Sometimes a woman would really rather be trampled by a stampede of flaming elephants than go through their daily, seemingly never-ending, exhaustive skincare regimen. As if looking after the face wasn't time-consuming enough — the routine now extends to hair. Conditioners, mousses, sprays, oils and even primers are available for the hair.
The main question is obvious. How necessary is it to buy rows and rows of spray cans and cream pots that deck haircare shelves? Here's how we see it — if it makes your life easier, keeps hair healthy and doesn't cause a build-up of products on your head, go for it.
Unfortunately, more hair products are increasingly becoming essential. What types of products will we be inseparable from in the future?
"A primer, for one," answers Paul Percival, half of the duo — with Adam Reed — behind cult hair-product line Percy & Reed. "It's something that will be a complete norm the way dry shampoos are. People were still unsure of [dry shampoo] a few years ago, but now it's a staple that makes everyone's lives easier." Gearing up for the launch of their newest innovation this August, Wonder Balm, Percival explains the qualities of this fresh-out-of-the-lab product.
"Wonder Balm is a primer and works on the exact same concept as putting primer on your skin before make-up. If you want a surface that's completely perfect before applying other things onto it, even it out first. It doesn't just smooth things out on top like most products do, as it will fill in imperfections, then even things out so you can start styling with the perfect density of hair." Like many of the other products by Percy & Reed, Wonder Balm is lightweight, giving a feeling like you don't even have anything in your hair. It makes mounting cream after serum after oil onto your hair seem less scary, knowing it won't be a sticky slop afterwards.
"The product is very different from stuff people from five or six years ago were using," says Percival. "If you were to layer those, then you would end with Lego hair."
And there is nothing that Percival and Reed hate more than sticky, helmet hair. When Percy & Reed was born out of the hairdressing duo's successful salon business, they were interested in making hair products that were extremely high-performing and affordable so everyone could have brilliant hair.
"The packaging looks fun and all, but inside the bottles, we take things very seriously," says Reed.
"We're lucky to get to work with lots of shoots and shows, and we came to notice how the lights would make the products melt because of the ingredient structure. What we've done is eliminate any excess wax, as wax is actually used as a filler in most products. We take it all out so you either have a fluid, cream or gel formula."
Percival shuns the idea of anything sitting on the hair and scalp. His brand's dry shampoo uses a finer corn powder that isn't thick, starchy or visible like the ones available in the market.
"Big companies use thick powder because it fills more of the can up, but what's really important is you should never have a build-up of any product on the scalp."
In the case of the recently released Radiance Revealing Invisible Dry Shampoo, the duo seem to have gotten rid of everything altogether, using technology that attracts moisture rather than using powder. Being the amazing transparent concoction that it is, it somehow removes unwashed hair's greasiness without leaving any residue. But if a matte finish is what you prefer, the original No-fuss Fabulousness Dry Shampoo still works pretty well.
With an approximately 14-month run before each product can be rolled out, the most rigorous process is often the testing, which is sometimes done at the duo's salons, where brutally honest answers can be reaped from customers.
As Percival puts it, it's "David and Goliath" out there in the hair product world, meaning the duo are tight-lipped about their future developments and innovations. He does admit that the drive which pushes him to come up with products that don't already exist is motivated by people's lifestyles.
"We really look at things that you can use and leave such as helping you style your hair overnight, since everyone is so time constrained now. It's things like dry shampoo that can let people have another half an hour-in-bed or whatever that lets people not take as long to get good hair."
Seems like we're definitely in good hands with this British "masstige" brand and maybe gone are the days that it hurts to look beautiful. Unlike clothes, body products seep into your system, so it's never frivolous to invest in the better ingredients and innovations for that head of healthy hair.
Percy & Reed products are available at Sephora stores.
