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Top hairstylist Luke Hersheson says that if your hairdresser asks you how old you are, you should probably look for another one.
That said, there’s no getting around the fact that hair gets less good with age: limper, drier, thinner (I’m not even mentioning gray hair). As with the skin, it is the loss of collagen that causes it, affecting the hair follicles and their production of dense, strong and elastic hairs. Plus, hormonal changes mean less natural oils, which makes hair coarse and dry.
I felt like I was doing a decent job keeping my hair in good condition, but that’s obviously not what a new stylist I visited recently thought (at the Hersheson salon, oddly enough). “You have a lot of damage,” he reflected. ‘Are you sure you just want a trim?’ I implored him to take off the minimum. He got to work and cut three inches.
Inge van Lotringen shares her tried-and-true tricks and favorite hair-boosting products
Initially mortified, a week later I began to appreciate his work. My hair seems to have come back to life, bouncing along with its natural texture and looking much thicker than before. Obviously, a deadwood cut is an important way to revive aging hair. So are my tried-and-true tricks and cool new hair care products. Here are my favorites…
Five eyebrow mascaras
Anastasia Beverly Hills Tinted Volumizing Brow Gel (£26, spacenk.com)
In nine (!) shades, its double-bristle nanobrush is dosed to perfection.
Jones Road The Brow Gel (£23, jonesroad beauty.com)
A BIG brush with a very thick, fibrous formula that creates spectacular full brows in six shades.
Elf Wow Brow Gel (£6, boots.com)
THIS fiber wax gel comes in four shades that fill in brows with a medium-sized brush.
Victoria Beckham FeatherFix (£30, victoriabeckham beauty.com)
It has a slightly rough comb-brush; Its gel formula in five fairly translucent shades is very shiny.
Charlotte Tilbury Legendary Brows (£24, johnlewis.com)
It has the finest brush available for really easy and precise eyebrow shaping in four waxy shades.
1. Wash well
With such a low amount of moisture, keeping your hair hydrated is now essential (the drier it is, the more brittle and prone to breakage it becomes). Start with a shampoo that doesn’t temporarily dehydrate your scalp and hair each time you use it. It’s best to switch to a sulfate-free shampoo (it will be clearly advertised on the bottle), which may lather less, but cleans just as well. OGX shampoos (from £4.49, boots.com) are sulfate-free.
2. Strength condition
Even if you’ve always gotten along without conditioner, you should now consider it a non-negotiable since your hair needs moisture, oils, and nourishment. Choose one for your hair type and run it only through your hair. The Dove 1 Minute Intensive Treatment Conditioner (£2, boots.com) is a good budget buy, but I really like the Olaplex No5 Bond Maintenance Conditioner (£28, uk.olaplex.com), which has technology to help repair broken hair bonds.
I complement this with a weekly hydrating hair mask. I tend to be disappointed by masks, but Kerastase Nutritive Masquintense (£38.75, lookfantastic.com) is the exception. Restores brittle fibers, as well as softens, smoothes and intensifies.
3. Feed your scalp
Good hair depends on a healthy scalp, so a scalp serum is a good idea in principle. I’m interested in the new Color Wow Youth Juice (£44, spacenk.com) which contains ingredients that trichologists recommend to stimulate collagen renewal, such as antioxidants, circulation stimulants and extracts that block DHT, the hormone that causes hair loss . Results: thicker, more resistant hair and even less hair loss in three months.
4. Comb carefully
I’m a big fan of mousse to increase volume and texture, and the new Rahua Aloe Vera Hair Mousse (£38, rahua.eu) is a real find. Alcohol-free (unlike most mousses), it hydrates with aloe vera and the brand’s proprietary blend of Amazonian vegetable oils.
I apply a tangerine-sized drop of mousse to my towel-dried roots and combine it with an M&M-sized dollop of Virtue Flourish Thicking Styling Treatment (£44, cultbeauty.com) massaged into my lengths. Packed with strengthening keratins, it visibly volumizes hair and makes my ends look freshly trimmed and healthy.
5. Blow-drying trick
I dry everything with my best volume trick: At the crown, I pull the roots upward as I blow-dry them, creating a “mound” right where thinning hair needs more volume. You’d think I was born with it.
Run towards it!
Trinny London Take Back Time Eye Treatment, £65 (trinnylondon.com) Just out, Trinny’s latest is a balsamic cream containing non-irritating but powerfully regenerative peptides and bioavailable ‘mini proteins’. It has clinical trials that show it quickly smoothes lines and helps lift and brighten eye skin in three months; You can also use it on your upper eyelids.
My icon of the week: Claudia Schiffer
All the supermodels have aged beautifully (quelle surprise), but Claudia Schiffer surely takes the cake. Is it still 1993?
Her beauty routine is infuriatingly spartan, but some of the products she admits to using are Bamford Cleansing Balm, £55 (daylesford.com), Rhode Peptide Glazing Fluid (a milky moisturizer), £30 (rhodeskin.com) and a Shiseido Microliner Ink Brown Eye Pencil, £24 (shiseido.es).
Cosmetic craving
Elyse Verdant X Shelly Vella Mood Fragrance Oil, £34 (elyseandme.com).
Many have tried to bottle ‘forest bathing’, the calming practice of hanging out in the forest, but this oil does it best. It’s not just the scent of an ’80s pine bubble bath, but an entire forest captured in one fragrance, from the bright, juicy taste of cracked twigs and leaves underfoot to clots of dirt and unexpected gusts. from creamy sweetness of the flowers and resins to, in fact, spiciness. touches of pine. Simply breathe and let those natural chemicals heal and comfort you; It has been scientifically proven that this works.