Want to get your hair cut, coloured or styled on the cheap? Here's how...

There's few things I despise more than spending a ton of money at the hairdressers.  Having gone to numerous award winning salons including Blushes, Cream and Lockonego (Ben Cooke, Victoria Beckhams hairdresser cut my hair here) I have never left feeling truly satisfied with my new style.  Yes the interiors of these salons are pristine and you do get to sip on champagne whilst having a 'complementary' head massage, correct me if i'm wrong, but shouldn't the sole purpose of spending such a vast sum of money be that you leave with the exact look that you've been dreaming about.

Last week when I was searching for a new hairdressers I came across an advert for a hair training college that were scouting for models.  Having previously trained as a hairdresser I know just how difficult it can be for hair students to find clients to practice on.  Experience has taught me that providing the training college or salon is reputable and of a high standard, very few irreversible accidents occur (as long as your trainee stays away from the bleach!).  So in due course I jumped at the opportunity to have my roots touched up for just £15.

Percy & Reed Smoothed, Sealed & Sensational Volumising No Oil Oil For Fine Hair Review

Percy & Reed Volumising No Oil Oil £14

This month has been amazing in terms of the amount of magazines offering beauty freebies!  I got this one free with my copy of Glamour Magazine and for £2 it was such a bargain, especially as you get 30ml of product and the full sized bottle costs £14 for 60ml.  This is my first product from Percy & Reed and it claims to make hair smooth, sleek and shiny whilst also adding volume.  As well as containing Vitamin B5 which helps to nourish, add strength and repair hair whilst wheat proteins within the oil act as a heat protector.

Treseme Heat Defence Styling Spray Review

Treseme Heat Defence £4.69

I've been relying on this heat protector spray for the last 4 or 5 years and despite blow drying and straitening daily my hair's in pretty good condition.  Treseme's Heat Defence protects hair from heat damage up to 230 degrees.  It works by acting as a barrier between the hair shaft and the emitted heat.  As well as this it protects hair by making straighteners and tongs glide smoother through hair, preventing the plates from sticking which could otherwise cause too much heat to go to one area.

Isinis Slimline 410 Hair Brush Review

Isinis Slimline 410 Hair Brush £14.09

This Slimline hair brush from Isinis has a soft pneumatic cushion which works to help prevent hair from pulling and tangling.  It is a high quality handmade hair bush that's produced in France   The brush is small and light enough to fit easily into most handbags making it convenient for use on the go.  It has a sleek and glossy design giving it an elegant and expensive feel.

Treseme 24 Hour Body Amplifix Hairspray Review

Treseme 24 Hour Body Amplifix Hairspray £5.50

This 24 Hour Amplifix Hairspray from Treseme is designed to add volume and hold to hair.  This product is designed to be applied straight to the roots of the hair rather than on the outer layers.  It sets very hard which reminds me of a cheap hairspray, as there's no flexibility in the hold.  It's very drying on the hair and has a really strong alcohol scent.  The packaging is unusual as it has an hourglass shape to the bottle and has a unique spray applicator nozzle.

Toni & Guy Classic Smoothing Lotion Review

Toni & Guy Smoothing Lotion £6.99

 Toni & Guy's Smoothing Lotion is aimed at taming frizz and leaving hair smooth and sleek.  My hair is very fine and therefore prone to frizzing and flyaways, this product helps to add enough weight to stop my hair from frizzing without making it flat and dull.  It also makes my hair feel smoother and in better condition, adding shine and making it feel slightly thicker which is always a bonus.

VO5 Smoothly Does It Tame & Shine Spray Review

VO5 Smoothly Does It Tame & Shine Spray £3.89

VO5's Tame & Shine Spray is part of their Smoothly Does It Range which is aimed at keeping hair smooth, glossy and frizz free.  Since going brunette I've noticed that my hair isn't as naturally shiny as it was when I was a blonde.  So when I spotted this shine spray by one of my favourite budget hair styling brands I was eager to try it out.

