Six ways to have a great hair day

An influx of innovative hair treatments now promises to promote thicker and more lustrous locks. Choose from easy-to-apply glosses that give the much admired “glass hair” effect, micro-extensions that will perfect the shape of a cut, or curl aids that will promote your natural waves. Says celebrity stylist Sam McKnight, “great hair is a powerful mood booster: it really is everything.” Here’s a six-point guide to great hair days in 2025. 

Repairing is caring

As with so many things, “beautiful hair is about balance,” says Tom Smith, trend forecaster and international artist in residence at London’s Billi Currie salon. For all the bad (the colour, the heat), you should make a note of the good (the treatments, the trims). Olaplex is noted for its reparative in-salon Intensive Treatment, but its No 3 Hair Perfector is recommended by Smith as “the most effective way to strengthen hair from home”. By mending the internal bonds of the hair shaft, he explains, it undoes damage, making hair look better and become easier to style.

For those of us who don’t get round to home treatments, an easy approach is to dampen hair, run it through and pin it up while you work out, washing it out after. For something still speedier, Bumble and Bumble Bond-Building TripleBond Flash Rinse, which launches in January, will get to work instantly (just apply, then rinse off - before conditioner or any time). Virtue’s Damage Reverse Serum is equally well-regarded.

Profit and gloss

Skincare’s obsession with “glass skin” – hydrated, radiant – has segued to “glass hair”, says Zoë Irwin, creative director of John Frieda. At the salon, she suggests the John Frieda Radiance Reset, focusing on exfoliating the scalp, removing product build-up from hair, followed by strengthening and hydrating treatments. For an almost cosmetic finish, she continues, brands are creating temporary, at-home glosses such as Living Proof’s new High Shine Gloss and Redken’s Acidic Color Gloss.

Living Proof Perfect Hair Day High-shine Goss, £30, spacenk.com

Gisou Honey Infused Hair Oil, £35, cultbeauty.co.uk

For a more nourishing emphasis, look to Gisou’s Honey Infused Oil – a hero product of this viral brand founded by sixth-generation beekeeper Negin Mirsalehi (16mn TikTok likes and counting). Or, Irwin suggests using Sam McKnight’s Love Me Do Nourishing Shine Oil: smear a couple of drops of oil on the back of a flat brush and smooth across styled hair for “a really high shine”.

Scalp spotlight

“Your scalp and its microbiome is the gateway to healthier hair,” says Sam McKnight. Try massaging a couple of drops of Nourrir’s prebiotic Root Cause Nourishing Serum into your scalp. Or try Neville Hair and Beauty’s Scalp Facial in its London salons: it combines exfoliation, steam treatment and shiatsu massage.

For thicker and more lustrous locks, Tom Smith recommends Calecim Professional Advanced Hair System. Containing a patented ingredient, PTT-6, that is used for treating hair loss, it’s an at-home or in-salon treatment that promotes growth as well as more abundant hair. 

Volume up

“The bombshell blowout is everywhere”, says McKnight, who brought big hair looks to the SS25 catwalks. “Velcro rollers have been part of my kit for over 40 years – I count on them for root lift and supermodel style.” He’s created The Big Set to make things easy for the rest of us. Mist Modern Hairspray onto dry hair sections, then roll up; 15 to 20 minutes under the hood (which inflates with a hairdryer) and you’re good to go.

Meanwhile, Dyson has created Chitosan, its first foray into styling products, using oyster mushroom-derived ingredients for a line that’s focused on long-lasting, flexible (as opposed to crunchy) hold. For maximum volume, pull its Pre-style cream through damp hair; blow dry – perhaps with the volumising brush on Dyson’s recently updated AirWrap, or with the round brush attachment on the new Hershesons Multi-Tasker tool – and finish with the Post-style serum.

Length and power 

Hair extensions are more common than you may think. “New clients are astonished by how natural they look,” says Jaime Hunt, consultant extensions specialist at Hershesons. An entry-level treatment involves four ultra-thin tapes being placed discreetly above the ears to enhance the fullness of the hair around the face; applied in 30 minutes, they last eight weeks between re-applications (from £160). “People think they’ve got to accept thinner hair; a few fillers and they walk out feeling, and looking, fantastic.” Billi Currie’s Tom Smith customises further, applying tiny custom pieces of hair which are bonded to the natural hair with grain-sized keratin bonds. Used expertly, they can enhance fullness in certain areas of a head of hair, help make a fringe fall just so, or finesse the shape of a cut.

Air dryer treatment 

Smith also suggests laying off the styling. A developing category of “air dry” creams, such as Evo Total Recoil Curl Definer or JVN Hair Complete Air Dry Cream, aims to nourish the natural texture of the hair, encouraging it to dry in natural curls or beachy waves (according to your texture type), rather than untamed frizz. Apply to brushed, wet hair, and do nothing.