We have a competition for our Facebook fans – win your own set of festival friendly Free2Style straighteners.

What you have to do: Just ‘Like’ us on Facebook and tell us your favourite summer holiday hair product by commenting on the Free2Style image.

What’s more, for every Share and every ‘like’ on your comment we will enter your name into the hat again. So, comment and get your friends involved for multiple competition entries and a greater chance of winning!

Click to enter competition

We will pick a winner at random on the 1st July.

Closing date : Sat 30th June

So what are you waiting for? Tell us your favourite summer holiday hair product and you may well be on your way to owning your own pair of festival friendly cordless straighteners.

So, how do you stay looking groomed in that ‘I’m at a festival so not really trying, but really I am’ way when you’re camping?

With summer just around the corner the summer festivals will soon be in full swing. As avid festival and camping fans we know how it can be difficult to keep hair looking fantastic and in good shape when you’re living out of a tent with no electricity and a high chance you’re miles from the shower block!

Dry Shampoo – Your Festival Friend

No post about camping and festival hair would be complete without a mention of dry shampoo. Not only is this great for in-between hair wash days it’s also an absolute must have in any camping bag. Just spray it an and brush it our for fresh looking, lovely smelling hair with no water so no drying required. Couldn’t be simpler to keep your hair looking amazing.

Cordless Straighteners

Cordless straighteners such as the Free2Style and the Freedom 24-7 are an absolute must for the camping season. They let you style on the go and keep your hair looking glam when you’ve been sleeping on a blow up mattress for several days!

Win your own cordless straighteners – instructions at the bottom of this post.

Sleep In Rollers

Another great invention is the sleep in roller to give you bouncy, curled hair the next morning with no pain while you’re sleeping. Just put them in before you fall asleep and wake up with wonderfully curled and groomed hair all ready for a quick style before heading off on your next adventure. These rollers are foam (not the traditional hard plastic ones) so they are incredibly comfortable to sleep in as the mould to your head when you lie down.

Dazzle And Shine

At a festival you want to stand out from the crowd. Show your personality. What better way than with HairDazzle. This nifty product ties into your hair to give a hint of dazzle as your hair moves. It’s easy to put in and out and is ideal for when you want to stand out.

Feather Hair Extensions

If the HairDazzle isn’t enough for you then how about our feather hair extensions? They add a splash of colour and are ideal for a bit of showy hair glam. Very easy to put in and take out so they are perfect for times when you are short of dressing table and mirror space but still want that something special for your festival look.

Sounds too good to be true doesn’t it? Surely a product like that would be expensive and difficult to use?

Well No. Not at all.

We are happy to add a new arrival to our Hair Care Shop in the form of La Biosthetique’s Micro Derma Roller – a fantastic new product to give you deep down, luxury skin treatment from our most luxurious range.

What is the roller good for?

The Derma Roller is great for reducing the appearance of fine lines, enlarge pores and wrinkles. Its derma needles work hard to prepare the skin’s reception to facial creams so skin care products can penetrate deeper into the layers of the skin and give more even coverage and a greater effect.

What products work well with it?

We heartily recommend the La Biosthetique skin care range to go with the Derma Roller due to their natural ingredients and luxurious products. They already work amazingly well at leaving skin brilliantly nourished so combined with the deep penetration of the Derma Roller they work well together to leave your skin feeling like it’s never felt before.

Our top recommendation is the Derma Roller followed by La Biosthetique’s Anti Rides Treatment to allow you to intensively treat your problem areas with deep down conditioning.

How does it work?

The roller has .25mm steel needles all over it which removes dead skin cells as it is rolled over your skin and stimulates healthy new growth. It also opens pores making the skin for more open to receiving facial creams and products – it helps to soak these creams into the lower levels of the skin for deeper and more even coverage.

Does it hurt?

Not one bit if it’s applied correctly. The derma roller needs you to apply no pressure as you roll it over your skin so just be careful not to press and you will be giving yourself a completely pain free facial.

One topic that is common to all the brides we’ve spoken to is how to go about getting perfect skin for the wedding day without breaking the bank out breaking out in spots!

The key piece of advice we can give you is to start now. Not a few weeks before the wedding. NO Siree!

Your skin needs time to settle into a new skin care regime and to get used to new products. It’s common for your skin to react with the odd break out while a good skin care product gets to work to really clear out the pores and clean your skin.

Solve The Problem of Sensitive Blemish Prone Skin

La Biosthetique have a product range that we love for anyone with sensitive and blemish prone skin. The range is called Methode Clarifiante and has several great products for blemish control and evening skin tone – the Holy Grail of every pre wedding skin care regime!