VO5 Smoothly Does It Frizz Free Smoothing Cream Review

VO5 Smoothly Does It £3.89

This smoothing cream from VO5 is aimed at reducing staticness and flyaways whilst also acting as a heat protector.  As I have very fine hair I'm often prone to frizz if I don't use the right products, especially in this cold weather we've been having.  So far this product has lived up to its name and hasn't disappointed.  It provides just enough weight to keep hair from being static, without weighing it down and making it look flat.  I have also found that it makes straightening a lot quicker and easier which shows that it's working as a heat protector.

John Frieda Precision Foam Colour Brilliant Brunette Review - 5N Natural Medium Brown

John Frieda Foam Colour - 5N £9.99 

John Freida's Precision Foam Colour in 5N is a medium toned brown which has added slightly golden tones to my hair.  I went for quite a dramatic colour change, as prior to this I was a bleach blonde.  The colour took well to my hair, but since the bleach has made it so porous it's faded a lot in just 2 washes.  When I first applied this my hair was really dark brown, considerably darker than the shade on the box.  This dye has left my hair looking both glossy and healthy.

Toni & Guy Straight & Protect Shampoo & Conditioner Review

Toni & Guy Straight & Protect Shampoo & Conditioner

Since I blow dry and straighten my hair every day I'm obsessive about using heat protectors.  So when I came across this shampoo and conditioner duo I thought I'd give it a go.  The first thing I noticed when I got home was that the shampoo comes with a handy pump that dispensed enough shampoo for one wash in about 2 to three pumps.  The conditioner on the other hand only has a push down to open type lid.

Denman Classic D3 Styler Hair Brush Review

Denman D3 Styler £6.99 

I got this hair brush by Denman in my college kit a few years ago when I was doing my hairdressing training.  It has a static proof red rubber pad which helps to hold your hair into the brush whilst blowdrying and styling.    Since it's static proof, when I bush my hair throughout the day I don't experience any flyaways or staticness.   The pad is also curved which makes it ideal for blow drying fringes and adding flicks to your ends.  The thing I love most about this brush is that you can take it apart to give it a good clean and sterilise it.

Charles Worthington Protect Heat Defence Spray Review

Charles Worthington Protect Heat Defence £5.19

I've had this heat protector spray from Charles Worthington for a couple of years.  Usually heat protector sprays only last me a couple of months as I blow dry and straighten my hair on a daily basis.  However the smell of this product really put me off using it.  I'm a huge fan of anything with a gorgeous, overpowering scent, but this heat protector spray smells like pure alcohol.  Surely enough, if you check the ingredients list the first thing that comes up is Alcohol Denat.  This kind of confused me since alcohol is flamable, and this product is meant to stop heat from damaging your hair??  This really intrigued me, so I went on to look at the ingredients list of one of the other heat protector sprays I own.  I picked up Vo5's Heat Defence Spray and that didn't appear to contain any alcohol.

Schwarzkopf Bonacure Hair Therapy Oil Miracle Light Finishing Treatment With Argon Oil Review

Schwarzkopf Bonacure Miracle Oil £24.95

This argon oil hair treatment from Schwarzkopf's Bonacure line is a thick golden oil that richly coats the strands of your hair, leaving it feeling soft, smooth and healthy.  I applied this to my towel dried hair whilst it was still damp.  I only used a tiny amount to begin with and gradually added more to cover all of the lengths of my hair.  I probably used about a 5p sized amount of product in total so this should last a long time.  I made sure that I kept this hair oil well away from my roots as otherwise it would have made my hair look greasy.

TIGI Rockaholic Born To Rock Leave In Detangler And Defrizzer Review

TIGI Rockaholic Leave In Detangler And Defrizzer 

TIGI's Rockaholic Born To Rock Leave In Detangler And Defrizzer smells like sour sherbet, and detangles even the most knotted hair in an instant!  I've had this for quite a while now, and I usually use it after a night out when I've backcombed my hair and it's been left knotty and matted.  I got this from TK Maxx, I can't remember how much I paid for it but it was definitely considerably less than the RRP so I'd recommend having a hunt through your local store for this one.

Toni & Guy Prep Volume Plumping Mousse Review

Toni & Guy Prep Volume Plumping Mousse £6.39 

I absolutely LOVE this Volumising Plumping Mouse from Toni and Guy!  I have very thin, fine, flat hair, and without using any products even backcombing just falls out.  This mouse gave my hair incredible lift, right from the roots!  It has a beautiful sweet scent which reminds me of sherbet lemons.  This mouse left my hair feeling really soft to touch, shiny and healthy looking.

