Best Way to Manage Your Hair with Minimum Effort

Washing, styling, blow-drying – not to mention lengthy visits to the hairdresser’s – are high on the list of time-consumers. So how can you crack the art of having great looking hair with minimum effort? For starters, hair that is cut well will fall into shape effortlessly, so save time on upkeep by finding a good hairdresser.

Choose a natural-looking, low-maintenance style that works with your hair’s texture and doesn’t need too much taming with hairdryers and heated appliances. You could always try a shampoo that helps speed up the drying process, such as JF Lazartigue’s Rapid Drying Shampoo. If you have poker-straight hair, a blunt cut or bob will be easy to style, while for slightly wavy locks or curly hair, a layered, tousled look that you can run your hands through and leave to dry naturally is ideal; trying to straighten curly hair or wee versa will cost you precious time.

Styling in a hurry

If you have short hair, all it takes is a squirt of sculpting lotion, gel or mousse and you can leave your locks to dry naturally. The long haired should use styling products that smooth, straighten and add thickness and shine, which will cut down on blow-drying time because they do the styling work for you. Try V05′s 3-in-1 Styler, Nicky Clarke’s Hairomatherapy Lift, Thicken and Shine Spray or Sebastian’s Gelee Performance Active Conditioner and Styling Gel. To save time on styling, wind hair in rollers and allow to set while you do your make-up.

Wash ‘n’ go

Very few of us have time to hang around the bathroom ‘drip-drying’ while our conditioner works. Yet you shouldn’t skip this essential step if you want beautiful hair. If you have short hair, you can get away with using a combined shampoo and conditioner, such as L’Oreal’s Elvive Revitalising 2-in-1 or Vidal Sassoon’s Wash ‘n’ Go. Those with long or damaged hair can opt for a good leave-in conditioner: try Inne’s Strengthening Extract, Aveda’s Elixir or Pantene’s Intensive Leave-in Strengthening Serum. Hair treatments don’t have to be exclusively for ladies of leisure: you can just pop on an intensive hair mask, such as Phytologie’s Phytomoelle Overnight Mask, before you retire to bed and let it do the work while you sleep.

Low-maintenance colour

You can’t escape the fact that colouring hair is a high-maintenance procedure. Before embarking on having your hair coloured, remember that the further away from your natural shade the colour is, the more frequent the upkeep. To cut down on visits to the salon, try these tips. Touch up regrowth or grey hairs with a colour wand like Dior’s Mascara Flash for Hair, which comes in seventeen shades, or Trevor Sorbie’s Highliter Wand. Sprinkle a little dry shampoo or talc on your roots to defuse the darkness of root growth. Enrich colour that has faded with a colour-enhancing shampoo or conditioner, such as Aveda’s colour shampoos and conditioners.

No time to shampoo

You’ve been asked out to a fancy restaurant but haven’t got the usual half-hour that it takes to wash, dry and style your hair. Don’t panic: for freshly-washed-looking hair in a flash, try the following. If your hair is greasy, sprinkle on a little dry shampoo or talcum powder at the roots and brush through. To put style and volume back into your hair, spritz it with a styling lotion, turn your head upside down and blast with a hairdryer. Alternatively, disguise grease or dirt by smothering your hair with wax, gel or pomade, such as Kiehl’s Wet-look Groomer or Oribe’s Pomade, before slicking your hair back with a comb or, if your hair is long, scraping it up into a ponytail or twisting it into a chignon and securing with a slide. For that totally clean feeling, you need to freshen up the smell of your hair. Spray your favourite scent or toner into the air and walk through the perfumed mist, or try hair-freshening sprays, such as L’Occitane’s Purifying Spray For Hair or Kenzo’s Perfumed Hair Mist.

Nippy nails

Keep your nails well trimmed and they will look groomed without the need to spend time or money on a manicure. For shiny nails minus the hassle of applying varnish, simply buff with a nail buffer. If you don’t dare to go naked, opt for a fast-drying varnish, such as Revlon’s Top Speed Enamel, Maybelline’s Express Finish Nail Polish or Rimmel’s 60 Second Nail Polish. Alternatively, speed up drying times with a spray, like Sally Hanson’s Dry Fast Nail Spray or Opi’s Rapidry Spray, and use Sally Hanson’s Manicure Clean Up Stick to magic away any mistakes. Retouching is a bind, so remember that using a light shade makes this easier.

To avoid having to revarnish too often try Max Factor’s Diamond Hard, Helena Rubinstein’s Long-lasting Varnish or Givenchy’s Long Lasting Glossy Nail Colour. Put an end to chipping polish with peel-off formulas, such as Lancome’s Vernis Zapping Peel Off Varnish. Rather than having to muck around applying a base, second and top coat, choose a one-coat varnish like Cover Girl’s 3-in-1 Nail Sticks or Sally Hanson’s One Coat.