Haircare on a budget: the €1.99 Hair Care Goodies Your Gruaig Will Thank You For!

You’re bound to have spotted some of these products beside the tills in Penneys. The Hask haircare range is sold in small sachets or vials and each of the products is in or around €1.99. But, as reinforced by Aisling’s recent tale of woe, v.v.v. cheap rarely equals good.

Then again, as Valerie's foot peeler proved, sometimes, you know what? It actually does.

So which are these?

Ok, ok, I'll put you out of your misery straight away. These are firmly in the second camp, ie, they're feckin' brilliant. If you've hair like mine that is - slightly dry, slightly frizzy, more than a little bit damaged and with a definite mind of its own.

My hair freakin' loves this stuff - despite owning more haircare than sense, I have been stockpiling these products like they're going out of style.

So why are they so good? The products may have a slightly different focus, but the end result is the same: they leave my hair softer, smoother, sleeker and altogether less...dishevelled.

My favourite is the Hask Argan Oil Healing Shine Treatment - that's the one in the brown vial with the turquoise lid. I've been swimming a couple of times a week and I keep this in my gym bag for after each visit to the pool. I use two small coin sized dollops and work it through the ends of my hair where I need the most help.

It doesn’t have an instant detangling effect like some other hair oils but once my locks have dried, they are noticeably softer and less fuzzy than before. The Macadamia Oil treatment has very similar effects (and, apart from the different oil types, very similar ingredients, too).

You can see from the ingredients here that silicones are heavily present in both and those really are wonder ingredients with my hair type. (The first two ingredients there are 'cones, but argan oil is third in the list, followed by keratin amino acids, which is a good sign.)

If your hair is naturally fine and you don't want to overload it, then the green vial should be your first port of call.  This Natural Essentials Leave-In Conditioning has low levels of silicone but is packed full of grapeseed, avocado and olive oils for nourishment and shine.

As for the sachets, they contain some really heavy duty nourishers that will whip even the most wayward locks into shape, and quick.

You get the best results with these intensive conditioners when you leave them in for about ten minutes,  so I like to whack 'em on when I'm taking a bath, cover in a shower cap and leave them to do their softening, shine-infusing thang.

Have you tried these yet? And if so, why didn’t you tell me sooner?