The pre-styling cream is about to become your biggest haircare ally.
Much like you would prime the skin before makeup application, pre-styling creams prep the hair for the next steps in your routine.
And when it comes to wash day rituals, there are fewer more important stages to achieving the silky, soft locks of our dreams.
As far as the list of non-negotiables goes, pre-styling creams are up there with heat protection sprays in their importance - and some versatile creams work double duty.
Applied before you introduce heated tools into your freshly shampooed strands and not washed out, the formulas infuse conditioning ingredients to smooth and nourish. Issey Cook, Stylist and Global Education Ambassador at Larry King, explains, “Pre-styling cream is something you use to prep the hair so it can help the way the hair dries to enhance texture or leave a wave, it can also remove frizz and control the way the hair dries”.
The cream or serum products are enriched with protective ingredients, which is why some of them are all-encompassing to protect against thermal damage as well as fight frizz, hydrate, and offer longevity to your style – be it long, smooth locks, waves or bouncy blowouts. And they work for all hair types and textures.
Cook advises looking out specifically for formulas that contain “natural oils so that it absorbs into the hair, ensuring nourishment as well as hold”. She recommends the Larry King Haircare A Social Life for Your Hair, explaining that “the cream includes many ingredients, including argan oil, which is rich in vitamin E and softens the hair. There is also hydrolysed silk protein, which adds elasticity to the hair and shine”.
Find out more about the best pre-styling creams below, from Living Proof’s new StyleLab Air-Dry Styler to Dyson’s innovative Chitosan collection.
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Living Proof StyleLab Air-Dry Styler
For the time-pressed among us, it is not always possible to take time out of the day for styling, which is why Living Proof has created the StyleLab Air-Dry Styler for a quick and easy way to combat frizz and nourish while air drying.
No need for heated tools, you simply apply the cream to the strands to speed up the drying process, while also imparting the benefits of the likes of hemisqualane for smoothing and hydrating and bentonite clay for texture. All without leaving hair feeling crunchy.
Buy now £27.00, John Lewis
Dyson Chitosan
Its legendary Supersonic hair dryer and Airwrap are the tools of beauty lovers’ dreams but the tech company is now making a play for your bathroom cabinet with haircare formulas to support the use of its high-performance gadgets, before and after.
There are two products in the collection, the first of which - the Pre-Style Cream has four variations of increasing richness to suit all hair types, from thin to straight, thick to curly and coily. It begins as a cream and evolves into a serum to prime as you apply it to your freshly washed locks.
The Post-Style Cream is enriched with hyaluronic acid and amino acids to turn back the clock of damage. The reparative serum can be used by all hair types and has a precision applicator for the correct dosage. It encourages a strong hold while still retaining shine and flexible movement. All the above are refillable and are powered with the brand’s trademarked macromolecule complex known as chitosan (hence the name) which is derived from mushrooms and was engineered after a decade of research.
Buy now £48.99, Dyson
Philip Kingsley Elasti-Styler 5-in-1 Pre-Styling Serum Treatment
Philip Kingsley’s Elasti range almost speaks for itself. The first and most beloved product in the range, The Elasticizer, is a hair mask, but this treatment is a multi-tasking hero with a whopping five uses. Much like the predecessor, it is infused with nourishing ingredients to hydrate your mane, but at the same time, the cream texture works to combat frizz, improve manageability, smooth and combat damage. This is all while leaving a healthy sheen in its wake.
A small pea-sized amount is all that is required to run the Elasti-Styler through your strands. It’s a leave-in that preps and primes, harnessing the benefits of babassu, olive oil and vitamin E - all of which are known and loved for their nourishment. Ideal for unruly, wavy locks but versatile for all hair types.
Buy now £10.00, Amazon
Larry King Haircare A Social Life for Your Hair
Larry King has channelled his extensive expertise as the hairstylist behind editorial shoots for the biggest magazines in the world into his haircare collection - and the result is high-performance essentials that lock in your locks.
A Social Life for Your Hair is a finishing cream first and foremost to set your style in place, but, much like the rest of the products in the range, it is multitasking. On damp hair, the frizz-fighting formula smoothes the lengths, no matter your hair type, to make the styling process that much more manageable. It has the signature attractive aroma that the brand is known for, and only requires a very small amount of the cream to make a big difference.
