Jonathan Van Ness spent almost twenty years working salons between Los Angeles and New York before launching JVN on August 31, 2021, and the line still reads like a stylist's notes. Van Ness says clients usually needed more moisture, more strength or more body, so the shampoos and conditioners are sorted by concern rather than hair type, and the stylers stay simple. The hero ingredient is hemisqualane, which the brand describes as a silicone alternative fermented from sugarcane. The JVN air dry cream was in the launch lineup next to three shampoos, three conditioners, a mask, a serum and a pre-wash oil, and Van Ness called it a very universal product for anyone who just wants to get out the door. That reads right to me. The cream gives buildable hold and lets your own texture do the work, so it suits a wave, a curl or hair that mostly needs to stop frizzing while it dries. Around it in grid one sit a dry shampoo, a leave-in conditioning mist and a heat protectant serum, the small helpers that make an air-dry day easier.

The second grid is JVN in the shower and at the blow-dryer. Revive is the repairing shampoo for damaged and color-treated hair, renamed from Undamage after the brand changed hands. Nurture was repackaged in royal blue because the earlier purple bottle made people think it was a purple shampoo for blondes, and I love a brand that admits a packaging mistake. It was also reworked for hard water, with an added amino acid. The mask uses what the brand calls a triple hydration system for up to 72 hours of hydration after one use, and it features Keratris, a vegan keratin alternative made from upcycled orange peels. The Blowout Styling Milk is the heat-activated one for smoothness and style memory. Tip: apply the milk to towel-dried hair before the dryer, since it works with heat rather than after it.

The third grid is a fair fight. Bumble and bumble started in 1977 as a salon Michael Gordon opened in a tiny space on 57th Street in New York, and Vogue soon listed it among the city's top salons. Don't Blow It is the one for fine to medium hair, with texture and body for a bouncy, air-dried look. IGK is named for the first letters of four stylists' last names, Grenia, Izquierdo, Izquierdo and Kusero, and Rich Kid is a coconut oil gel-cream with a non-crunchy hold. Crown Affair's Dianna Cohen launched in January 2020, after a 2018 Google Doc of hair advice traveled far beyond her friends, and named the brand for a 1999 film and the crown of the head. Ouai's Jen Atkin left her name off the bottle, saying it is not about her, and the anti-frizz styling cream pairs jackfruit and beetroot extract with thermal protection. What I would skip is applying any of these by the handful to dry hair. Work a small amount through wet hair from mid-length down, then leave it be while it dries.

Van Ness's rule is the one I keep: decide whether your hair wants moisture, strength or body, then choose the product. The cream is for the days you want none of that fuss. Between the stylists and founders in this edit the pattern is the same, a person who spent years watching what hair actually does and then bottled the answer. Buy one cream, use a small amount and give it two washes before you judge it. If you want to keep browsing, I also put together Hair Cream for Frizz, Curls and Air-Dry Days and Kitsch Air Dry Cream and an Air-Dry Routine.