spiking and products (pomade, wax, gel)

Seems a lot of people here wanna create spikey/messy hair....

I`ve been spiking my hair now for a couple of years and although im pretty good at doing it now im always on the look for finding a product that makes my life simple! i`ve tried .... (i know i know.. its bad)

B&W Wax,
Fudge Wax,
Tigi Bed Head Stick,
L`oreal Gloss (Wax),
Fruictis Ultra firm hold Gel,
L`oreal Bed Head Fibre for Messy Look,
Fudge Shaper,
Fudge Gum (Gel)
Sebastian Mud,
KMS Hair Play Molding Paste,
Tigi Bed Head Manipulator,

As you can see that one mean list for a guy... although my girlfriend doesn`t seem to mind as she steals all of them....

My hair is straight and VERY coarse/thick. When its dry... naturally it has LOTS AND LOTS of volume (think Bee Gees) and is fluffy. This is one royal pain in the butt because it means i can never have long hair... but is ok... coz i either go for spikey hair, or messy when its too long to reasonably spike. When i have my hair cut... i have it hacked into for about an hour with a razor. Its weird i lose about 1 inch in length... but all the volume is taken away.

Just wanted to add some tips:

1. Get your hair cut by a stylist. Without the hair being cut right... even if you could force your hair to go how you want (which is not what you are trying to do) it will look bad. I know this by going to crap hairdressers for a long time.

2. Use the right product. I learnt this by realising that different products REALLY do make a difference... but products work differently on different peoples heads because hair types are different from individual to indivdual.

Some general things ive learnt:
If you want a wet-look then apply the product when your hair is wet. This locks in the moisture. This even works with wax but makes the wax hard to apply. Wax rules because it leave your hair looking like you have nothing in it, and shiny (like healthy looking hair - not greasy) but you musnt put too much on coz its a real pain to wash out. A good tip for applying wax is to use a hair dryer to heat up the wax in the palm of your hand and then apply it! it goes cold quickly and sets. A good tip when washing it out is to apply shampoo straight to head... massage it in and THEN apply water...

Wax wont work when your hair gets too long though... then your stuck with gels. If you find it hard to get the hair to stand up you can blow dry your head upside down... putting gel in it whilst its wet... then when its dry you will find it easier to style. The best products i have used are the Bed Head Stick, and KMS Hair Play Molding Paste. I have not, to my knowledge, used a pomade... so now i have a question........ what is a pomade????!

i lie i have two questions...

one really really big problem for me is not how to spike up/ mess up the back of my hair (which always used to be difficult for me -practise makes perfect) but what to do with the FRONT of my hair... the fringe if you will. I dont like it when its straight up or looks like the statue of liberty.... and it always looks funny when i do it, unless i get lucky!