That Magical Ingredient: haircare that delivers excellent results thanks to key natural ingredients
Natural ingredients and quality haircare have always gone hand in hand. Even in the ancient days when Cleopatra was being pampered, she’d insist on magical ingredients such as honey, aloe vera, almond and olive oils, to keep her long locks in check. Here, Cream selects some quality products on the market and highlights ‘that magical ingredient’ in each.
Revlon Professional’s UniqOne Green Tea Leave-In Hair Treatment
At the heart of this treatment is the refreshing botanical ingredient of green tea, which brings a nourishing, revitalising touch to a clever all-in-one formula. Designed to deliver 10 hair benefits in a single spritz, UniqOne helps moisturise, detangle, smooth frizz, add shine and body, prevent split ends and protect colour, all while helping damaged hair feel softer and more manageable. We tried it on wet and dry hair, and it works wonders either way. An easy addition to any daily routine – particularly when your locks are behaving more like a tangled mess than a salon-worthy mane.
THAT MAGIC INGREDIENT: The green tea focus gives the treatment its wonderfully fresh personality. A fragrant blend of green tea, along with lavender, zesty lemon, bergamot and mandarin creates an aromatic citrusy mist that feels as refreshing as it smells. Simply spray onto wet hair, comb through and style as usual, or apply a little to your palms before working through dry hair for a quick touch-up.
COST: Varies store to store and site to site but around $14.
AVAILABLE FROM: Quality haircare outlets and revlonprofessional.com.
Revlon Professional Re/Start Hydration Range
It’s no surprise Revlon have chosen to play on the ‘Re’ prefix for this very, very good haircare trio: hair is left reinvigorated, revived and feeling refreshed. In fact, when your hair is thirsty, frizzy and feeling more like straw than silky, these products provide a great three-step hydrating/moisture rescue. The Moisture Micellar Shampoo, Moisture Melting Conditioner and Anti-Frizz Moisturising Drops are designed to lock hydration into the hair fibre while leaving strands softer, smoother and easier to manage. All easy to use with no fuss or too many frills.
THAT MAGIC INGREDIENT: The star ingredient across all three products is betaine – a naturally occurring plant-derived compound best known for helping maintain moisture balance. In haircare, that makes it particularly useful since betaine helps retain water within each hair fibre, leading to softness, flexibility and better manageability. Revlon also reckons betaine can help improve hair strength, and who are we to argue? Use the shampoo to cleanse and hydrate, follow with the melting conditioner to smooth and detangle, then finish with a couple of drops through wet or dry lengths to tame frizz and boost shine. You’ll be happier with hydrated hair that feels softer, looks healthier and behaves itself considerably better.
COST: Varies store to store and site to site.
AVAILABLE FROM: Quality haircare outlets and revlonprofessional.com.
American Crew 3-in-1 Tea Tree
This is a great one for men who prefer a simpler haircare routine. Why clutter the shower when one bottle can do the lot? American Crew’s 3-in-1 Tea Tree Shampoo, Conditioner & Body Wash is the ultimate streamlined grooming multi-tasker, cleansing hair and skin while leaving both feeling fresh, soft and clean. It’s way easy to use, too: Simply massage into wet hair and body, rinse and get on with your day. It’s uncomplicated, efficient and very fresh – exactly what a three-in-one should be. And even if you usually stick to a stricter regime with an alternative brand, this product is great to have on standby on those rushed mornings.
THAT MAGIC INGREDIENT: Who isn’t familiar with the benefit’s of tea tree oil? This natural botanical ingredient is renowned for its cleansing, refreshing and invigorating properties. In haircare, tea tree is particularly appealing for oily scalps, helping create a brilliantly clean, fresh-from-the-shower feeling, while its naturally aromatic character gives the formula a distinctive cooling sensation and of course a fresh fragrance. American Crew specifically highlights the tea tree oil for its invigorating, refreshing effect. Their formula also helps wash away excess oil while leaving hair clean, conditioned, shiny and soft.
COST: Varies store to store and site to site.
AVAILABLE FROM: Quality haircare outlets; for more information visit americancrew.com.
Straand Crown Cleanse Shampoo and Boost Conditioning Treatment
Australian haircare brand Straand is innovative in that it takes a skin-first approach to haircare, concentrating on the scalp as the foundation for healthier results. We recently tested the Crown Cleanse Shampoo and Boost Conditioning Treatment which worked well in helping with dryness or oiliness, making the scalp more neutral and feeling well-soothed.
