Surrey Homes | SH110 | March 2024 | Kitchen & Bathroom Supplement inside

(Not so) mad March hair
From rich blacks and smooth chocolates to radiant reds and gleaming blondes, winter haircare is
all about conserving moisture to fight the frizz and stave off damage. Here, Josephine Fairley edits
down her list of super effective tried-and-tested products to keep your barnet in tip-top condition
istockphoto.com/ kobrin_photo / Mariia Vitkovska
A
few years ago, I sat around a table with some friends ‘of a certain age’ in late March and
realised: everyone’s hair was frizzy, fried, flyaway and – well, as a result – really a bit ‘old ladyish’.
It’s the sort of damage we’re told to expect after a summer holiday, but in fact winter
assaults our hair over a much longer period – notably through central heating, which saps every
atom of moisture out of an interior environment. And out of our hair, at the same time.
There are some lifestyle steps that can help. One way is quite simply to add more moisture to
your home environment, if it’s super-dry. A ‘room hygrometer’ (I bought mine via Amazon for a
few quid) will tell you whether it’s dry, moderate or (I’m looking at mine now), just over the cusp
of ‘humid’, which is probably a healthy place to be, so far as my barnet’s concerned.
How can you add moisture to the air? There are pricey Dyson machines that will do this, but I prefer lower-tech
methods: small bowls of water, for instance, placed near radiators. Misting your plants, too. And actually, I like to
dry the washing over radiators, too, which – while making the place look a little disordered on washday – really
helps ramp up the moisture levels, as well as saving on the ouch-making cost of running the tumble drier.
But, of course, it’s also about using the right haircare – to infuse the hair shaft with moisture and
nutrients, while smoothing the cuticle so it looks shiny and healthy. And take note: there isn’t a single
hairdresser that I’ve interviewed over the years who didn’t prescribe a weekly deep treatment with a hair
mask to keep hair in tip-top nick – a piece of advice that you will not regret sticking to religiously.
Different fabrics that our hair comes into contact with have adverse or beneficial effects, too. I’m a big fan of
silk pillowcases (see below), which are much kinder to hair than cotton or linen if you tend to switch sides in
the night. Wool? Not so much. Fabulous as a beanie or a knitted hat looks, be aware that putting these on and
taking them off can rough up the hair cuticle, which leads to frizz. (They don’t call it ‘hat hair’ for nothing.)
Plenty of products have landed on my desk lately that I think are particularly suited to using
at this time of year, so I’ll share my favourites – along with some ‘old friends’, in terms of glossboosting,
re-moisturising haircare. It is frankly never too soon to start to undo the damage that
central heating (and blustery, whipping winds) does to hair – but never too late, either…
Sam McKnight Rich Nourish Shampoo, £28 for 200ml, and Conditioner, £28 for 200ml. If you haven’t
yet dipped a toe into the waters of ‘designer’ haircare, this is the place to start. (And I’m warning you: there may
be no turning back. My thinking is: I’d rather spend money on my hair than new clothes, because I wear my
hair every darned day.) From the ultimate A-list hairdresser, infused with fragrances created by stellar perfumer
Lyn Harris (Miller Harris, Perfumer H), this heaven-scented Rich Nourish duo contains strengthening plant
keratin, gloss-boosting sugar beet and a combo of 17 amino acids to smooth, soften and boost hair’s resilience.
I’m such a fan of these products that I keep them ‘backstage’ in a bag with my name on at the hair salon I go to
(where I’d happily PAY to have a locker, though fortunately that’s not needed). For a mega-boost, I also like to slather
on Sam McKnight Deeper Love 5-Minute Intense Treatment Mask, from £22 for 50ml mini. (I recommend
trying this travel size first, because this is ‘investment haircare’ – but I’ve a hunch you’ll trade up to the bigger tub.)
Phil Smith Coco Licious Coconut Shine Shampoo and Conditioner, £4 each for 250ml. At the other end
of the price spectrum is a brilliant new range of Everyday Expert hair products from hairdresser Phil Smith –
and I’m wowed by their great value. Smelling pleasantly but not Bounty bar-style overwhelmingly coconutty,
both the shampoo and luscious conditioner feature lashings of coconut oil for silky softness and hydration.
Aveda Smooth Infusion Anti-Frizz Shampoo, from £12.50 for 50ml, and Conditioner, £12.50 for 40ml.
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