shampoo | Beauty Bible Loves

Tara Smith haircare

By: admin

05-10-2012

Conditioner, Hairstyling products, Shampoo

Bird-phobics, click away now.

Packaging junkies: stay right here and feast your eyes on this.

We predict that Tara Smith’s haircare – which just landed in M&S Your Beauty – will be ruffling a few feathers in the hairdressing world, proving that it’s possible to get great results without resorting to harsh detergents or synthetic chemicals. It’s vegan, and – as superstylist Tara explains – ‘is tested on film stars, not on animals’.

Featuring some of the most stop-you-in-your-tracks designs that we’ve ever seen gracing a haircare bottle, this is a capsule collection which targets specific hair issues: frizz and wayward curls (the Working Curls range), dull hair (Shine On), sensitive scalps (Gorgeously Gentle) and flat or thin hair (Feed the Root). There’s a small selection of stying products, too: Shining Moment Glosser (featured here), Rock Hard Hold Gel, and what Tara describes as a ‘Base Coat Serum‘, which is a bit like a primer for hair: it ‘preps’ hair for other styling products, or (used on its own) simply smooths the hair shaft with lightweight borage oil, for gloss and manageability.

An exciting addition to the natural haircare world that’s worth tweeting about, we’d say.

Or maybe squawking.

UK readers find Tara Smith at www.marksandspencer.com/£5 – 14 – buy here

Agadir Argan Oil haircare

By: admin

05-09-2012

Conditioner, Shampoo

If we had a quid for every argan range that’s landed on our desks this year, we’d be sunbathing in Agadir ourselves right now.

Argan’s gone from being an exclusive, precious, rare beauty nourisher to having a starring role in endless skincare, bodycare and haircare launches. Including this.

But there’s a good reason. Argan – from a Moroccan nut harvested by the Berber tribespeople (it only grows in a very restricted geographical area) is amazingly nourishing. Its secret: high levels of vitamin E and essential fatty acids (including so-essential omega-6).

Jo took sachets of the Agadir Argan Oil Shampoo and Conditioner on a recent holiday, resulting in silkily manageable hair. For a serious hair S.O.S., we recommend the Moisture Masque (and as with all hair masks, more is more). And the styling mousse is irresistibly fab, with the argan counterbalancing the sometimes drying effect of the alcohol common to mousses. (It delivers the same exotic, sweet amber-y smell as the rest of the range, so your hair gives off gorgeous wafts when you move your head.)

No doubt formulators are coming up with more clever ways to feature argan. (Argan-enriched nail polish remover…? Hair-growth minimiser…? Lash conditioner…? The possibilites are endless.)

But we hope it doesn’t become a beauty cliché. Or that this global skin-thirst for argan oil doesn’t result in a shortage, or environmental problems with over-harvesting.

Because we are born-argan believers…

UK readers find Agadir Argan Oil Haircare at www.uk.strawberrynet.com/£14.50-38.50 – buy here

Noble Isle Oak Hertford Heath Hair & Body Wash

By: admin

30-07-2012

Body washes, Bodycare

We trust by now you are waving your flags while glued to the Olympics.

(In our case, Union Jacks – though we know this blog attracts readers from round the world, and we wish your teams well. Unless they’re up against ours, of course…)

A good time, then, to wave the flag for a truly British new brand, Noble Isle, which features ingredients from around the UK infused into bodycare/haircare, and candles.

Think: Heather Honey sourced from the Scottish highlands, sea oak from west Cork in Sea of Green Roaringwater Bay, rhubarb (yes, rhubarb) in the Rhubarb, Rhubarb! collection – and our favourite: the deeply woody and unisex Oak Hertford Heath range, using extract of oak from the majestic old ‘Lightning Oak’ of Halleybury College, in Hertfordshire. It was struck by lightning but went on to thrive again. (The equivalent of some of our athletes’ careers, perhaps.)

Within this last collection we’re especially loving Oak Hertford Heath Hair & Body Wash – an excellent multi-tasker (it really does perform both tasks well), and wonderfully grounding.

Deserves to be slipped into in a few gym bags at the Olympic Stadium, we’d say.