Buy now £12.00, Cult Beauty
Color Wow Xtra Large Bombshell Volumiser
If you subscribe by the motto ‘go big or go home’ - especially when it comes to your haircare - say hello to the big guns. Color Wow is the brand behind some of the most iconic styles (think J.Lo’s iconic Superbowl half time show) and ensures each of its products are safe for colour and chemically treated hair alike.
The same is true for the Volumiser, considered by beauty editors to be a haircare holy grail product. Just one spritz will transform tresses from fine to full, limp to voluminous, adding instant body and hold without the use of drying alcohol or the likes. The innovative brand has incorporated a proprietary polymer and bamboo blend that surrounds the individual strands to boost without affecting their health.
Buy now £11.00, Cult Beauty
Olaplex No.9 Bond Protector Nourishing Hair Serum
Format: Serum
Size: 90ml
If you’re not yet familiar with Olaplex, prepare to transform your haircare regime. For the uninitiated and initiated alike, No.9 is the latest in the line-up that spans from a pre-wash bond builder and mask (in the form of No0 and No3), to shampoo and conditioner (No4 and No5) and post-wash serums and oils.
This heat protection serum is designed to shield your tresses up to temperatures of 232°C. It can be used on all hair types but will work best for dry and damaged locks to restore shine and add moisture. The antioxidant-rich formula brings nourishment and shields against damage - both thermal and pollution. The lightweight product should be applied to towel-dry hair and leaves your lengths feeling soft and smooth after.
Buy now £28.00, lookfantastic
JVN Complete Blowout Styling Milk
A milky texture, the JVN Complete Blowout glides through the strands with ultra-smoothing results. Whether you have naturally curly, frizzy or poker straight locks, it acts in much the same way as a leave-in conditioner, leaving the hair feeling incredibly silky without weighing it down and causing it to look flat.
This is on account of the lightweight consistency and the inclusion of hemisqualane in the formula. The latter is an ingredient you’ll find across Jonathan van Ness’ range for the long-term moisture-locking properties that it offers. There is also cassia bark polymer, which is said to provide hold and ionic peptides to protect against thermal damage.
Buy now £25.00, lookfantastic
Bed Head by TIGI Small Talk Thickening Cream
Don’t let the price tag fool you, the Bed Head collection may be affordable, but it is home to some of the most efficacious formulas with the pro seal of approval. This is certainly the case for Small Talk Thickening Cream.
The volumising formula brings body to other limp and lifeless locks, making those with fine strands appear fuller and thicker-looking. While some thickening products often weigh down the strands, one pump of this applied evenly across your head offers a solid primer for styling without leaving the hair looking lifeless.
Buy now £10.00, Amazon
Moroccanoil Perfect Defense
Format: Spray
Size: 225ml
When it comes to loading up on nourishing ingredients for your hair, Moroccanoil should be one of your first ports of call. While coating your locks in vitamin-rich argan oil and leaving behind the brand’s signature addictive aroma, it also protects against thermal damage of up to 230⁰C.
Unlike other oil-based products on the market, this spray is somehow weightless in its feel and so can be used on all hair types. Uniquely, you can use it on damp or dry hair so feel free to lather it on for any second-day styling touch-ups.
Buy now £27.85, lookfantastic
Bumble and bumble Hairdresser’s Invisible Oil Long Lasting Styling Cream
A stalwart in the kit of session stylists and backstage regulars, Bumble and bumble’s Hairdresser’s Invisible Oil has earned every single one of its innumerable accolades. Building on its success, the haircare label has added the Long Lasting Styling Cream to the mix with the same multitasking properties as the oil.
As the name suggests, it’s designed for the styling stage and so provides hold on your look of choice. This is all while bringing increased hydration, combatting frizz and imparting nourishment from a blend of six oils including nangai. Healthier hair is the aim of the game but it will also lock in your blow-out for longer and ease the restyle process.
Buy now £32.00, lookfantastic
K18 Molecular Hair Repair Oil
As the name suggests, this hair oil is designed to work at a molecular level. It comes from one of the most sought-after, scientifically backed haircare labels, K18. The brand biotech-engineers its line-up to reach deeper into the hair fibre. The trademarked K18PEPTIDE works on damaged, dry and stressed strands to counteract the effects - whether that’s caused by thermal, chemical or environmental reasons.
The star ingredient is combined with lock-loving ingredients like sunflower and avocado oils and squalene and hemisqualane for further nourishment and to leave your hair smooth, silky and free from frizz and flyaways. It also provides heat protection when applied on wet, damp or dry tresses.
Buy now £65.00, Space NK
