Marie Claire Hair Awards: Styling Winners

(Image credit: Lewis Hayward – lewishayward.com)

Keep calm and your hair in check with these heroes

Are you having ‘a good hair day’? It seems like a silly question until you take into account the boost in confidence, wellbeing and positive mindset when our hair looks amazing.

We're all living at a faster pace so time-saving styling products are more important than ever before. Thankfully, these advances in technology mean we can now get the same professional results – FAST – within the realms of our own home.

Read on for the best styling products from the Marie Claire Hair Awards 2020...

Best Heat Protector

Winner: Redken Extreme Play Safe

There’s not much this leave-in treatment for damaged hair can’t do (except, perhaps, cook you dinner). Formulated with plant protein, a few squirts will protect your strands from heat, strengthen them to reduce breakage and gives your look staying power.

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Best Split End Treatment

Winner: System Professionals CC Perfects Ends

At one time the only way to get rid of split ends was with a pair of scissors. Now this styling cream seals frayed ends together from root to tip until your next wash. Think your sleekest blow-dry to date.

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Best Styling Product For Afro Hair

Winner: Charlotte Mensah Manketti Oil Finishing Mist

Want curls that look smooth, defined and spiralled? This finishing spray glides through kinks like a knife through butter, adds shine and tames frizz - all without dragging down bounce.

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Best Curl Enhancer

Winner: Evo Liquid Rollers Curl Balm

We guarantee you’ll end up on better terms with your curly hair after using this. The hold is neither crispy nor sticky and the fresh floral scent deserves a special mention, too, as it’s like you’ve misted your hair in perfume.

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Best Hairspray

Winner: Schwarzkopf got2b Glued Blasting Freeze Spray

If you want gravity-defying hold until your next shampoo, look no further than this hairspray.

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Best Volumiser

Winner: Batiste Instant Hair Refresh Dry Shampoo & Volume

Not only does it give hair a second wind the next day, it also beefs up fine strands without leaving behind a sticky film so you can still comb your fingers through it. Win-win.

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Best Hair Oil

Winner: Moroccan Oil Original Treatment

This cult hair oil with antioxidant-rich argan oil and vitamins nourishes, tames flyaways and restores lustre without giving you the type of greasy hair you could fry an egg on.

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Best Blow Dry Product

Winner: Color Wow Dream Coat Supernatural Spray

Humidity doesn’t stand a chance against this powerful spray. Like a sophisticated trench coat for your hair, polymers in the formula are activated by heat and wrap around each strand to prevent candyfloss fuzz for up to 72 hours.

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Best Dry Shampoo

Winner: Klorane Dry Shampoo With Oat Milk

Two ingredients work invisibly to perk up second-day hair: rice starch absorbs oil and bulks up flat roots while oat milk moisturises and softens. You can’t even tell it’s there when you touch your hair.

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Best Texturizer

Winner: Sachajuan Ocean Mist Hairspray

While most salt sprays freeze strands into crispy beachy waves, this is the best example of one that gives hair piecy, touchable, lived-in texture.

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Best Grooming Balm

Winner: Fudge Urban Matte Wax

The ultimate non-shiny, non-sticky wax for that messed up look that he loves, which also doesn’t compromise on all-day hold.

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Easy as.

Fiona Embleton has been a beauty editor for over 10 years, writing and editing beauty copy and testing over 10,000 products. She has previously worked for magazines like Marie Claire, Stylist, Cosmopolitan and Women’s Health. Beauty journalism allowed her to marry up her first class degree in English Literature and Language (she’s a stickler for grammar and a self-confessed ingredients geek) with a passion for make-up and skincare, photography and catwalk trends.