Hair-care solutions

• Instant dry shampoo

If you’ve no time to wash your hair or are caring for someone who can’t get into a shower or bath, a dry shampoo will do the job. Take 1 tablespoon cornflour and sprinkle the powder into the hair; massage it in section by section and comb out any tangles. Brush well to remove all the powder, stopping often to shake out the brush. The powder absorbs dirt and excess oil, leaving hair looking clean and shiny.

• Two-ingredient revitalizing conditioner

Give drab hair new life with this luscious conditioner — made with only two ingredients. Take half a ripe avocado, scoop out the fruit and mash until smooth. Slowly stir in 60ml coconut milk; the mixture should look like a thick gel, so add more milk as needed. Work all of the mixture into your hair, then comb smooth. Wait 10-15 minutes before rinsing thoroughly. Your hair should feel thicker and look richer. (For an extra treat, use the other half of the avocado to whip up a little guacamole.)

• Gloss up with vinegar

Your hair has lost its lustre, so you’ve switched shampoos, which helped for a while, but now your hair looks dull again. It’s due to a build-up of the residue left by shampoo and other products. Vinegar will safely remove the residue and restore your hair’s natural acidic pH balance, leaving it shinier, smoother and easier to manage. Just mix 2-3 tablespoons apple cider vinegar with 1-2 cups (250-500ml) water in a jar. Then shampoo your hair as usual and rinse. Shake the vinegar solution and use it as a final rinse. Any vinegar smell will disappear as soon as your hair dries.

• A hair mousse alternative

You’ve shaken the can of mousse and turned it upside down, but not a drop comes out. Don’t panic. Try a little shaving cream mixed with a drop of surgical spirit to keep your hair in place and moisturize it at the same time.

• Hair mousse but no gel?

Raid the pantry! Mix up some flavourless gelatine and you may never go back to the salon variety: dissolve from 1/2-1 teaspoon unflavoured gelatine in 1 cup (250ml) warm water and refrigerate. It won’t last as long as ordinary hair gel — up to a week in the fridge — but gives a super-firm hold.

• No hairspray?

Chop up 1 lemon and add it to a saucepan filled with 1 cup (500ml) water. Boil until the water has reduced by half. Cool, strain and pour into a spray bottle; add 2 tablespoons surgical spirit. Stored in the fridge, the spray should keep for three to four weeks; unrefrigerated, it will last for two weeks.

• Tame hairline frizz

The hardest place to control frizz is in the area around your hairline. To deal with irritating stray frizz and wisps, saturate an old toothbrush with hairspray and brush them back where they belong. Hold in place with your fingers until the hairspray dries.

• Make your own scrunchies

If you have long hair and can’t find something to tie it back, get out a pair of ’emergency’ pantihose — the ones with runs that you only wear under slacks. Just cut the length you need and you will be ready to go. Black and coloured pantihose will look the most fashionable, but flesh tones will do if you are stuck. Pantihose have the added advantage of not bruising or breaking your hair, as elastic sometimes does.

• Eyeball those roots

If you colour your hair you’ll already know that grey or white roots show through much faster than you’d like them to. Here’s a quick fix if you don’t have time to apply a full colour treatment or rinse. Apply your mascara to the roots with an old toothbrush, blending it in as you go. This trick works best with dark hair. What should you do if you have blonde hair? Try beige or taupe eye shadow as a temporary camouflage.

• A sage decision for brunettes

Applied to brown or black hair, sage will darken grey hairs. Put 1 tablespoon dried sage into a bowl and pour 2 cups (500ml) boiling water over it. Let the mixture steep for 3 hours or overnight before straining it into a bottle or jar. Shampoo your hair as usual, rinse and then apply the sage tea to grey hairs one area at a time, dabbing it on with a cotton wool ball or a wad of cheesecloth. Air-dry or use a hair dryer, but do not rinse. You will probably need to repeat the process once a week until you get the colour you want.

• Spike it with petroleum jelly

If you want a new way to style a short hairstyle, use a drop or two of petroleum jelly to spike your locks into place. As a bonus, when you wash the petroleum jelly out, your hair will be softer and shinier.

• Shelve the dye for darker locks

Leave chemical dyes on the shelf and colour your dark hair the way the ancients did: with rosemary. Pour 2 cups (500ml) boiling water over 2 tablespoons freshly chopped rosemary leaves, allow it to stand until cold, then bottle it and rinse hair after washing. It’s a natural solution for greys.