Mousse, gel, and hairspray may not be four letters long, but until recently, they were practically profane in the beauty world. Yep, the styling products you grew up using haven’t been cool since, well, you grew up. It’s probably not hard to remember how stiff, crunchy, greasy, and unnatural those retro products made your hair feel — and why you haven’t used Aqua Net since you used to steal it from your mom.

Thanks to advances in technology, however, these once-dated products are reclaiming the spotlight and can be found in the arsenals in some of the industry's top pros. We say now’s the time to give them another try. These old-school stylers have been reformulated and revamped to give hair flexible hold, natural-looking texture, long-lasting volume, and bounce.

We chatted with Herbal Essences celebrity stylist Charles Baker Strahan and Redken brand ambassador and owner of Cutler/Redken salons Rodney Cutler about what retro hair products we should be reconsidering — and how to use them right now for gorgeous, modern, and easy hairstyles.