Hair trends:
From smart styling products, nice-to-nature shampoos and high-tech haircare, the trends impacting the way your locks look are changing rapidly, reports Megan Bedford.
the latest advances in haircare
Think caring for your hair needn’t involve more than a bit of shampoo and conditioner every couple of days? Well, yes absolutely, but you might be surprised to learn how haircare products – even supermarket shampoos – have been transformed, becoming not only kinder to your locks, but to the planet too.
If you’re practically a pro with a blow dryer or you’re a cut and colour every six to eight weeks type, you might already have been introduced to some of the advances: weightless styling products, treatments that make colouring less damaging, and customisable colouring.
The haircare industry is innovating at lightning speed, developing allnew products as well as borrowing knowledge and ingredients from skincare products. The results are impressive and can be found across all levels of hair-care commitment.
Anti-ageing hair
We all know the visible signs that show the number of candles on your cake is increasing – such as fine facial lines or silvery strands in your hair – but one thing that sometimes surprises women is the number of strands significantly decreasing. The density of your hair can thin out with age, even from as young as 30 years old. While hair strands themselves are technically “dead” so cannot age, the follicle and growth mechanisms can, meaning they produce weaker hair, less of it, and its texture and colour can change. This may have a part to play in the old school of thought that it’s best women wear their hair short from a “certain age”. But with new developments in care for scalp and strands, that needn’t be perpetuated.
Cosmetic fixes for hair problems are beginning to give way to more effective medical and skincare advancements. Regaine has recently launched a foam for women experiencing hereditary (rather than temporary) hair loss, designed to reactivate hair follicles and stimulate new growth that’s thicker than before.
Hairstylist Hannah Wilmer of Frenchie & Co salon in Auckland says the product is ideal for those who have noticed significantly thinner hair “that goes beyond just flat, dull locks”. She likes the fact it’s a low-key solution, easily applied over the top of existing hair, at the roots. “It can fit seamlessly into any haircare routine, akin to moisturising and using an eye cream. It can even be applied to coloured hair.”
Another emerging avenue to ensure the scalp stays in great condition to nurture the growth of healthy hair is the rise of scalp “facials”, treatments and scrubs. These include skin treatment products for the scalp and LED (light emitting diode) therapy, which has previously proven effective in stimulating skin regeneration on the face, and has now been adapted for use on the scalp to treat hair loss. Hairbrushes with skin-rejuvenating red LED lights, which deliver light to the follicles to stimulate hair growth and boost fullness, have also recently become available here.>>
Skincare haircare With that focus on adapting knowledge from skincare, it’s not surprising terms and techniques formerly only seen in products specifically for the skin are turning up in home-use haircare. From serums and exfoliators to micellar cleansers and even BB creams, the labels on hair products are beginning to sound a lot like face products. So what do they actually do?
Hair scrub Designed to tackle build-up of styling product and dead skin at the roots, minimise flaking and allow follicles to produce healthy, shiny hair, scrubs should be applied to the roots and massaged in gently before rinsing out and following with shampoo.
Micellar shampoo Micellar water has become popular in skincare routines for quickly and gently cleansing skin and removing make-up. Tiny cleansing molecules called micelles cling to oil, dirt and impurities. In shampoo they do the same, making it easier to wash away, leaving locks clean without stripping them. Unlike traditional clarifying shampoo, micellar ones are gentle, meaning you can use them every time you wash.
Primer Essentially a protective product to be used before blowdrying, primer creates an even playing field from root to tip, smoothing locks and shielding your scalp from heat tools, humidity, dirt and oil. Not essential, but can be handy for very long hair, extending the life of a blow-dry.
