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.
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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Spring Racing Season 2026 is officially on: This year’s Do’s and Don’ts
The Australian horse racing season has officially kicked off and is in full swing. Come September, the horses themselves have turned an official one year older, records have been reset, and preparations ramp up for major Spring racing carnivals. So how ready are you for the season?
Whether you’re heading down to Flemington Racecourse for pre-Melbourne Cup racing, being hosted in a glamorous marquee somewhere closer to home, or even hosting your own soiree, here are a few tips of what to do and not to do during Spring racing events.
DO’S
DO stock up on quality champagne for that special big racing event
A great pick for any special occasion, especially sporting and racing ones, is Lanson’s classic Le Black Création Brut. This delicious bottle of bubbly is a proper Champagne brut blend of Pinot Noir, Chardonnay and Meunier – which have been aged for no less than four years on “lees” – yeast cells left in after the second fermentation which leaves the champers possessing fine bubbles, and a refreshing vibrant taste. In fact we can sense notes of citrus, apple and even stone fruit, rounded out nicely with an almondy/brioch-y after-taste. You’ll find Lanson Le Black Création Brut number 259 or its sister champagne number 258 in stock at quality liquor outlets such as BWS and Dan Murphy’s, at around $72.00 a bottle.
DO pace your drinking
It’s likely to be a long afternoon of drinking and socialising any racing day. Keep tabs on the drinking – and the socialising will be a lot merrier.
DO mind your Ps and Qs during the big race
Nobody likes a loudmouth when everyone else is trying to hear what’s going on at the races. Sure, it’s exciting if your horse is coming first, second or third mid-race but don’t scream as if it’s won the thing already. Hold the excitement in for those few extra seconds!
DO wear sunscreen
If you’re spending most of your day outdoors, slap some good SPF protection on.
DO check the dress code for hospitality areas
Put simply, most folks like to see you dressing up for any race day, especially for the big one: the Melbourne Cup. Rule of thumb: avoid jeans, t-shirts, flip-flops (of course), and excess attitude.
DO remember to place a bet
No matter how big or small you’d like to bet, it’s always fun to be a part of something big like the Melbourne Cup.
DON’TS
DON’T go too crazy if your horse makes a place
Yes, be generous and buy a round for your mates, but once you start promising Rolex watches for friends and then don’t follow through, you’ll look like a try-hard player.
DON’T drink too much and end up falling about
What’s the point of being all dressed up and making a good impression, only to be tipping over your glad rags by the end of it all?
DON’T take your shoes off in public
Okay, perhaps on the way home in the car – and only if your tootsies aren’t too whiffy by then.
DON’T get upset if your bet isn’t a winner
Nobody likes a sore loser. And you’re there to have fun, number one. Just think of that money spent having gone towards a good time!
DON’T wear a fascinator that’s too over-the-top (Ladies!)
This is an important one. It’s nice to want to stand out, but remember you’re not the star of the show during Melbourne Cup or any racing day, for that matter – the horses and jockeys are. Do your bit to celebrate by looking fine but don’t think it’s all about you.
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