Turning My Hair Routine On Its Head / Kerastase Bain Therapiste

This one sounds weird even by my wildly experimental* standards, but I doubled checked and am not mistaken: the instructions on Kerastase’s new Resistance Therapiste Bain Shampoo and Conditioner – from £14.95 here – do indeed say in no uncertain terms that the order of play is conditioner followed by shampoo.

This reversal of the time-honoured shampoo then condition routine is, according to Kerastase, wholly wise if your hair is damaged – the conditioner will smooth and protect the cuticle from the damage of vigorously rubbing at the hair during the shampooing process.

How did it fare? Well, I was uncharacteristically skeptical when first getting in the shower and found applying conditioner before any cleansing foamy action and then hanging around while it did its thing a bit odd (though the waiting bit was actually kind of useful as I have been a little bit obsessed with using St Tropez’s In Shower Tan of late).

That said, I can’t deny that the results are mighty impressive: when I rubbed the shampoo into my hair instead of it feeling like a huge knotted mass that would almost certainly need a good five minute brushing session once towel dried, it remained smooth and slinky – I imagine that if a camera were to film the rinsing out process my hair would resemble one of those Timotei adverts from the 90s. After drying, it was still shinier and softer than usual so my newly bronde hair and I are sold.**

* When it comes to beauty – I am quite fixed in my ways otherwise.

** This stuff is almost prescriptive strength so only buy if your hair is dry and in need of a little managing. If you’ve got normal hair and want a shine boost, this will probably weigh it down and prove a waste of money.