Serum A concentrated treatment, usually in oil or liquid form, that coats the mid-lengths to ends of hair, sealing cuticles and leaving hair smooth and How to get thicker, stronger, glossier hair at a glance Examine your diet: Follicles need energy to make healthy hair, so ensure your diet has enough healthy fats as well as protein-rich food like eggs, fish and poultry to build keratin. Pop a pill: A supplement containing silica, biotin and zinc, among other vitamins, can help enhance the growth and texture of your hair. Moisturise: Low temperatures, wind, and wearing your hair tied up a lot can leave lengths dry and crisp or fluffy and full of static and at risk of breakage. Apply a thick hydrating mask once or twice a week to help keep lengths healthy. Try a massage: Give the scalp a vigorous rub with your fingers while applying shampoo or conditioner. Stop sizzling: Try to limit the use of heat tools to a couple of times a week rather than every day. Ask your salon if they have a bonding service available to use in conjunction with your next colour. With brand names like Olaplex, Matrix Bond Ultim8 and Redken pH-Bonder, the cream additive helps repair the bonds broken during lightening and colouring, meaning you’ll have much less damage and smoother, healthier hair. sleek while also reinforcing the inner structure to reduce breakage and increase resilience.
Mask A deep conditioning, intensive hit of moisture to tend to dry, frazzled locks. Slather on once a week and leave for several minutes before rinsing away.
Going natural
Meeting the overwhelming demand for less synthetic ingredients and kinder-to-nature production, boutique ranges and haircare big guns alike have a raft of new plant-based or “free from” haircare ranges available. While traditional products that are loaded up on silicones (for smoothing and shine), parabens (preservative) and sulphates (chemical cleansing agents) are undeniably effective, the microscope has become focused on the effects specific chemicals and man-made ingredients have on us and the environment.
What’s exciting about the mass movement to kinder products is that it’s not just what’s in them that’s being considered, but the origin of those ingredients, the people who make them, the impact of manufacturing and the vessel they come in. While the term “natural” isn’t regulated in New Zealand, more specific phrases like organic, fair-trade, natural-origin and recycled packaging can provide clues to their approach.
In haircare, long, scientific names can make label-reading a tricky business, but there are some good sources online that decode them. Remember that ingredients lists must be ordered from highest percentage to lowest, which can be of some help. Vegan products containing zero animal-derived ingredients and no>>
Limit using heat tools to a couple of times a week.”
animal testing are also now commonly available on shelves whether they’re labelled as such or not.
Traditionally, “natural” products were not synonymous with great hair, but in our experience the newgeneration options, including those from Matrix, Pureology, Essano, Eithne Curran, Sukin, and more, provide pleasing results. Geranium, coriander and safflower are some of the plant-based ingredients in
L’Oréal’s all-vegan Botanicals Fresh Care range, but your locks won’t resemble a dreadlocked hippie in any sense. There are four collections treating coloured, dry, fragile and frizzy hair, with three products in each range, covering off options for most hair types.
Personalisation
Bespoke beauty – such as a foundation shade mixed just for you, or skin assessments with products individually tailored – is currently a huge trend in make-up and skincare, and now it’s extending to hair too. Instead of searching for products that go some way to addressing your hair concerns or picking a colour for your hair from a selection in a salon swatch book, products and services that can be individualised and customised are becoming the norm. In the salon, the availability of a larger range of customisable techniques and professional products means stylists can take more time to craft a style and mix a colour or treatment that works specifically for you, rather than shoehorning you into the latest trend or a traditional cut. Hair no longer needs to fit into categories like fine and straight or curly and coarse, when customised products and techniques can be made to suit those that are both or neither.
Hair “contouring” or carefully positioning highlight and lowlight colours in order to accentuate or soften facial features (for example, elongating a round face or minimising a square jaw), has become a useful tool in creating a flattering hairstyle.
Take-home products are also getting clever. Kérastase has just launched Touche Chromatique, a range of four different pigment formulas you add to a hair mask at home to enhance and maintain colour in between salon visits. They boost the intensity of reds and coppers and neutralise brassiness in blondes and brunettes and are easily variable in shade depending on how much you choose to add.
Overseas, customisable “mix yourself” shampoos and conditioners have been launched this year and technology is also getting into the mix. New straighteners and blow dryers with variable heat settings mean you can use the temperature suited to your hair type. Dyson’s much touted Supersonic hair dryer is set to launch here next year, and at international technology fair CES earlier this year Kérastase introduced Hair Coach, a new “smart brush” that works with an app in your phone to analyse hair health and make recommendations to keep strands in tip-top condition.
Hair Coach will be available in New Zealand in 2018.