Cleanse, tone, blow-dry... this season's haircare takes its cues from skincare

The days of wash-and-go haircare have disappeared down the plug hole.

Nowadays, if your shower shelf doesn’t resemble your bathroom cabinet you’re missing a trick. It may sound decidedly unsexy but “skinification” of hair is one of the biggest trends in beauty right now. Put simply, it means treating your hair with as much care as we do our complexions.

Mintel reports that 78 per cent of women agreed that haircare is as important as skincare, with the quest for “healthy” hair proving the buzzword of 2018. As a result, searches for products laced with ingredients more commonly seen in skincare has soared, with micellar shampoo — taking its lead from French pharmacy cleansing waters — seeing a 350 per cent rise in interest over the past two years. With this, a host of brands are launching cleansers, serums and even sheet masks just for your hair. Here’s a step-by-step guide to your new regime.

Cleanse and repeat

Step away from the shampoo — double cleansing is the new lather, rinse and repeat. Aveda’s Pramāsana Purifying Scalp Cleanser (£24, aveda.co.uk) is a thorough detox that goes straight to the root of bad-hair days, with seaweed extract to balance sebum levels and plant-derived salicylic acid to rid your scalp of pollution. Follow with Bouclème’s cult Hydrating Hair

Cleanser (£15, boucleme.co.uk) if your hair is curly; Valmont’s Regenerating, “anti-ageing” Hair Cleanser (£48, harveynichols.com) if its lacking volume and shine; or Shu Uemura’s heavenly cocoa-scented Gentle Radiance Cleansing Oil (£35.90, pauledmonds.com) — made in collaboration with La Maison du Chocolat — if its colour-treated or feeling fragile.

Alternatively, skincare purists will find an affinity with Christophe Robin’s gentle Hydrating Shampoo Bar (£17.50, spacenk.com), which is not only pleasingly soap-like, it also comes with the added benefit of being plastic-free.

Scrub up

If you treat your skin to a twice-weekly exfoliation, spare a thought for your scalp. Gwyneth Paltrow’s green beauty revolution Goop preaches that good skincare shouldn’t stop at your hairline with the launch of its G Tox Himalayan Scalp Scalp Scrub (£38, goop.com), which features mineral-rich pink salt whipped with moringa and rose-hip oil to purify and detox at once. Davines Solu Sea Salt Scrub Hair Cleanser (£22.50, libertylondon.com) also gently but effectively removes product build-up, while Kevin Murphy’s Maxi Wash (£18, cultbeauty.co.uk) is enriched with alpha hydroxyl acids to dissolve dead skin cells for a tingling clean.

Just the tonic

An effective yet often neglected step in your beauty regime, hair toners are now also A Thing. Philip Kingsley — creator of the original Scalp Facial in his revered trichological clinic-cum-hair spa in Mayfair — is a master in this field with a mildly astringent Scalp Toner (£9, philipkingsley.co.uk) working to absorb excess oil and stimulate circulation for healthier hair. Reverie’s CAKE Restorative Scalp Tonic (£65, cultbeauty.co.uk) is also supercharged with active ingredients to fortify follicles and leave lengths silky soft, all housed in chic, minimalist packaging designed to take pride of place in your bathroom cabinet.

Get the gloss

It’s hard to remember a time when a serum wasn’t a staple of our beauty regimes. And so it follows that a hair serum is no head-scratcher. Balmain’s Overnight Repair Hair Serum (£65, net-a-porter.com) is enriched with argan oil and silk protein to protect against split ends and can be used in three ways: as a nightly replenishing treatment, before styling to protect against heat styling, or as a intensively nourishing mask.

Julien Farel’s Magnifique Delay the Gray Hair Serum (£75, net-a-porter.com) claims to do what it says on the tin and boost the melanin in your follicles with hyaluronic acid and increase collagen production with echinacea stem cell extract for an anti-ageing effect, while Shu Uemura’s innovative Urban Moisture Double Hair Serum (£26.90, lookfantastic.com) harnesses the power of two complementary serums to nourish and shield hair against city environments. Or try Sisley’s Revitalising Fortifying Serum (£135, sisley-paris.com) — a powerhouse all-rounder that promises to slow hair loss and strengthen locks while protecting your natural colour.

Masking the issue

A sheet mask? For your hair? Yep,and don’t knock it until you’ve tried it. Redken’s All Soft Mega Sheet Mask is a no-fuss, 10-minute moisture makeover, working to intensively hydrate severely dry hair. Simply wrap hair into the conditioner-lined gold foil cap, massage a little and leave it to work its magic. Similarly, Briogeo’s Don’t Despair, Repair! Deep Conditioning Hair Cap (£30 for four, cultbeauty.co.uk) features a two-step system: first apply the mask, then cover with the essence-infused “steam cap” and leave for between 15 minutes to an hour for transformed tresses.

Time for a spritzer

While a mist may seem a superfluous addition to most low-key skincare regimes, spritz-and-go formulas come into their own in the world of haircare. The new product launch from cult celebrity stylist Larry King includes a Volumizing Hair Mist (£29, larryking.co.uk) — a multi-tasking must-have that boosts body and refreshes with a crisp herbal scent. Alternatively, finish your new routine with one spritz of Edward Bess’s Fixer Elixir Healthy Hair Mist (£29, net-a-porter.com) to instantly detangle, soften and restore bounce for seriously lustrous locks.