Is your hair very thin/light/fine? Such hair is hard to style regardless of what wax/clay/hairspray you use.

But then it depends on the hairstyle you would like to achieve. For mine, I just use a lil' bit of clay (rub in fingers till heat) and apply at the tips of the hair to drag 'em to the back and finish off with hairspray. Low maintenance hairstyle by the way;

I can bite my hair by the way, they're that long.

I'm not sure why but I don't like the idea of using Gatsby on my hair. Given 'em up since 5 years ago.

Hair paste that I used before;
1. Sebastian Xtah crude clay (great hold but hard to wash off)
2. Wella High Hair paste (easy to wash off, but not much hold)
3. Indola innova strong clay (average hold) - currently using

Hair fixing spray;
1. L'Oreal Studio line silk & gloss (nice smell, soft texture)
2. Schwarzkopf Silhouette super hold (mediocre smell, hard texture)

In the salon however, the hairstylist used a product named O2 (if I remember correctly) hair mud to style; it provide superb hold and rinses off once contact with water. But I can't find it anywhere else yet...

For me, the difference is

Junior/Senior = Crap
Professional/Master = Fantastic

I haven't change salon/hairstylist for years now. So not sure what's the current level of recent hairstylists.