BREAKTHROUGH AWARDS
We lathered, sprayed and spritzed our way through hundreds of products – meet the innovations that gave us our best hair days yet
best for WAVES
Scrunched into towel-dried hair, this blend of polymers and softening moringa oil works to enhance waves while also fighting frizz. The result? A soft, beachy finish without scrambling for a power point. 1. Frizz Ease Dream Curls Air-dry Waves Styling Foam, $16.99, John Frieda, 1800 468 318
best DRYSTYLER
A dry powder-meets-finishing spray that refreshes and revives second-day hair like no other. With its blend of tapioca starch and Virginian cedarwood, it delivers texturised volume while absorbing excess oil. It’s our next-day-hair hero. 2. Doo Over Dry Powder Finishing Hairspray, $42.95, Kevin Murphy, 1800 104 204
best for FINISHING
They say good things come in threes: with the triple threat of orange blossom, jasmine and sandalwood, and a spray administered by three individual diffusers, this hairspray delivers long-lasting lift via a superfine mist (sans any crunch, of course). 3. Triple Take 32 Extreme High-hold Hairspray, $29.50, Redken, 1300 138 803
best BODYFIER
Sweet-smelling and packed with shine boosters, this sugar spray provides touchable texture without compromising on lift and lustre. If you want oomph but find salt sprays too stiff, this is the candy-coated compromise. 4. EIMI Sugar Lift, $24.95, Wella Professionals, 1300 885 002
best COLOUR EXTENDER
It offers colour, concealer and convenience in one clever little canister, with the quick-drying root cover-up spray designed to refresh and soften hair while blending in with your natural shade. It’s the same formula as the cult Dry Texturizing Spray, with added pigment. 5. Airbrush Root Touch-up Spray in Light Brown and Red, $42 each, Oribe, 1300 725 122
best MULTITASKER
A two-in-one scalp and hair treatment that clarifies, cleanses and conditions thanks to rose geranium, lavender and peppermint essential oils, plus keratin and wheat protein. It’s a game-changer if you’re time-poor in the morning or just looking to streamline your routine. 6. Perfectly Perfecting Wonder Cleanse & Nourish, $44, Percy & Reed, Sephora, (02) 9221 5703
best for FINE HAIR
Specially formulated to hydrate fine hair, Pureology’s ultra-light foaming conditioning treatment protects and nourishes the delicate cuticle without any added weight. Hair is super-soft, volume is super-sexy – need we say more? 8. Colour Fanatic Instant Conditioning Whipped Cream, $51.95, Pureology, 1300 138 803
best NEW SHAMPOO
This colour-safe shampoo features patented technology that locks reparative molecules into the hair fibre, restoring strands to their original, healthy state. It’s exactly the kind of melding of beauty and science we’ve been waiting for. 9. Pro Fiber Rectify Shampoo, $29, L’oréal Professionnel, 1300 651 991
best NEW CONDITIONER
“Miracle” is not a term we use loosely, but this smart conditioner makes good on its promises. With double the usual conditioning ingredients, the formula penetrates the hair’s surface, repairing months of damage and leaving strands feeling soft, silky and substantially stronger in mere minutes. 7. 3 Minute Miracle Conditioner Repair & Protect, $7.99, Pantene, 1800 028 280
best AIR-DRY STYLING
Trade fine for full with this luxe spray, designed to target thin, breakage-prone lengths to make them strong and healthy. The bonus benefit of the damage remedy is how it behaves in air-dried hair: enough definition to chill out frizz, but not enough to make strands stiff. 10. Full Potential Hair Preserving Booster Spray, $95, Bumble And Bumble, mecca.com.au