Wearing Toni & Guy Prep Volume Plumping Mousse 

Treseme Thermal Creations Volumsing Mousse Review

Treseme Thermal Creations Volumsing Mouse  £5.50

I've been using this volumising mouse for about 2 years and It really adds volume to my thin, lifeless hair.  

I apply a small golf ball sized amount to the roots of my hair and either blow dry my hair upside down or with a large round brush.  It also helps to hold backcombing in as it makes my hair less soft and floppy.  It also has the added benefit of being a heat protector and has a nice scent.

Treseme Thermal Creations Volumsing Mousse Review

Treseme 24 Hour Body Root Boosting Spray Review

Treseme 24 Hour Body Root Boosting Spray £5.39

I haven't noticed a huge amount of difference in volume since using this spray, it has a nice spray and the packaging is quite pretty.
I found that it tended to make my hair rather dry and dull and only worked if I applied loads of product to my roots.  The applicator pump also got blocked very quickly, I rinsed it with warm water as instructed but it didn't seem to make much difference.  I was rather disappointed in this product since I've always been a fan of Tresemes styling products and use a lot of them on a daily basis.  I'm sure this would work great on some people, but this just wasn't for me.

Batiste Dry Shampoo Graffiti - Urban & Edgy Review

Batiste Dry Shampoo Graffiti - Urban & Edgy £2.99

I've never been a huge fan of dry shampoo as I'm a bit of a clean freak and hate going a day without washing my hair.  But for those days when I really can't be bothered to wash it, or have woken up late and am in a mad rush to get to work I am so thankful for this product.  I find that it not only reduce my hairs greasiness but also adds volume and has a gorgeous floral scent.

Batiste Dry Shampoo Graffiti - Urban & Edgy

Batiste Dry Shampoo Graffiti - Urban & Edgy

Batiste Dry Shampoo Graffiti - Urban & Edgy

You can buy this dry shampoo at Boots for £2.99 for 200ml, all batiste products are also currently on 3 for 2.

Princess points: 5/5
This is a great product, it really does help to reduce greasiness and is perfect for when you just want a laxy day.

VO5 Heat Defence Plump It Up Weightless Volume Whipped Mousse Review

VO5 Heat Defence Plump It Up Weightless Volume Whipped Mousse Review

I've been using this mouse for the past week now, and I haven't noticed that much difference in my hairs volume.  Although it doesn't go crunchy like some other mouses and has a lovely floral scent.  I think this product works better as a heat protector rather than a volumising mouse.  When I blow dried my hair upside down I could see a slight difference, but the volume didn't hold for long, unlike other similar products such as Treseme's volumising mouse.  

VO5 Heat Defence Plump It Up Weightless Volume Whipped Mousse

VO5 Plump It Up Dry Backcomb Spray Review

VO5 Plump It Up Dry Backcomb Spray £3.49

There are no words to describe how much I love this product!  If I'm in a rush and don't have time to do anything with my hair I'l just spray this in my roots, rough it up with my fingers and BOOM!  Volumised hair in under 30 seconds!

If I want super huge hair though, I'l spray this through my hair and then backcomb it as this product helps to mattify the hair which helps backcombed hair to stay big.  

VO5 Plump It Up Dry Backcomb Spray

VO5 say that this product will:

• Instantly add fullness for amazing volume.
• Won't damage you'r hair like backcombing can.
• Can be used as a 'pick me up' style re-activator.

I think VO5 have got this product spot on.  I actually have 2 bottles, one at home for in the mornings and I keep another at work for restyling during the day.  

VO5 Plump It Up Dry Backcomb Spray

It has a beautiful floral scent which as with their heat protection spray makes my hair smell like I've just been to a hair salon.  Its also great as a dry shampoo as they're fairly similar products, both mattifying and drying the hair.

VO5 Plump It Up Dry Backcomb Spray

You can buy this from any Boots store for £3.49 and it's currently on offer 2 for £5.

Princess points: 5/5
I love love LOVE this product, it turns my hair from flat, thin and lifeless into bouncy, thick and gloriously smelling in under a minute!