Two of our favorite products are:

• La Biosthetique Visalix Purifant - a skin clarifying product with antiseptic properties that helps calm and reduce blemishes. Great results when it’s used with….
• Clair De Teint Purifiant – a cleansing gel that deep cleans your skin without drying it so it feels fresh and supply after use.

Breakouts before the big day? Don’t panic…

With the stress of organising a big event there are bound to be the odd occasion that a blemish will appear even with all your best cleansing and toning efforts. When this happened don’t panic just purchase a product aimed at treating the problem as best you can.

• La Biosthetique Likopan is one such product. It is a facial treatment for the treatment of inflammations and blemishes using natural ingredients to clear the skin and stop the inflammation from spreading further.
• La Biosthetique Creme Purete is another product that calms inflammation and stabilises the skin with an anti-inflammatory and antibacterial effect that traps free radicals to calm your skin.

The finishing touches

Every bride wants to walk down that aisle feeling nothing but amazing. From fantastic hair to groomed nails to perfectly groomed feet so don’t forget to pay the rest of body every bit of attention that you pay your face.

• Nail grooming – try La Biosthetique Fanex, a nail care oil which keeps your nails supple and prevents fragile nails.
• Soft supple hands – because you’re going to be showing that wedding ring off – try La Biosthetique Citromycine Hand Cream; a citrus fresh handcream that protects hands from the elements and leaves them soft, supple and ready for putting on display.

With summer comes holiday booking, spray tanning, leg baring and bikini hunting so this month we are going to focus on our Sexy Hair product range to help you get yourself in tip top shape for the warmer months ahead.

A natural tan just isn’t cool this Summer!

Who needs to damage their skin by baking out in the sun for hours on end? Who wants red patches and dehydration? No one that’s who! Well, with SexSymbol Aero tan you don’t need to.

SexSymbol Aero Tan sprays on easily and leaves no stickiness, blotchieness and doesn’t leave any unsightly stains on your clothing or furniture. Aero tan evens out your skintone for an even and safe tan. Aero Tan also washes off so it’s quick to apply and even quicker to remove.

A far more sexy alternative to peeling skin we think you’d agree!

Healthy hair ready for the summer rays

You want to start your Summer with your hair in the best condition possible before it get hit with salt water and chlorine. The Sexy Hair range includes a Healthy Hair group of products to help you get glossy, strong and shiny hair for the momths ahead. We love using whole product ranges together so for super Sexy Hair try:

Sexy Hair Soya-Milk Shampoo and Sexy Hair Soymilk Conditioner for ultra nourisned and moisturised locks.

Sexy Hair Soy Tri-Wheat Leave In easy to use (just spray in) and a real treat for your hair to leave it shiny and manageable.

Sexy Hair Soya Want Flat Hair FlatIron Spray – for protection when styling with heated products such as heated rollers, curling wands and straightening irons.

Fantastic styling for those hot Summer nights

Longer summer nights plus warmer evenings means more night out doesn’t it? Well, for extended playtime you need products with great hold and maximun style and for that we have the Big sexy Hair range.

Big Sexy Hair does exactly what it says on the tin, spray and bottle! It delivers volume and hold while thickening the appearance of your hair for the easy styling of a Cheryl Cole style voluminous mane, perfect for Summer.

Granted if you are suffering from stress your physical appearance may be the last thing on your mind but what if you need to at least give the impression of being cool, calm and collected during times of stress and your hair lets you down? What if you’ve lost your job but need to appear together when it comes to interviews? Suddenly how your hair looks becomes less of a vain worry and more of a important part of the process of removing yourself from the stressful situation.

Stress can affect your hair in many ways but it is thought to be the most common cause for Unexplained Hair loss in men and women and can give the appearance of thinning hair too.

How stress can affect your hair growth

The reason for this is that in times of stress your hair can go into the telogen phase or as it’s more commonly known, the fall-out phase as your body keeps its reserves to deal with the stress rather than waste energy on the non essential work of growing hair.

Another reaction your hair can have it to stunt its growth after a stressful event. For example, if you were to bang your head then it is common for hair to not reach its full growing potential 3-6 months after the event. This means the hair may well grow but that it only ever reaches a few inches before falling out which will give the impression of out of condition hair when in reality it’s a reaction to the traumatic event.

So what can you do about hair loss?

Well, other than trying to control stress (we’re in no way giving tips on that, we’re not doctors after all!) you can use thickening shampoos, gels and drops to encourage regrowth for example:

Anti Hair Loss Shampoo and Conditioner
Bio-Fanelan Shampoo with special lipo-amino acids cleanses the hair and scalp to discourage hair loss.

