Beauty brains/the manual

The joy of dry shampoo; personalising your skincare

I will hazard a guess that by now you have returned to your gym, or resumed your weekly Pilates class. Of course you have. It’s January, the month we make resolutions about our wobbly bodies and worry about our overused credit cards. I have just the thing for both: dry shampoo. Functional and affordable, it soaks up oil at the roots, plumping them up and mimicking the effects of a wash and blow-dry – in just a few seconds. Not only is this convenient when you’re running from your spin class to your desk, it can stretch out hair-washing for three or four days, which has some surprising benefits (other than saving time), such as reducing the amount you subject your expensive salon hair colour to hard-water fade. The original Batiste Dry Shampoo has been a staple in hairstylists’ kits for as long as I can remember, but in the last year or so dry shampoo has become a hero product in most haircare ranges for its ability to do so many things in one. An instant thickener, it is arguably better than mousse at giving hair body and guts – a confidence boost if you have fine or thinning hair. I’ve discovered that it gives my straight hair some welcome texture, saving me from 20 minutes of tonging in the morning. And if you buy a good one, it offers the light hold of a hairspray without a chalky finish. I am fond of many of the latest launches, but if I were to choose one it would be Hair by Sam Mcknight’s Lazy Girl Dry Shampoo for its scent of an English country garden in full bloom. Here are five more I’ve put through their paces.

Lazy Girl Dry Shampoo, £25, Hair by Sam Mcknight (net-a-porter.com)