"Four puffs of the Farrah Fawcett spray" is a real product, and it was discontinued in 1984. Fabergé Organics is gone too. The actual answer — from the show's own hair designer — is that Steve's hair is mousse, not hairspray, because hairspray photographs stiff.
That single correction is worth more than every "get Steve's hair" listicle combined, because they all chase the spray and the spray does not exist.
What he actually says
Season two, chapter six, in the junkyard, to Dustin:
"It's Fabergé Organics. Use the shampoo and the conditioner, and when your hair's damp — it's not wet, okay? When it's damp, do four puffs of the Farrah Fawcett spray."
Both products were real.
Fabergé Organics was a genuine line — wheat germ oil and honey shampoo and conditioner, and a fixture of American bathrooms in the period. The Farrah Fawcett hairspray ran from the late 1970s and was discontinued in 1984, which places the joke precisely: the character is recommending something that, in the year the scene is set, is on its way out.
Neither has been relaunched. There has been no statement from Unilever or any successor rights-holder, and no reissue of any kind. Asked about it, the actor pointed fans at eBay, which is roughly the state of play.
What a can actually costs
Vintage only, and the market knows what it has.
A full, unused can sold for $195 at auction. Part-full cans and empties go for very much less — collectors buy those for the label rather than the contents. We could not verify current listings, because the marketplace where they live blocks automated checks, so treat any live price you see as unchecked by us.
And you should not spray forty-year-old aerosol on your head. Propellant chemistry, the fragrance and the resins in a 1980s hairspray have had four decades to change. A sealed can is a display object. That is not a hedge — it is the only sensible way to treat it.
The actual answer: mousse
Here is the part that makes this article worth writing.
Hair designer Sarah Hindsgaul, two-time Emmy nominee for the show, is on record that Steve's hair is mousse, not hairspray. Her reason is practical: hairspray sets hard and reads "puppet-like" on camera. Her words: "For Steve's hair, we always use mousse."
The on-set routine she has described:
- Blow-dry with a round brush
- A Rene Furterer Vegetal mousse
- A Kevin Murphy product on top
She has said she tested around fifteen products before settling on FREE.HOLD and NIGHT.RIDER.
Both are in stock: FREE.HOLD at $35.00, and NIGHT.RIDER at $14.00 for the 30g travel size, with the full size around $37. Kevin Murphy runs local sites for the UK, Canada and Australia and is stocked in salons in all four markets.
One sourcing caveat we should state. The brand's own article making this claim has been taken down — its address now redirects to their blog homepage, though the link is still in search results. We have verified the products and their prices directly, but the page that connected them to the show is gone. That is why these are graded Brand only rather than Exact piece.
The 2026 development nobody has written about
Sarah Hindsgaul launched her own haircare brand in January 2026.
That is a genuinely useful fact for anyone chasing this look, because it means the person who actually designed the hair now sells product — and unlike almost everything else in this category, it ships to all four of our markets, across 31 countries.
Everything was in stock when we checked:
| Product | Price |
|---|---|
| The Mousse, soft hold | $38 |
| The Scalp Scrub Shampoo | $54 |
| The Mask Conditioner | $58 |
| The Cream, definition | $42 |
| The Puff Dry Shampoo | $36 |
| The Reset Mini Duo | $10 |
| The Bundle | $182 |
The mousse is the on-brand buy, and not because of the branding. Mousse is the technique she has described using on the actual hair. Buying the mousse from the person who made the hair is about as close to the source as this ever gets.
The formulations lean on cloudberry, Nordic cotton and pea peptides, and the launch was covered across the beauty press.
What Netflix does not sell
Worth stating because people look: there is no official Stranger Things haircare of any kind. We searched the platform's entire product catalogue — no shampoo, no spray, no pomade, no mousse. Not one item.
Which is a small missed opportunity, given that a hair-care monologue is one of the most-quoted scenes in the series.
Why the joke is better than the products
It is worth noticing what the scene is actually doing, because it explains why this is the most-quoted beauty moment in modern television.
Steve is not giving good advice. He is giving confident advice — a precise, numbered ritual, delivered with total authority, by a teenager whose entire identity at that point rests on his hair. The specificity is the joke. Not "some hairspray": four puffs. Not "wet hair": damp, not wet, okay?
And the products place him exactly. Fabergé Organics was a drugstore staple, not a salon brand, and the Farrah Fawcett spray was already fading by 1984. So the coolest boy in Hawkins is using his mother's supermarket shampoo and a celebrity hairspray that is going out of style. The writers gave him a routine that is both entirely sincere and slightly out of date, which is a very efficient way of telling you who he is.
That is also why the scene keeps working as it ages: everyone has met someone who explains their four-step system with that much conviction.
Which is a good reason not to spend $195 on a vintage can. The thing people love about this scene is not the product. It is the certainty.
How to actually get the hair
Assembled from what the hair designer has said, rather than from the character's dialogue:
- Do not use hairspray. This is the whole correction. It sets hard and looks fake in photographs for the same reason it looks fake on camera.
- Mousse into damp hair — the one part of Steve's advice that survives is damp, not wet. That timing is genuinely correct.
- Blow-dry with a round brush, lifting at the root. The volume is in the drying, not the product.
- A light finishing product on top, if anything. Two products is the whole routine.
Budget version: any decent mousse and a round brush. The technique is doing most of the work here, and the technique is free. The most expensive product on this page will not produce that shape without the blow-dry.
FAQ
What hair products does Steve Harrington use? In dialogue: Fabergé Organics shampoo and conditioner, then four puffs of Farrah Fawcett hairspray on damp hair. Both were real products and both are discontinued.
Can you still buy Farrah Fawcett hairspray? Only vintage. It was discontinued in 1984 and never relaunched. A full unused can has sold for $195. Do not use forty-year-old aerosol on your hair — treat a sealed can as a display piece.
Is Fabergé Organics still made? No. The wheat germ oil and honey line is long gone, with no reissue and no statement from any successor rights-holder.
What is actually used on set? Mousse. Hair designer Sarah Hindsgaul has said hairspray photographs stiff and "puppet-like," and that "for Steve's hair, we always use mousse" — blow-dried with a round brush, a Rene Furterer Vegetal mousse, then a Kevin Murphy product.
Which Kevin Murphy products? FREE.HOLD at $35 and NIGHT.RIDER at $14 for the travel size, chosen after testing about fifteen. Note that the brand's own article making this connection has been taken down, so we have graded it Brand only.
Is there an official Stranger Things hair product? No. The platform's shop carries no haircare at all — we checked the full catalogue.
What is the closest thing to buying it from the source? Sarah Hindsgaul launched her own haircare brand in January 2026. It ships to the US, UK, Canada and Australia. The soft-hold mousse at $38 is the piece that matches her described technique.
What matters most for the look? The blow-dry. Mousse into damp hair, round brush, lift at the root. Product choice is secondary and no product will produce the shape without the drying.