Blowdries are back in the hood

The good news for anyone utterly sick of the "beachy waves" and "bedhead hair" that only the likes of Kate Moss can pull off is that the good old-fashioned blowdry is back. Smooth, shiny hair with a bit of bounce is suddenly cool again — and the traditional hair-drying hood and jumbo rollers are coming into their own. Think Grace Kelly meets Kate Middleton and you've got your modern-day blowdry icon.

The traditional shampoo and set has always been de rigueur among women of a certain age and status, yet at the Oscars the red carpet was groaning with groomed, glamorous locks — Sandra Bullock, Kate Winslet and Cameron Diaz, to name but a few.

Throughout the past month of international fashion shows, too, session stylists have been churning out loose, glossy waves. At Paul Smith, L'Oréal session stylist Peter Gray put all his models beneath inflatable gold hoods. He said: "Unlike a blowdryer, hoods diffuse heat over the whole head to remove moisture and set' the hair. They're fast, inexpensive [less than £10 each] and great for creating waves that last for days."

The Just Cavalli and Pringle shows — and advertising campaigns for Versace and Gucci — prove that this is no flash in the hair trend pan.

During March, Redken is holding two-hour Blowdry Bootcamps in salons nationwide (£25 redeemable against purchase; 0800 085 4956) for women who want to create the look themselves — and are bringing back hoods and jumbo rollers in-salon. "We've seen a huge increase in the number of women of all ages having regular blowdries," says stylist Andrew Barton, whose London salons will be hosting bootcamps (www.andrewbarton.tv).

"Blowdries are a woman's best friend. More bounce and vitality in the hair can take years off the face, pounds off the body and add height overall," Barton adds.

At the Errol Douglas salon in Motcomb Street (www.erroldouglas.com), the stylist combines traditional hairdressing techniques with tonging and what he calls "product cocktailing". "By combining mousse with a wax in the palm of your hand and sweeping it through the hair, you get both shine and volume," says Douglas, who counts blowdry queens Uma Thurman, Emilia Fox and Lady Helen Taylor among his clients.

Either way, this sudden resurgence in London blowdry culture is accompanied by a new generation of styling products to make "expensively groomed" possible at home.

Tigi has launched a "Curlesque" range (www.catwalkbytigi.com) dedicated to wave-creating, while the new Tasai Blowdry Cream by Shu Uemura Art of Hair (£21.50; 0800 316 4400) is considered to be the daddy of bounce-producing products. Redken's classic Touch Control 05 (£10.20; www.redken.co.uk) is a gel-mousse combination relied upon by stylists.

Charles Worthington's new Superfine Hairspray (£5.49; www.charlesworthington.co.uk) is both light as a feather and a miracle-worker when it comes to adding shine.