Student Style: Intensive Hair Masks from Umberto Giannini and Boots

Now that it’s officially Autumn – dun dun dun! – central heating systems around the country are toasting our toes and our hair alike. As one of the many uncontrollably curly-coiffed ladies ‘round these here parts, I am well-acquainted with the frizz this brings. Now, in an ideal world, we’d all bathe our locks in a vat of Kerastase Masquintense; but, given that I’m a cash-strapped student, I decided to try out some more affordable options.

Umberto Giannini has long been a fave of mine for its delish-smelling curl care range. Its Indulgent Beauty Moisture Mask, €7.49 for 200ml, is aimed at dry, damaged hair and is packed with shea butter, which is always a win for moisture-deprived skin and hair. This is a three-minute, once-a-week application and on first go, it really impressed.

I used this after a night out when my hair had been spritzed liberally with surfer spray and was quite matted, but when I washed out the mask the tangles washed clean away with it. As my hair is quite fine, it was a tad weighed down with product after it dried, so I’d recommend it for people with a thicker mop than mine. All in all, very conditioning, but the “soothing scent” was more of a cross between strong rose perfume and old-fashioned Immac – which, needless to say, wasn’t the most reassuring of aromas.

Coconut and Almond Intensive Hair Mask from Boots, for Normal to Dry Hair, was the second of my testers. €2.99 for 350ml means that, if you’re reeeeeeally broke, you can’t really go wrong with this as a good conditioner. To be honest though, it is more of a conditioner than a deep-conditioning mask; it didn’t leave my hair with the nice, shiny lustre that the Umberto Giannini product did, although it smelled a helluva lot nicer. It delivered on the promise of smoothing frizz, but did leave behind a few knots.

My top tip for both: pop a showercap on after application and let the mask-magic ferment as you do all other necessary shower maintenance.