BUDGET HAIRCARE THAT FEELS LUXURY

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Today we're rounding off Affordable Beauty Month with some low-cost haircare products that - if you didn't already know the price of them - you could be fooled into thinking they retail at several times what they actually do...

Let's start with the The Hair Boss Overnight Repair Serum | £14.99. I'm just going to put it out there: this is an oil, not a serum and I will be referring to it as such! It's formulated with oils like sunflower seed, macadamia and chia. You slather this on the night before washing your hair and let it penetrate overnight. My only negative is really the size of the bottle for the price (though I did get this on offer) - they say to use 1-3 drops but I scoffed at that and went for a full dropper. This gave me the effect I was looking for, so maybe use a couple of drops if you have very fine hair and you're using this type of product because you wash it out the next day so your hair doesn't feel heavy. I definitely noticed my hair was looking shiny and feeling lovely and soft when I washed, dried and styled my hair the next day vs. when I don't use an overnight oil. I would repurchase this, it does smell good too but I do think it should come in a bigger bottle! 

Another pre-wash treatment I enjoyed was the Revolution Beauty Plex 3 Bond Restore Treatment | £10 | full review & Olaplex comparison. This is formulated with plant proteins to soften and smooth damaged hair so it looks and feels healthier and shinier, it can also help protect it against future damage from processes like colouring and heat styling. You use it on damp hair then shampoo and condition as normal and when I use this I definitely see a significant improvement in the look and feel of my hair. It's great, and a steal at £10, especially as this line is often on offer at Superdrug and Look Fantastic.

For shampoo and conditioner, I recently tried Monday haircare and was really impressed. You can even get their products at Tesco now and I recommend looking for the Monday Haircare Moisture Shampoo & Conditioner | £5.50 each. You also get nice big bottles of this stuff (quantities are where I feel more high-end brands scrimp) - 350ml apiece in pump packaging, which always feels so much more convenient in the morning. This duo feels lightweight but still left my hair feeling silky and hydrated as opposed to that nourished feeling you get from more heavily oil-based haircare products. I actually think these two would work for most hair types; after use, my thicker, drier hair feels moisturised but I also can't see it weighing down finer hair types. It's very well-balanced and pretty universal.

An amazing find that I was expecting to be a lot more expensive than it was is the Kristin Ess Weightless Hydration Daily Scalp + Hair Mask* | £12 | and it's also often on offer, so look out for that! As I constantly bleat on about: I have a sensitive scalp so I'm always looking for something to soothe it and counteract the dryness. Obviously if something is intended for both the hair and the scalp then it has to be lightweight and this absolutely is, almost having more of a lotion texture than a creamy one. I can happily slather this on my lengths and ends and cover my scalp in it and my hair is weightlessly hydrated and my scalp soothed and moisturised without any excess or buildup. And there are a lot of ingredients in here that I look for in my facial skincare, which is probably why my scalp loved this so much: glycerin, avocado oil and oat extract, to name a few. This is fantastic and I know I'll be replacing it time and time again!

Moving onto finishing and styling products, I really recommend checking out the Undone by George Northwood Moisturising Cream | £15. Again, it's on the higher end of what we'll discuss in this post, but you can often bag yourself a deal at Boots. This is a lightweight creamy-lotion formulated with ingredients like coconut oil, jojoba oil, fatty alcohol and sunflower seed oil. I use a couple of pumps on the lengths and ends of my hair whilst it's still damp and it ensures that I get a super-sleek blow-dry. At the same time, it's not rich or heavy or like a pure oil, so it's not adding greasiness to the hair.

I only bought the Umberto Giannini Shine Blast Spray | £6.50 | in November in Boots but can't seem to find it anywhere now - I hope it hasn't been discontinued! However, if it has - fear not, I've linked their No Wash Conditioner, which is a really similar oil spray and honestly it could be even better for some people as it's very moisturising as well as providing that shine. If you can get your hands on Shine Blast, it's amazing for achieving that kind of dimensional gloss appearance.

Let's round things out with the Primark x Andrew Fitzsimons Refresh Dry Shampoo | £2.50. This is a super-light, very fine-spray dry shampoo that doesn't leave my scalp itchy and irritated but still does refresh the hair, as the name suggests, so you can eke an extra day out of it. You can also spray this into the roots of your hair and give it a bit of a scrunch for a boost of soft volume.

Have you tried any of my haircare picks? What are some of your favourites under £20?

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Read more posts from this series here!