La Biosthetique Ergines Regenerant
This nourishes the hair root and compensated for any imbalances in the root structure to have a positive effect on the growth stages of your hair.

La Biosthetique Bio Fanelan Synergie
These capsules encourages regrowth, reduces temporary hair loss, makes hair stronger and more healthy and helps provide the optimum environment for regrowth. La Biosthetique Bio Fanelan Synergie gets great reviews and as one of our customers said:

“been using these now for two weeks. hair folicals starting two come in. can see a difference.will up date in a couple of weeks.“ debbie parmley

So that’s kinder styling with added shine; that’s the Cloud Nine life.

What are Cloud 9 Straighteners?

Cloud Nine Straighteners have been designed by the original inventor of the GHD range of straighteners so you can be sure you’re buying the very latest in hair straightening fashion and technology.

Why are Cloud 9 Straighteners so popular?

Cloud Nine Straighteners are a one of a kind product that can flick, straighten, wave and curl hair at lower temperatures.

Lower temperatures means these straighteners are kinder to your hair and safer to use.

On top of that the Cloud Nine range has a ‘secret ingredient’ built into the ceramic plates that give your hair a shine boost every time you use them.

Where to buy Cloud 9 Straighteners.

These straighteners are professional level and are only available from authorised UK stockist and wouldn’t you know it….we just happen to be an authorised retailer so you can buy your Cloud Nine Hair straighteners directly from the HairCareShop and be safe in the knowledge you are buying from

What’s new with Cloud Nine Straighteners?

The Wand is the latest product on the market from Cloud Nine and it will help you create flicks and curls easily and quickly. The shape of The Wand means you can curl your hair in a much more controlled fashion than with traditional straightening irons.

It has a tapered end that puts you in complete control of your style so if you want tight curls you use the tapered end of for loose, voluminous curls use the wider part.

With three temperature settings you are able to choose the perfect temperature for setting your hair so it is kinder to you too.

The Wand comes in its own stylish presentation box which makes it the perfect gift.

Male grooming in the past has been a subject that has been met with scathing and sarcasm to confusion and then pure avoidance. What does it really mean? Sure every male will have some sort of grooming routine as that term could range from the very basis of having a shower and getting your hair cut when you can’t see any more.

Just to clarify for the purposes of this article I am going to focus on the more, shall we say extreme avenues of the male grooming market. I got the inspiration for this article when I was watching, dare I say it – The Only Way is Essex and Mario dropped a bombshell. Mario admitted during a conversation with the other lads that he partook in a bit of bronzer before a night out to give himself that extra healthy, alluring glow.

It got me thinking how far this market has come in terms of acceptability and how commonplace male grooming has become now a days. If you think back to twenty years ago do you think you would have heard of your dad (or whoever) putting on a moisturises, shaving balm or using an eye cream? I would guess not. Now men are realising that they don’t need to have tight, dry, skin and they can too partake in the grooming and preening that women have for centuries.

Even more unconventional is male cosmetics, I know of some males some directly and indirectly who use concealer to hide blemishes or under eye circles. I feel that now it is more accepted and less of an anomaly, male cosmetics are by no means commonplace but I think many wouldn’t recoil in horror quite so much these days! You can easily buy male targeted foundation, eyeliner (or guy-liner), concealer, blotting powder and bronzer.

The HairCareShop has not quite branched out into the world of male cosmetics but never say never! Here are a selection of some of our favourite male grooming products.

American Crew Grooming Cream – this styling product from well known male grooming specialises American Crew is perfect for achieving that slicked back look that is so popular just now. Think Don Draper in Mad Men, Scot t Disick or Mario Falcone.

American Crew Moisturising Shave Cream – this product is the perfect step for achieving a smooth, clean, soothed shave, say goodbye to red, irritated post shave skin.

American Crew Hair Recovery Foam – is the latest addition to the American Crew Tricholo

You may have or not heard of the brand Moroccan Oil but HairCareShop stocks a brand that is all natural, hemp based and less expensive – Marrakesh Oil from Earthly Body.

What is Argan Oil?

Argan Oil is produced from the kernels of surprisingly, the Argan tree which is native only to Morocco (located in the North of Africa). The oil produced in this way is for centuries been know for it’s, medicinal, healing, restorative and cosmetic properties. The Argan tree and it’s offerings were so popular that the tree was protected as a UNESCO Biosphere Heritage plant.

What Marrakesh Oil do for my Hair?

Without further a do I shall just go ahead a list all the potential benefits!

