The products our colourists won’t work without
Products earn their place at our stations the hard way — daily use, on every hair type that sits in the chair, with no patience for anything that underdelivers. These six have survived that test for a long time. They are the ones our colourists actually reach for, and the ones that follow us home.
K18 Leave-In Molecular Repair Mask
Four minutes, no rinse. After a lightening service this is the repair step we send home with almost everyone — its peptide works inside the hair fibre where bleach does its damage, rather than coating the surface. The 15 ml is the right way to try it.
L’Oréal Metal Detox
The unglamorous truth about city water: it carries dissolved copper, and copper is quietly hostile to colour — it dulls brunettes, brasses blondes, and can even interfere with how colour takes at the salon. This chelating wash pulls the metal out before it causes trouble. Anyone who invests in colour should be washing with it.
The Steampod — and its Concentrate
The Steampod 4 is the tool our blowouts are built on: it straightens and waves with steam instead of dry scorch, and hair comes off it glassy rather than flattened. What most owners miss is the Concentrate — the thermo-protective serum designed to run with it. If you own the iron, it is not optional.
Olaplex No.7 Bonding Oil
A few drops on the way out the door: gloss, softness, and heat protection in one pass, light enough that fine hair does not notice the weight. The 30 ml bottle lasts months, because the dose is genuinely a few drops.
Sachajuan Scalp Shampoo
Good hair starts where it grows. When a client mentions flaking, itching, or that vague tightness that shows up in winter, this is the first thing we recommend — it settles the scalp without stripping the hair, which is a rarer combination than it should be.
Davines This Is A Curl Building Serum
For curls, the eternal problem is definition that does not crunch. This serum builds bouncy, defined curl with a finish you can run your hands through — the difference between curls that are styled and curls that are set.
The short version
All six live in The Edit — our running shortlist of the tools and products the floor actually swears by, updated each season.