Posted By: Angela

Let me be honest for a second—Pump It Up might hold curls like a champ, but that smell? That smell is downright offensive. Every time I spray it, I feel like I just walked into a chemical plant wearing a silk press. I don’t know what they put in that bottle, but it’s like a mixture of alcohol, fumes, and something that should never come near human hair. And don’t get me started on the stickiness. My curls be cute, but the second I touch them, it’s like glue. My fingers literally stick together.

When I first started using Pump It Up, I thought, “Okay, maybe I just used too much.” So I tried again—lighter hand, more distance, different sectioning. Nope. The smell still slapped me in the face. You know how some products have a strong scent that fades after a while? This one doesn’t. It hangs around like a bad ex who refuses to move on. I’ll be sitting under the dryer or curling my hair, and that chemical cloud just keeps following me. It’s embarrassing. You can smell it from across the room.

And it’s not just the smell—it’s the feel. When you first spray it, your hair gets this weird crunch. Then, after a few hours, it starts to feel heavy, like the strands are coated in film. I try to comb through it, but my comb gets stuck halfway because of how stiff the hair gets. The next morning, forget about it. It’s like my curls turned into little pieces of plastic. I can’t refresh them without rewashing my whole head. How’s that “easy to rinse out”? Because baby, it’s not. It’s a project.

The worst part is the way it makes my whole head feel like it’s suffocating. I swear that spritz is one puff away from giving me a migraine. The fumes are strong enough to wake the ancestors. I’ve literally had to open windows, turn on fans, and even hold my breath when spraying just so I don’t choke. I don’t understand why hair products gotta smell like this in 2025. With all the clean ingredients and nice-smelling sprays out there, why are we still dealing with this old-school formula that smells like gasoline and hairspray mixed together?

I honestly believe Pump It Up is one of those products that people keep using just because it works, not because they actually like it. It freezes your curls in place, yes—but it comes at a cost. Your hair feels heavy, the scent sticks to your pillow, and you end up washing your hair earlier than planned just to get relief. Every time I finish curling my hair, I end up regretting spraying it, because instead of smelling like fresh curls and sheen, I smell like I just got done cleaning engine parts.

And I know some people say, “Just use it in moderation.” Trust me, I’ve tried. I’ve used the tiniest spritz and it still stinks. I’ve mixed it with other products hoping to tone down the odor—it doesn’t help. It’s like that smell was built to survive anything. You can put perfume over it, oil sheen, leave-in—nothing works. The smell always wins.

At this point, I’m honestly ready to move on. I want something that holds my curls but doesn’t make me feel like I’m inhaling chemicals. I want a spritz that smells good—something light, fresh, maybe even floral, not like a can of fumes. The hold is not worth the headache. My curls deserve better, and so does my nose.

So yeah, Pump It Up might be the “classic” spritz everybody’s mama used back in the day, but I think it’s time for a new era. Give me a product that locks my curls without locking up my lungs. Because I can’t keep walking around smelling like an aerosol can pretending it’s hairspray. My curls should bounce—not crunch—and I should smell like a woman, not like chemicals.