Hairdressers — once their name means something — have to roll out a product range. It would be a dereliction of commercial duty not to. Products are a way to harness artistry without the £70 blow-dry buggered up by the bus ride home in the rain.
Many of these creations are just bog-standard goo in heavily market-researched packaging, but some genuinely encapsulate the experience of the crimper. John Frieda’s Volumizing Spray, for example, which is a highly effective ‘foundation’ for home styling. Or Josh Wood’s Blending Wands, which subtly keep sprouting roots at bay.
So here’s the latest of the virtuous few: Paul Windle and Neil Moodie are a pair of fashion-friendly hairdressers held in high regard by tricksy ladies. Their Covent Garden salon has been buzzing away for 26 years so they’ve been in no rush to whack out the potions. Which is a good sign. Hugely experienced, they have poured that expertise into a broad and reassuringly (although not quite prohibitively) expensive range of great-smelling products and I am all over the Matte Texture Spray in a —frankly — undignified way. I’ve almost forgotten what my hair was like without it. But not quite. And the dim memory is a painful, lank, wispy one. This muscular jet is like spraying on extra hair. Thicker, fuller, weather- resistant, slightly f****d-up, ‘I was born with this mane’, un-princessy, boy-friendly hair. So there.
Windle & Moodie Matte Texture Spray, £20 (windleandmoodie.com)