Hair geekery...

...my feelings about different shades of hair tools, hair empties I have used and whether I'd repurchase them, and my constant quest to embrace my curls...

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Can we talk about limited edition colours of beauty tools and whether they really generate sales or are just another way to keep a brand or a product relevant? And when I say can we talk, I do mean we. Because I’m really aware of my own biases, limitations, whatever you want to call them, but basically my singular and myopic view of beauty and what I care about when it comes to beauty and, I’ll be brutally honest, limited edition colour ways are not one of them.

I don’t care if my hairdryer matches my bedroom decor (decor is a very loose term given the amount of makeup / clothing / outgrown kids clothing that is meant to be going to charity / shoes that don’t quite have a home etc that litter every surface). I’m not bothered if a pair of straighteners come in whatever Pantone has dictated to be the colour of the year.

Yes, if they’re all the same price, I’ll choose a colour I prefer (for example, when I bought a Suri toothbrush the other day, I picked the blue one — I mean Morning Waves shade — because I liked it better than the others, but if they’d only had it in green — sorry Winter Fern — or if the white — Sea Mist — one had been cheaper, that would have swayed my decision, not the colour. The verdict is still out on that toothbrush by the way, but if you are thinking of buying one Ruth Crilly has a code — CRILLY — that gets you a further 20% off even off sale prices.)

Dyson’s Red Velvet & Gold limited edition colour

But that’s just me. And so I’m non-plussed when, for example, ghd comes out with their straightener in Cherry Chic, a sort of maroon shade. And last week, when at an event Dyson said that “by popular demand” they’d brought back their Red Velvet and gold range, I thought “well it’s nice enough but that’s not the thing that’s going to make me spend between £400 and £600 on a hair tool”. But when they talked about it being perfect for Valentine’s Day and Chinese New Year, I thought “oh, OK, you just want to make sure that when a magazine is doing a Valentine’s / CNY beauty roundup (which let’s be honest is pretty spurious but happens) you want something that will look pretty on the page and make sure your product remains within the collective consciousness.” (Does ANYONE actually BUY beauty products for Valentine’s Day? PRs certainly hope they do — see my inbox below — but do real people actually do this? Or is it just another weird and pointless media/marketing thing?)

Tell me I’m wrong. Seriously, I know I’m cynical. Are you a person who has been swayed into buying a product because it’s a nice colour? No shade. (Pun kind of intended), I’m just super keen to know whether this is genuinely a thing that consumers want, or just marketing BS to keep a product relevant when there has been no new product development? And if that’s the case well then I guess it worked, because here am I talking about — although maybe not in the way that Dyson would have wanted…

Just a little snapshot of 24 hours worth of V-day beauty press releases

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What are your thoughts on empties posts? Personally I am ALWAYS fascinated by what beauty editors, who get sent so much stuff, actually use to the last drop. Because although I know that, from an environmental point of view, I should use every product until it’s gone, and I do try. But sometimes, when using a product feels like a chore, and I don’t feel like I’m getting results, the temptation to set it to one side and play with the new, shiny thing is sometimes overwhelming.

As a result I have a huge box of empty bottles and tubes and so on that I’ve been keeping because I was going to do an empties post at some point. I can’t tell you over what period of time I’ve used these products — it’s probably years, and it’s probably not complete — but it’s a start… Anyway, I’m kicking off with haircare — not styling stuff, but the stuff that I use in the shower…

Philip Kingsley Flaky/Itchy Scalp Shampoo (from £14)