Adds shine

Restorative to damaged hair

Treats processed hair

Revives limp hair

Protects coloured hair from fading and harmful UV rays

Hydrates parched, dry hair

De-tangles wet hair for easy styling/combing

Safe to use on hair extensions to keep them in great conditions

Alcohol Free

Light formula

Leaves no residue or greasiness

No product build up

Controls frizz

Used to strengthen your heat protector before styling

Conditions and is absorbed quickly

For one little 2oz bottle this is an impressive list of benefits consider this alongside the fact that compared to Moroccan oil you receive a lot more product for considerably less money. Moroccan Oil for 100ml will cost you

If Beyonce does it…then we too shall do it. What are we on about? Hairdazzle of course! Hairdazzle is the answer to add something eye-catching, sparkly and envy inducing into your hair temporarily they allow you to make a statement without any drastic cut or colour.

Hairdazzle are sparkling strands that you attach to the hair that provide either subtle low lights or full on glitter ball sparkle! Best of all they do not damage the hair, last up to four weeks when they are in and are also heat resistant up to 200 degrees allowing you to easily style them.

Hairdazzles have recently been adorning the locks of the one and only Beyonce, Jessica Wright from The Only Way is Essex and also Fearne Cotton has indulged in a bit of hair tinsel. They are available in a variety of stunning colours:

Vegas Baby Gold

Glitter Ball Silver

Over the Rainbow

Ruby Shoes Red

Candy Apple Red

Pretty in Pink

Fierce Fuscia

She’s Electric Blue

Dashing Diva Purple

That’s just to name a few to see the full range of colours available see here: Hair Dazzle

Can you use heat styling tools on HairDazzle?

“Yes, you can use hair straighteners, curling tongs and blow dry your hair with Hair Dazzle. Hair tinsel is heat resistant up to 200C and will not melt. We suggest you keep the straighteners moving. If you leave the straighteners in place longer than is recommended, your Hair Dazzle may curl slightly. You can fix this by switching to a lower temperature setting and re-straightening the Hair Dazzle strand.”

How do you attach hairdazzle?

Here’s a short video that details the simple process of attaching hairdazzle which most importantly of all is not going to damage your hair as they just tie onto the root of your hair.

How to attach Hair Dazzle

Hairdazzle is just as easily removed when you feel like a change or perhaps a different colour?

“Hair Dazzle hair tinsel can be removed anytime in a couple of ways:

** Hold the knot between your fingernails. Hold the hair the Hair Dazzle is tied to. Gently pull the knot along the hair strands until the HairDazzle comes out. Do not pull the knot too hard as you may pull the natural hair out from the root.

**Take hold of one single strand of Hair Dazzle and cut it close to the knot, making sure you do not cut your own hair. This will loosen the knot and the HairDazzle will slide out of the hair.”
Hairdazzle are available to buy right now from the HairCareShop, they cost

One of the latest trends to take the hair accessories market by storm is the new and innovative sleep in rollers which are available now from the HairCareShop. You may be thinking, what’s so special about sleep in rollers? They have been around since the early 1900s when most women wore their hair curled either tightly or in a ringlet style.

Fast forward to the modern day and onto E4s latest reality sensation the Desperate Scousewives. The girls in this programme are the experts in rocking the rollers, all in preparation for the night ahead. Whereas back in the early 1900s women would not be seen dead in their rollers it is now became a trend in itself to walk around in your rollers during the day, perhaps after getting your nails done at your favourite salon and carrying a small dog about.

What makes these rollers different?

To achieve the best results when curling hair the longer the length of time that you leave the rollers in, the better and more long lasting the curl. We don’t always have the time during the day or before a night out to leave rollers in for the required amount of time so to be able to go to sleep comfortably with the rollers in takes care of two tasks at once!

The main reason the soft sleep in velcro rollers are different is the fact that they are soft enough to allow you to sleep in them but not too soft that they don’t curl the hair at all. The soft sleep in rollers are designed to flatten like a sponge therefore allowing you to sleep peacefully waking up to big and beautifully curled hair.

If you know you have a night out or an event the next day and you know you want to wear your hair in big, soft curls then you can wash your hair the day before, put the rollers in your hair have a good nights sleep and by the time you wake up your hair is mostly done!

The rollers work in exactly the same way as traditional velcro rollers work they grip the hair, allowing you to put them easily in your hair without clips or pins to secure them. Of course you can pin them or clip the rollers if you fell the need to keep them more secure but it may reduce the ‘comfort’ factor.

The soft sleep in rollers are now available from the HairCareShop for the just