THOSE MAGIC INGREDIENTS: The two secret ingredients here are peppermint and rosemary in the shampoo, which leave the scalp feeling fresh, while the conditioner – containing almond and jojoba – helps put moisture back into hair, leaving it soft and ready to style.
COST: Varies product to product.
AVAILABLE FROM: Priceline stores nationwide, or for or directly through straand.com.au.
My.Organics Thickening Shampoo & Conditioner
Our editor swears by this brand and particularly these two products. Where a few years ago, things were getting a little fine on top of head, since using My.Organics thickening products, the locks are looking fuller and healthier. Indeed, fine hair need never mean flat hair. My.Organics Thickening Shampoo and Conditioner create a botanical two-step designed to cleanse, nourish and give finer strands a fuller, healthier-looking finish.
THOSE MAGICAL INGREDIENTS: There are various pairings available in the My.Organics range, depending on what result you’re after but here, the Orange & Lemon Thickening Shampoo brings an invigorating hit of citrus essential oils. Rich in antioxidants, orange helps promote shine and freshness, while lemon has purifying properties and can help balance excess oils on the scalp. Together, they give hair and scalp a wonderfully clean start, while fenugreek and peppermint add to the formula’s strengthening and refreshing credentials. Then comes the Mango & Rose Thickening Conditioner, where the emphasis shifts from refreshing to nourishing. Mango is rich in vitamins A, C and E and fatty acids, helping moisturise and soften hair while enhancing shine and strength. Rose brings soothing, hydrating and antioxidant properties, helping leave strands feeling perfectly conditioned and revitalised.
COST: Varies store to store and site to site.
AVAILABLE FROM: Quality haircare outlets and pharmacies including Chemist Warehouse.
Pure Elements Organics Thyme & Clary Sea Salt Spray
This reputable brand offers a range of haircare products that truly live up to their organics name. All products are vegan and organic certified, with a minimum of 985 of total ingredients coming from a natural origin, all packed in 100% post-consumer recycled bottles. But to the highlighted product itself? This salt spray is genius, delivering beach-textured waves, sun-kissed body, and added volume to fine, lifeless, or lank curls without a heavy or overly stiff leftover feel.
THOSE MAGICAL INGREDIENTS: Thyme, Clary, and Geranium all assist in the balancing and normalising of the hair and scalp, while Aloe Vera helps to calm and moisturise.
COST: RRP $47, 200ml spray bottle.
AVAILABLE FROM: Quality beauty and haircare sites such smithscollectivebrands.com.au.
OTHER EXCELLENT NATURAL INGREDIENTS TO LOOK OUT FOR IN HAIRCARE PRODUCTS:
Aloe vera – Used in ancient Egyptian medicine and cosmetics, aloe was valued for its soothing and moisturising qualities. It would have been particularly useful for skin exposed to Egypt’s intense sun and dry climate, and similarly is very good in helping to manage hair in today’s climate-changing environments.
Almond oil – Used as a nourishing oil for skin and hair, helps soften and condition.
Licorice root – Helps improve hair and scalp health by soothing irritation, reducing dandruff and basically assisting well in hair growth.
Honey – A prized ingredient with moisturising and antimicrobial properties, honey was used medicinally and in preparations for the skin, and also occasionally in hair. It’s great because it attracts and binds moisture from the air into the hair shafts, helping with long-lasting hydration.
Milk – The famous story of Cleopatra bathing in donkey’s milk has become part of her legend. Milk is good for hair because it provides essential proteins, vitamins, and minerals that nourish follicles and soften dry strands.
Moringa oil – Great for hair because it deeply moisturises the scalp, strengthens strands, and adds a natural shine without weighing hair down.
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From the vault: an interview with Dannii Minogue | New single with Rogue Traders shamelessly brings disco back with a bang
Dannii Minogue has always had a knack for dishing up dance music in the most glamorous of glam looks, oft-cheeky lyrics, and fairly irreverant but always fabulous moves. Get our gal on record with Rogue Traders, like on their groovy new single Dirty Dirty Disco, and you’ve got pop-rock-disco perfection. There’s dirty beats, grimy-guitars and vocals so polished you’d think her lipgloss had something to do with it. As for Natalie Bassingthwaighte on co-vocals, yes yes honey, and that fringe number… Bring. Back. My. Pony.