UK readers find Noble Isle Oak Hertford Heath Hair & Body Wash at www.nobleisle.com/£20 for 250 ml – click here

Phylia de M 3-Step Kit

By: admin

10-05-2012

Hair

This is one of those ‘can £XXX for XYZ ever really be worth it…?’ postings.

And in this case, we’re talking about £103 for a set of shampoo, conditioner and a product called Connect, designed to strengthen hair. Phew.

But our verdict, having tried these products, is: yes, provided your kids/partner/dogs/horses don’t have to go hungry for you to buy these, then…

‘Yes’. They absolutely are.

Now, Sarah raves about this Phylia de M 3-Step Kit trio on www.beautybible.com this edition, if you click here. It took Jo a little longer to get round to trying them, as she’s completely rubbish at washing her own hair and had to sneak them into A Major West End Salon, to try them out before a blow-dry.

But we are all blown away by the results. Based on entirely natural ingredients and packed with something called fulvic acid ( an ingredient proven to boost hair health – and even growth), these smell fantastic. Just as importantly, in the short-term they have a clarifying action which has got rid of all product build-up and leaves hair, to quote Jo, ‘shiny and swingy like a child’s hair…’ It’s brightened our highlights (NB for anyone concerned about use on coloured hair), and – unlike silicone-based products – the gloss really, really lasts. (Blooming brilliant for touchy scalps, too.)

Apparently half of Hollywood is raving about this range, which is based on research into natural ingredients by a Japanese cancer specialist, Dr. Dick Miyayama. And we’re, like, totally not surprised that it’s going down a storm in Tinseltown.

The products are available individually, if you can’t stretch to all three.

Though frankly, they’re worth eBay-ing that cupboard full of unwanted clothes/knick-knacks/general c**p that you’ve been meaning to dispose of, to get your hands on them…

UK readers find Phylia de M 3-Step Kit/£103 at www.victoriahealth.com if you click here
(Do go via the Victoria Health page on our site – just click here – to enjoy an automatic 5% discount added at checkout)
US readers find it at www.phyliaonline.com/$135 for the 3-Step Kit – click here

£103.00

John Frieda Full Repair™

By: admin

25-03-2012

Hair

When the staff at John Frieda salons start ordering a product that isn’t yet available in the UK from Amazon in Germany, that’s probably a clue that something pretty special is in the pipeline – and the Full Repair range really is. (And happily we can now get it here, so no need to scour cyberspace for this.) There was a real buzz in the salon before we managed to get our hands on this.

Ostensibly this range has been designed for abused hair – i.e. that’s been trashed by overstyling. But we don’t think that quite conveys its miraculous quality: the super-lightweight formula has proved literally life-transforming for quite a few British beauties of our acquaintance.

You know the type: fine-haired, who have to wash their hair every day.

Only now they don’t. Several have told us they’ve managed to get two or three days out of their style, when using the shampoo and conditioner.

So when it says ‘weightless’, it truly is. Don’t quite know how they’ve managed it, because this range is packed with omega-3 ‘micro-oils’, for that hair-repairing effect.

There’s a Shampoo, Conditioner, a fantastic Full Repair Deep Conditioner Mask and several styling products – but the product Jo is particularly taken with is Protecting Root Lift Foam. Generally her hair holds a style for a good few days but now still has oomph at the roots right through till her next salon visit, a week later.

We can’t think of a fine-, flat-haired woman who won’t love Full Repair™ too.
UK: Find John Frieda Full Repair™ at www.boots.com/£5.69 for 250 ml Full Body Shampoo and Conditioner to £6.99 for 75 ml Full Repair™ Perfect Ends Sheer Mist – click here for the whole range
US: Find the range at www.drugstore.com/$6.49-9.99 for the range; click here to find it

Beauty Bible Loves

From the bestselling Beauty Bible team: our latest product finds and classic faves – because they're worth it!

Tara Smith haircare

Agadir Argan Oil haircare

Noble Isle Oak Hertford Heath Hair & Body Wash

Phylia de M 3-Step Kit

John Frieda Full Repair™

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