Scalp scrubs are relatively sophisticated hair care products that can mostly be found in ranges distributed in hairdressing salons:
• Absolute Renovator Exfoliating Care Chronologiste by Kérastase, 200ml, €33
• Polishing Hair Scrub Sugar Shine Biolage by Matrix, 220g, €25
• Cleansing Purifying Scrub with Sea Salt by Christophe Robin, 250ml, €39
• Purifying Hair Scrub for the scalp by Massato, €35
• Hair Scrub Argila by Patrice Mulato, 200ml, €20…

And yet here they are, trying to make a breakthrough for the last months of the year.
The L’Oréal group now resolutely ‘banks’ on this new gesture, and that is how, starting from next December, consumers will find the Purifying Scrub Elseve Phytoclear by L’Oréal Paris (150ml, €5.50) in supermarkets: an anti-dandruff treatment free from silicone to be applied before the shampoo on wet hair to remove impurities from the scalp. Apricot kernel powder, AHA or salicylic acid, white clay, sugar crystals, sea salt, essential oils, pineapple enzymes… the industry does not lack actives to purify the hair and help it fight against its tendency to get oily (scalp scrubs usually target combination or oily hair).

Aveda’s Exfoliating Shampoo Invati (200ml, €32.50) is an interesting alternative to get familiar with this exclusive pre-shampoo ritual, a good compromise that avoids any additional step.

Shampoos and masks for asphyxiated hair

Pollution, stress, multiple urban aggressions… detox is a new religion for city dwellers to purify themselves.

After Franck Provost, the first to have released a silicone-free detox shampoo for hair that easily gets oily (Purifying Citrus Detox Expert Shampoo, 750ml, €7) in supermarkets, and Dessange (Gentle Clay Regulating Pre-shampoo Mask, 125ml, €10), Jean-Louis David, entirely redesigned by L’Oréal, will market a Detox Me! Shampoo and Conditioner as from November (200ml, €3.60 each) to purify roots and soften hair ends. As a matter of fact, this brand is trying to seduce the young generation (15/25-year-olds), and the detox word does ring a bell to them!

At the Parisian Bon Marché Rive Gauche department store, there is also a Kevin Murphy Detoxifying Shampoo (250ml, €31). Sulphate-free, its formula contains natural fruit acids (papaya, grapefruit, and lemon) and balancing essential oils to remove the chemical residues embedded in the scalp.

As for organic-certified brands, Cattier, one of the greatest clay specialists, logically designed its own Scalp Detox Mask with pink clay, thyme, and organic lemon (200ml, €14).

Even professional care experts working for hairdressing salons are jumping on the bandwagon. Kérastase has just developed Spécifique, an antipollution personalized hair care product that integrates instrumental cosmetics, and which is made with a professional clay mask, among others: Masquargil.

Ariane Le Febvre