Here’s a time when Dannii chatted to Cream about rough treatment by the tabloid press, how to avoid being affected by it, growing older gracefully, and receiving freebies from fashion designers…
Interview by Antonino Tati
Hi Dannii. Right off the bat, what’s been your worst fashion moment?
I’d say the entire 1980s. It was one huge fashion mistake, but fuck it was fun!
You’ve been through the rumour mill a lot. Have any tabloid fabrications truly upset you, especially during your stint in the UK where journalism can be rather sensationalised?
I don’t know which is worse, the British or the Australian media. You know, the world’s a big place and it’s a bit like Chinese whispers. Things get very, very distorted along the way, and depending on how somebody wants to distort what you’ve said… It’s always ‘according to a close friend, Dannii is anorexic’. I mean, fuck off! As if I’d have close friends like that! Still, you don’t get to read every single article that has been published about you, and I don’t focus on things that are nasty or distorted. You take it in; you move on.
You’ve been in the limelight for a while now… I would say decades but we don’t really want to go there, do we?
No, I’m totally cool about that [the age thing]. As I’m getting older, I’m loving it.
Since first appearing on ‘Young Talent Time’, did you know your career would always be in entertainment?
I was never certain it would be something that I’d be able to make a living from but it’s certainly what I love doing. As a child I was happy to do it as a hobby. I just happened to be in the right place at the right time where someone said ‘Do you want to go on this television show?’ and I was, like, ‘Yeah, it looks like fun’. At seven-years-old I wasn’t really planning the rest of my life and my career. I did Young Talent Time and from there things kept springing up. I have to say I have totally enjoyed performing and I guess you look back and wonder ‘Wow, how did all this happen?’.
What are some of your more disastrous memories?
It’s funny, because some of the worst videos were actually the biggest hits. You know, the ones where my hair is teased back after a can of hairspray’s been used on it… When I first released music, Madonna was big and had crazy hair, all teased up, and everybody was kind of into that… But of course I didn’t pull it off quite as well. Still, it was a lot of fun. I watch the videos now, half kind of giggling and half kind of covering my face, peering through my fingers at the shock of it.
You see it with ironic perspective?
Of course. I think if you’re hesitant about it, there’s no point in doing this [being a performer].
It must be quite surreal when you’re out at a club and one of your records comes on?
It is. In fact, it’s quite weird. I get fan mail on my forum from people in places that I just wouldn’t expect my music to be played, but I guess the biggest thrill is the first time you hear one of your new records on the radio, and then the first time you hear it played in a club. Obviously there’s such a buzz in a club because the music is thumping all around you and there’s that moment when I think, ‘Oh, this sounds great’.
“But then there are moments when I feel really daggy, like, I can’t be in a club going off to my own song… Sometimes it’s better being a fly on the wall.”
Darren Hayes says he usually hears his songs played while he’s in the frozen food section at the supermarket. That would be even more surreal than hearing it in a club, I think.
And he wouldn’t know where to hide. Supermarket lighting is terrible!
Have you ever heard your music being played in a Coles or Marks & Spencer?
No, mine is probably a bit too disco-ey for something like Marks & Spencer.
“Things get very distorted [in the media] and depending on how somebody wants to distort what you’ve said… It’s always ‘according to a close friend, Dannii is anorexic’. I mean, fuck off! As if I’d have close friends like that!”
Natalie Bassingthwaighte backs Dannii Minogue, or is it the other way around? Who cares when it’s sounding this disco-fabulous. Mamma mia, give me bangs again…
Are you cool with running errands during the day, like doing your own shopping, without worrying too much about the public?
Yeah, when I have time to do it. When I’m in the middle of doing promotional work, there’s just no minutes in the day to do anything normal. I go into Crazy Land, but it’s nice when all that finishes.
What about something simple like going for a walk in the park? Does it bother you being stopped for autographs or commented on by strangers?
It’s nice when people come up to you. The worst thing is when people recognise you and don’t know what to say or do. They end up stuck there, just staring at you, and you think there’s something wrong and aren’t too sure why this person is staring…
Do you feel obliged to sort of break the ice or do you think to yourself, well hang on, I didn’t actually ask them to come up to me…?
I think it’s different at every moment. Obviously if you’re with friends and it becomes more engaging, you become the mediator of wanting to spend time with your friends but also wanting to say hello to someone.
