
When it comes to unexpected favourites, Christophe Robin’s Cleansing Volumizing Paste is right up there for me. I had received a mini pot of the stuff as a gift with purchase a year or two ago, and it had languished at the back of my travel bag ever since. I wasn’t convinced that a clay shampoo would be a good idea, but in the midst of lockdown with nothing to lose I gave it a go. And I fell completely in love.

Probably one of the French hairdresser’s most iconic products, the paste is like no shampoo I’d ever tried. A gritty brown paste which smells 100 times better than it looks, you only need the tiniest finger full to enjoy the best results. Applied to wet hair, it foams up like a dream, and it smells deeply of roses. It’s such an unexpected change from what you see in the jar, and once it’s on my hair I leave it on for a few minutes, to let the formula work its magic. Then after showering out and following up with a conditioner, I blow dry and style my hair as normal. I can’t tell you the difference using the Volumizing Paste (alongside a handful of other Christophe Robin products). Silicon and sulphate free, my hair hasn’t felt this healthy in years, and it’s so much softer and smoother than it was before. My hair feels like it’s got so much more bounce when I’m using it.
Christophe Robin’s Cleansing Volumizing Paste is priced at £40 and is available here (UK) and here (US)