3 Tips to Combat Flaking In Your Wash & Go’s

By AdVantage
October 26, 2025

Flaking is a conversation that comes up frequently in both our private and public education spaces.

Whether the flakes are big or small, many tight curlies and naturals may be experiencing flaking from their styling products due to their product choice, their unique Essential Elements or even the technique used to apply or set the product on the hair.

It could also be due to multiple gel stylers being used to set the hair. Gel is a film and those films break, ultimately turning into flakes that you see flying around after fluffing your hair.

This blog post will outline 3 tips to help combat flaking in your wash and go sets.

#1

Add More Water While Setting

We suggest adding more water to your hair when layering your styling products. More water is key to helping minimize flakes.

#2

Be Mindful Of Stylers That Don’t Play Well Together

It’s important to be mindful of stylers that don’t play well together when layering products. Stylers that don’t play well together typically form hair boogers that are fairly easy to spot.

Experts coined the term “hair boogers” and defines them as:

“Hair Boogers: Tiny white, jello-like, clumps that seem to come out of nowhere, usually somewhere in between the leave-in and your styler.”

Here's a few tips tips to avoid hair boogers:

  1. Always apply styling products to CLEAN hair. Oil on the hair usually causes flaking when it comes in contact with certain gels and puddings containing glycerin.
  2. If you haven't layered the products before, combine a small amount of each in the palm of your hand to make sure they're a match.
  3. Keep it simple: If you need 5 products to make it happen, you're using the wrong product.

#3

Use A Flairosol Spray Bottle

If you spot a white cast on your hair, we suggest spraying your hair with a Flairosol spray bottle to get the cast to disappear, then re-dry. If you don’t properly address the white cast, it will definitely begin to form flakes.

“A white cast is typically a visible white or grayish film over the hair that makes it appear dusty or ashy. Flairosol bottles are designed to emit a continuous mist of water.”

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