A mediator between the real life and the surreal life, you mean?
Yeah. But I’ve been there myself. For example, I’m a fan of comedienne Catherine Tate, and I was working at the BBC where she was shooting a new series. So I ran up to her in the hallway and she was like, ‘I’ve been reading that you’re a real fan of my show’, and I was like, ‘Yes, and I’m going to try and not stalk you ’cause I’m obviously so excited right now and I don’t know what to say’. You know, you’re just stuck in that moment where you admire someone and all your real senses kind of go, but it’s a nice feeling to admire someone.
Indeed the tables do turn occasionally.
All the time. I’m really lucky there are events to go to where I meet people I really admire. I like that.
See if you can shake this clip from your mind. Well, maybe Lady Bump it…
Have you ever done the typical celebrity thing and checked into a hotel under a pseudonym?
Sometimes. The strangest one I’ve used was when I played the game of working out my porn star name – you know, where you take the name of your first pet [for your first name] and your mother’s maiden name [for your surname]. Mine ended up being ‘Pussy Jones’. So I used to check into hotels under ‘Pussy Jones’, but I can’t do that anymore because I’ve been found out now.
Do you get special treatment when you do things like checking in to hotels, or going to see the doctor?
No, I’m definitely not the kind of person to work that.
Well not that you’d want to work it, necessarily. Some people might be insistent in wanting to grant you a discount.
Well, with clothing designers, for example, people want you to wear their stuff, so I do get sent a lot of clothes. You build a rapport with designers you admire.
“When I played the game of working out my porn star name – you know, where you take the name of your first pet [for your first name] and your mother’s maiden name [for your surname], mine ended up being ‘Pussy Jones’.”
Have you ever received a designer outfit and wondered, ‘Ooh do I have to give this back?’ or is it assumed that it is a gift for you?
Sometimes, but obviously there’s a lot of stuff we borrow through stylists that are samples, and they have to go back because it’s the only sample they have at that point. And there are designers who make special stuff for you, where there can be confusion whether or not it’s been given as a gift. But I’m not one to run off with something unless I know it has been given as a gift. I was lucky to use a lot of Australian designers in one of my videos. We used Zimmerman swimwear and Nicola Finetti dresses.
Nicola Finetti is a good friend of mine, actually. And his designs are exceptional…
No way! My god. On the [merchandising] stand cards for one of my singles, I’m wearing this gorgeous cream puffball dress by Nicola, with black beading around the neck. Tell him for me that his whole collection is absolutely amazing. And can you please send my love to Nicola and tell him I’m a huge fan?
I’ll be sure to.
Thanks.
____
Bit of a post-script for you:
The next time I saw Nicola Finetti, I told him Dannii was a huge fan and that she sends him her love. His immediate response was: “Nice girl. I wish she’d send back the dresses we loaned her months ago.” Ahhh Dannii, never one to look a gift horse in the mouth.
This interview was originally published in the music interview anthology ‘There’s Your Quote, Mate’ by Cream editor Antonino Tati.
‘Dirty Dirty Disco’ is available on all major streaming and download platforms.
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Bedtime Stories: Let’s get adventurous, honey, let’s get adventurous
Next year, Cream will be celebrating its 30th anniversary, so already we’re scouring through past issues and online stories to bring you some of the more memorable published work.
Looking through our photo archives, we came across this beaut shoot which happened to pair classic fairy tale motifs with fab vintage accessories.
Because big kids still love the odd storybook!
Photography Helen White
Concept & styling Antonino Tati
↑ Jelly wedges by Melissa. Inspiration: The Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum.
↑ Vintage music player by M:Robe. Inspiration: Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll.
↑ Hooded cardigan by Pour. Inspiration: Little Red Riding Hood by Charles Perrault (1697), revived by the Brothers Grimm (1812).
↑ Vintage runners by Adidas. Inspiration: Rapunzel by the Brothers Grimm.
↑ Classic fragrances by Issey Miyake, Gucci, Salvatore Ferragamo, Escada, Alessandro Dell’Acqua, Ralph Lauren, Kenneth Cole, and Paul Smith. Inspiration: Cinderella by Charles Perrault.
↑ ‘Candy’ red retro specs by Paul Taylor. Inspiration: Hansel & Gretel by the Brothers Grimm.
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MONDO by Defunc: retro looking headphones with positively progressive audio delivery
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