My number one, prise-it-from-my-cold-dead-hands hair product. While I wouldn’t say I was a regular client, I did go to see the late Philip Kingsley once about a gazillion years ago (actually I just looked it up and it was 2010, so sixteen, rather than a gazillion) when my scalp felt like it was accumulating great wodges of flaky skin (apologies for the graphic detail). I had tried all the dandruff shampoos from cheap as chips to seriously swanky, but nothing had worked. He diagnosed seborrheic dermatitis, prescribed his shampoo, it worked like magic, and it’s the only shampoo I’ve been faithful to since. In the early years I flirted with others (and Nizoral was effective but not nearly as gentle on my actual hair) but these days it’s all I use. I buy it by the litre from LookFantastic who always seem to have that size on offer. (The PK website do it cheaper if you subscribe to a delivery every three months but there’s no way I get through a litre of shampoo in three months.) For the geeks, the active ingredient in the PK shampoo is Piroctone Olamine, an anti-fungal active — in Nizoral it’s an anti-fungal called ketoconazole. (Seborrheic dermatitis and dandruff are both caused by a fungus that lives on the scalp called Malassezia. The fungus produces irritating (genuinely irritating / inflammatory, not just annoying) byproducts and that’s what causes the itching / flakes.) By the way, if you’re using any scalp shampoo, the longer it’s in contact with your scalp the better. I tend to apply shampoo as soon as I get in the shower and then wash while it gets to work. And consultant dermatologist, Ophelia Veraitch recommends that clients using Nizoral actually leave it on their scalps for 20 minutes, rather than the 3-5 minutes that the label suggests.

Josh Wood Colour Miracle Mask (£19)

You can tell how long it is that I’ve been waiting to do this empties post — this is the old packaging for the Miracle Mask FKA the Everything Mask. And honestly, it’s one of the best conditioners I think I’ve ever used. If you’ve ever home coloured your hair and fallen in love with the conditioner that was in the box which seemed to leave your hair feeling softer, shinier and glossier than ever before. This is it. You’re meant to leave it on for five minutes but even when I didn’t have time for that, it still seemed to work a bit of magic. I am so pleased that they’ve changed the packaging because I always felt like I didn’t get every last drop out of this pump, but it now comes in a tube that, if you’re obsessive like me you can even cut open and scrape out when you’ve squeezed it to the limit. I just wish they did it in a bigger size. (By the way, I haven’t tried the Miracle Conditioner (£16) so I don’t know how it compares. If you have tried both, please let me know your thoughts.

Virtue Labs Recovery Conditioner (£42)

I want to love Virtue Labs, really I do. The products contain a protein that is meant to selectively bind to damaged bits of hair in a way that nothing else on the market does. But there’s a part of me that’s never really got my head around the science. And another part of me that felt that although it did a decent job, the changes that I saw were really not seismic enough for me to think it was so much better than any other conditioner. But then although my hair is prone to frizz, maybe it’s not damaged enough for me to really see the difference. If you have, and you love it, please let me know, but for me the cost:benefit ratio when it costs £42 for 200ml just wasn’t good enough. Sorry.

It’s A 10 Miracle Daily Conditioner (£22)

Ugh the brand name is so naff and the weirdly-shaped bottle is kind of weird but OM actual G, this stuff is staggeringly brilliant. I’d forgotten about this product until I started writing this piece but it was just a brilliant, brilliant conditioner. So brilliant that I seemed to be going through it faster than I went through any other conditioner. And I was, but only because my husband was also using it. And he literally never steals my conditioner because I like super heavy ones and he doesn’t like anything that weighs his hair down. Anyway, this is the Goldilocks of conditioners, it seems — just right for pretty much everyone. I feel like their distribution was better when I was using this as I could only find it on Amazon and a bunch of random sites that I’ve not used before. Anyway, if you want to take my word for it, I’ve just seen that Amazon do a 1l bottle for £29.75 which is less than £8 for a bottle that’s more than three times the size of the £22 (295ml). If you buy it and hate it, I’ll buy it off you.

Davines OI Liquid Luster (from £19)

This was one of a load of “hair waters” that I tried and tested when I wrote a feature on them for the Daily Mail. You might remember them, unlike thick conditioners they’re super thin liquids that heat on contact with the hair/water and managed to detangle in eight seconds flat. I loved using them — all of them. Because I’ll be honest although the most expensive (this one) was more than seven times the price of the cheapest, I genuinely couldn’t see or feel a difference. I recently rediscovered an Elvive one and remembered how good they were. (Caveat, make sure you use enough — when I first tried them I used enough to get the instant detangling but it wasn’t until I read the instructions and saw exactly how much you are meant to use — a lot, you’re lucky if you get five uses out of a single bottle if you use it as recommended — that I saw the results in the final blow dry.)
But I don’t think you need to spend £19 to get the effect. The cheapest ones I tried were the Garnier Hair Drinks (£4.99) and honestly if, when blinded, you could tell the difference between the results given by the Garnier one and the Davines one, you’re a better person than me. I do still stand by my advice to decant them into a spray bottle though - trying to pour the right amount through that tiny nozzle onto all your hair under a running shower requires prowess I don’t have.

