Dae hair styling cream, the Cactus Fruit 3-in-1, polishes, moisturizes and tames frizz in one step. I look at the brand's Arizona desert roots and set the cream next to four other styling creams worth comparing.
Dae Styling Cream and the Arizona Desert Behind the Brand
Dae was launched in 2020 by Amber Fillerup Clark, a hairstylist turned blogger, and her husband, who had been talking about a hair line since 2013. The name stands for dawn, afternoon and evening, and the whole brand is built on Arizona: a citrus and orange blossom scent, sunset-colored labels and desert botanicals like false daisy, moringa, aloe, hibiscus and jojoba. It launched with a vegan shampoo, conditioner and treatment made without sulfates, phthalates or parabens. The Dae styling cream people search for is the Cactus Fruit 3-in-1, which arrived in March 2022 with dragon fruit extract and prickly pear and meadowfoam seed oils. It adds polish and shine, moisturizes and tames frizz, and on my wavy hair a pea-sized amount through damp ends is enough. The first row is the cream with the products it pairs with best. Mirage Mist is a weightless leave-in conditioner that detangles and adds heat protection, the Prickly Pear oil adds hydration and shine, and the Stargloss treatment adds shine and tames frizz.
Four more creams, four approaches
The second row shows how differently brands approach the same product. Gisou comes from Negin Mirsalehi, whose family has kept bees for six generations near Amsterdam, and the Honey Milk cream guards against heat up to 450 degrees while it hydrates. Ouai is Jen Atkin's brand, named for the casual French yes, and its curl cream defines and smells of the brand's North Bondi scent. Moroccanoil began when Carmen Tal discovered argan oil at a salon in Tel Aviv, and its styling cream carries that oil, which makes it the one I would give anyone with frizzy hair. JVN, from Jonathan Van Ness, uses hemisqualane, a sugarcane-derived alternative to silicone, in its air dry cream.
The rest of the desert kit
The last row fills out a Dae routine. The Agave spray shields hair from hot tools with a light, flexible hold, the Hibiscus wave spray gives soft waves on second-day hair, and Fairy Duster is a dry shampoo powder you dust on roots with a fingertip. The vegan brush detangles wet or dry, and it is gentle enough for every texture. What I would skip is layering the cream and the wave spray on the same section of hair. Use cream on the ends and spray on the mid-lengths, and your waves will move. Everything smells of the same citrus, which I like more than I expected.
How much to use
Start with less than you think, a pea-sized amount of the cream for shoulder-length hair, and more only if the ends still look dry. Apply to damp hair and let it air dry or diffuse. Add the oil only on the very ends if you want more shine. A brand named after the times of day should work from morning to night, and this one mostly does. If you want to keep browsing, I also put together Cocokind Resurrection Polypeptide Cream and the Brand Behind It and First Aid Beauty and the Oatmeal Cream That Built a Sensitive Skin Brand.
