ clear favourite was Tantrum. They love being able to do it all by themselves, liked the smell and say that it makes brushing easier. I think that the packaging has been well thought-through and it has the added benefit of being paraben-free.

My favourite was Johnson’s: although the spray was harder for The Girls to use, the even spray, fine mist and subtle fragrance won me over.

*Disclosure: All products featured were bought at my own expense. Our opinions are unbiased and honest. No children were hurt in the process of creating this post.