Boston, 2005. A Financial District salon owner who had cut the hair of an investor named Jon Flint for twenty years pitched him a private-label line. Flint and his colleague Amir Nashat took the idea to MIT's Robert Langer, whose lab had turned out cancer and heart-disease therapies. Langer looked at the skin-care claims and judged them bogus. Then he said the line I most enjoy in beauty history: we can probably tackle frizz.

That is how Living Proof started, and the point of view has held. The brand says it began in Cambridge, Massachusetts, in 2005, when scientists from MIT teamed up with hair stylists. Its first product, No Frizz, used a molecule the team had made to replace silicone, which is a different origin from the usual story of a stylist and a bottle. Unilever bought the company in 2017. I like the brand because it opens with a doubt. The promise is not miracle hair, it is a specific problem solved with a specific ingredient, which you can test yourself.

The trick is to test it one job at a time. Perfect hair Day Advanced Clean is the dry shampoo, and the brand says it actually cleans hair. The Style Refresh Mist is the between-wash pick-me-up. Full Dry Volume and Texture is a light spray for lift, and Full Volumizing Shampoo starts the same job in the shower. No Frizz Vanishing Oil and No Frizz Smoothing Shampoo are the smoothing pair, Restore Repairing Shampoo is for damaged hair, and Style Lab Flex is the hairspray that finishes a style.

One rule for dry shampoo: hold the can about a hand's length from the roots and spray in short bursts, then wait a minute before you touch it. The powder needs time to work, and rubbing it in straight away just pushes it around.

Crown Affair's dry shampoo is the minimalist choice, and Oribe's Gold Lust is a talc-free formula for people who prefer that. OUAI's Cape Town is the one made to look invisible on the scalp, and amika's Perk Up Plus is built to extend the clean between washes. Drybar's Detox and IGK's First Class Charcoal are the two that lean into the detox idea, good for oily roots that go flat by lunch.

Rossano Ferretti Parma's is the surprise here, a dry shampoo cream rather than a spray, which appeals if you dislike aerosols. Messy by Alli Webb's Silky is another gentle option for those who want soft hair, not stiff hair.

A pairing I like: dry shampoo at night on the roots, and the style refresh mist in the morning through the lengths. Two products, two different jobs, and hair that looks as if you washed it.

What I would skip: dry shampoo for four days in a row. By day three the scalp deserves a proper wash, and the powder starts to build up.

Start with your hair when it is damp, not dry. Smoothing products work best when they are worked through towel-dried hair, then locked in with a blow-dry, because that is when the cuticle is most willing to lie flat.

Oribe's Supershine Wax Stick is a smoothing wax for flyaways around the hairline, tidy enough for a slicked-back ponytail. Reverie's MILK is an anti-frizz leave-in treatment, and Kérastase's Gloss Absolu is a high-shine glaze in styling cream form. Olaplex's No. 6 is a bond smoother for frizz control, and Virtue's Correct Un-Frizz is a smoothing cream for hair that is prone to puffing.

Drybar's Liquid Glass is a blowout cream, made for the days when you plan to use a hot tool. Moroccanoil's Intense Smoothing serum is the one for thick or coarse hair, and L'Oréal Professionnel's Keratin Alpha Sleek is a smoothing treatment.

A pairing I like: the leave-in cream through damp hair, a drop of oil on the ends after drying, and the wax stick only on the hairline. Use the least you can and add only if you must.

What I would skip: a rich smoothing cream on fine hair on a dry, cold day. It will weigh the hair down and leave the crown looking flat.

Try this: lift a section at the crown and spray at the root, not the length. Volume comes from the base of the hair, and a spray that lands on the ends only makes them look stiff.

Rōz's Root Lift Spray and its AIR Thickening Spray are the two from that brand, one for lift at the roots and one for a fuller look through the strands. Innersense's I Create Lift is a volumizing foam, which is the softest way to get body. Color WOW's Xtra Large Bombshell Volumizer is the one for people who want a bigger blowout, and OUAI's Thickening and Volume Spray is made for flat, thinning hair.

Oribe's Maximista is a thickening spray for fine, flat hair, and UNITE's TEXTURIZA gives dry texture with hold. Davines' This is a Dry Texturizing spray is the finishing one, for undone waves. Next to Full Dry Volume and Texture in the first grid, they make a useful shelf for comparing how each brand does volume.

A pairing I like: foam through damp roots, blow-dry with the head upside down, and a light texture spray at the end. That order builds lift in layers instead of asking one bottle to do it all.

What I would skip: a strong hold spray if your day involves a helmet, a hat, or a hug. Soft volume is easier to live with.

I think the brand earns a place mostly for the dry shampoo and the smoothing pair, and that is where I would begin. Perfect hair Day Advanced Clean for the roots, No Frizz Vanishing Oil for the ends, and then see what your hair still asks for.

Test one thing for a month and keep notes, because that is the spirit of the whole thing. A professor once decided that frizz was a problem he could actually solve. You can be a little skeptical too, and let the hair decide. If you want to keep browsing, I also put together The Best Dry Shampoo for Every Hair Color, From Sprays to Powders and Foam and The Best Shampoo for Dry Frizzy Hair Starts at the Cuticle.