dp Hue Apple Cider Vinegar Scal Scrub (£37)

A product that definitely falls into the “very nice and effective but no way in a million years could I justify spending my own money on this one” category. When it comes to scrubs I am a beauty rebel. I have spoken to the dermatologists, I know that they all prefer chemical exfoliants because you’re less likely to damage your skin through micro-tears and you get more even exfoliation. And yet, and yet… I can’t resist a really good gritty scrub — body rather than face, although — whisper it, Dermalogica’s Daily Microfoliant will always have a place in my heart, as will a flannel. (As an aside, I am delighted not to be the only beauty editor rebel on this front, in her latest newsletter, jean godfrey june recommended a scrub, used in tandem with a cleansing balm which I imagine mitigates any scratchy damage but STILL.) Anyway I digress. Loved this, loved the fact that it felt gritty and scrubby and refreshing but when the top three ingredients are salt, water and apple cider vinegar, you can’t help feeling a bit WTAF when you see the price tag. tldr: if someone gives it to you, use it, don’t spend your own money on it unless you just won Euromillions.

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Sometimes this newsletter seems to have a mind of its own. I hadn’t intended this to be all about hair — I’d normally say I’m not that interested in hair. But here we are… straight-haired people you might want to skip this bit as I just don’t think you’re going to get it. (Or read it and sympathise / feel smug you don’t have this issue). I am on a constant quest to embrace my curls. Especially when the weather is like this (if you don’t live in London it feels like it’s been grey, wet and rainy for about 40 days and 40 nights and as any moisture makes my hair rebel, there’s no point straightening it.)

I have naturally curly hair but I’ve always felt that I either have to blow-dry it smooth or tong it to get anything that looks vaguely presentable and professional. And that might be part of the problem — part of what I struggle with is the fact that my curls don’t seem even but then by heat styling them I probably make the curl even less even….

Back in lockdown, I dug deep into the curly girl method when I had no kids and no social life and all the time in the world. And even then it all felt like it took too much time. I’m impatient, I feel like I don’t have time to experiment with various proportions and combinations of products to find my perfect prescription.

But then I look back on the pictures of me in lockdown on the days when I felt like I’d nailed the perfect combo of Cantu Define & Shine Custard (£6.50) Living Proof Curl Definer (£33), and Living Proof Curl Enhancer (£33) (which seems to be out of stock everywhere) — which do subtly different things but for the life of me I can’t think what — and I want that hair again.

I mean LOOK…

And yet, I have to remind myself that this was in the days when I didn’t go anywhere, didn’t have anything to do and could do a morning workout, wash my hair, chuck on a million different styling products and just let it dry naturally. (Although all too often I used too much product and while it looked great on day one, it needed washing the next day as it just felt greasy.)

These days when time is a luxury I don’t have (and it’s this cold), I feel like I need to blow dry and while loads of curly-haired people wang on about the brilliance of diffusers, I’ve never managed to get one to work properly with my curls. I always felt like they just gave me flyaways and not the result I wanted. But the new diffuser from ghd might be the answer to my prayers — and then again it might not and as it’s a £30 diffuser that goes with ghd’s new £299 hair dryer, the ghd Speed, until I’ve done a bit more research, I’m not going to urge you to rush out and buy it just yet.

But, based on my limited mucking around with it so far, it seems less “blowy” on the lowest fan setting and so you can use a super low fan and quite high heat to try to set the curls in the same way that natural drying in a hot, dry country (where I swear my hair always looks its best) does. I will persist and report back.

Anyway, if you’ve tried any AMAZING curl products that would be ideal for a low maintenance / lazy curl haired girl, please let me know. And, if you’re similarly curl-obsessed, I must recommend Regina Roth’s Instagram feed for seemingly miraculous curl makeovers and generally an insight into the joy that good hair can give.

Until next time…

Note: I only enthuse about products I really rate, but I can earn commission on products I mention here. If you hate the idea of this, please let me know, as this is very much a work in progress and nothing is set in stone.