Silky Hair.

The Silk Route

The fastest way to get from frazzled hair to rich, baby-soft strands? Lightweight products and a few styling tricks. By Catherine Piercy

W

omen go to great lengths to make their skin as soft and supple as it was in childhood. Now the goal is to do the same with hair. "Not since the 1960s has hair withstood so much daily heat and stress," says Michael Gordon, president and founder of Bumble and Bumble. And while most women would sooner go bald than give up their blow-dryer or flatiron, "over time, all that work makes it ?much harder to achieve the smooth, supple, shiny hair of your youth." To counteract dryness and damage, many women load on styling creams and glossing serums, a tactic that often leaves strands weighed down, stiff, or sticky instead. In fact, "you want to use as little as you can get away with to add shine, defrizz, and hide split ends," restoring the hair's moisture and elasticity with lightweight conditioners and a few simple styling tricks, says hairstylist Ben Skervin. Easy as child's play.

Supple Secrets

Start treating your hair right, and it can look like you've turned back the clock.

Lather up "If you begin by smoothing the hair's cuticle in the shower by using great conditioners, you'll need fewer styling products to compensate when you get out," Skervin says. As a general rule, "the thicker the hair, the creamier the shampoo should be," says Sarah Munson, executive director of product development at Bumble and Bumble. One with silicone forms a fine layer over each strand, smoothing the cuticle without making it feel sticky. Cheri McMaster, principal scientist at Pantene, suggests scanning labels for words that end in "cone," like dimethicone. Fatty substances such as ceramides and nut butters work similarly.