Spotlight on: Hair Oils

At this time of year there's nothing lovelier than a gleaming bottle of golden oil: saviours for dry, damaged or lacklustre locks. What’s more, they are so versatile. You can use them pre-cleanse to loosen dirt or dried-in product, as a leave-in conditioner on towel dried hair, before blow-drying to protect the hair and prevent frizz and lastly post-styling to add shine and tame flyaways. Oils can even help to speed up your blow-dry; since oil and water don’t mix, your hair draws in the moisture and pushes out the water ensuring an easier job for your hairdryer. If you don’t have one in your beauty cupboard, pick a favourite from ELLE’s line-up now…

Moroccanoil Treatment, £30.45 each at Lookfantastic.com

Moroccanoil was one of the first brands to harness Argan Oil for haircare. It’s not been around long (it launched in 2009) but it’s already reached cult status and for good reason. It makes all hair, whatever the texture, look its best. As well as the original, there is a light version for fine hair.

Kerastase Elixir Ultime, £27.85 at feelunique.com

This is one truly versatile oil; it works hard to do everything from pre-cleanse to tame flyaways and everything inbetween. A blend of four oils: Camellia, Argan, Maize and Pracaxi (no, we hadn’t heard of it either; from the Amazon it conditions the hair) it’s surprisingly lightweight, smells divine (think of it as perfume for hair) and works on all hair types.

Percy & Reed Hair Smoothed, Sealed & Sensational Volumising No Oil Oil, £14 each at Space NK

This new hair oil with pro vitamin B5 to strengthen hair and wheat proteins to provide heat protection is now a staple in our beauty bags. Small enough to tote around, you can use the oil on dry hair to tame frizz (Paul Percival from Percy & Reed recommends warming the oil in your palm, sweeping a large blusher brush over the oil and using it to tame flyaways and frizzy areas). It comes in two versions one for fine and another for thick hair.

Gielly Green Argan Rescue, £19.50

With a long list of oils including Argan, Sage and Linseed, as well as vitamin C and E this oil is heavier than most, making it a must-buy for anyone with really thick, frizzy and difficult hair. You’ll see and feel the difference – softer, smoother hair - after just one use. While the formula is non-greasy, this is not for the fine of hair.

Schwarzkopf BC Bonacure Miracle Oil, £21.20 at feelunique.com

Another oil that utilises Argan and it’s a favourite with the ELLE team, especially the Light Finishing Treatment which uses the lighter Marula Oil instead of Argan and is particularly good for fine hair. Schwarzkopf claims it’s the most lightweight product of its kind out there, as any excess oil evaporates during blow-drying leaving only the product your hair needs for a light-weight, non-greasy finish.