Beauty Bible Loves... Sam McKnight Cool Girl Body Plumping & Volumising Cream
We will try anything by Sam McKnight. We have yet to be disappointed. In fact, we often go into something approaching raptures, not least for the amazing outdoorsy, garden-y smell, created by Perfumer H’s Lyn Harris. You will find plenty of reviews of Sam’s products on this site, all glowing. (Like here. And here. And here. And we could go on.)
But if we could wreath Sam McKnight Cool Girl Body Plumping & Volumising Cream in laurels and give it a giant gold medal and maybe put it on an open top bus and tour it around London… well, you get our drift.
This is Jo’s most perfect-ever hair product. It goes on like a smoothing cream, but something miraculous happens and hair is… sort of aerated. Now, a few weeks ago, Jo had what she thought was a disastrous haircut – lovely Eugene at John Frieda’s salon on Aldford Street thought she’d look great with a short, choppy cut, and a couple of inches more came off than Jo was expecting. (That’ll teach her to be working on her laptop and not look up till her hairdresser is done!)
Astonishingly, it gives as much volume as a mousse, but without the crunchiness or stickiness sometimes associated with that. It feels deeply conditioning (it is said to be clinically proven to thicken and fortify hair fibres), and delivers gloss and smoothness along with amazing volume. To quote Eugene, Jo’s hairdresser, ‘A cream is not supposed to volumise and plump – BUT IT DOES!!!!!!’
Notwithstanding the fact that short hair doesn’t need a restyle as often as a longer look, in our experience, this still gave oomph at the roots and maintained Jo’s kicked-out ends for… TWO WEEKS*. That might sound a bit ‘eeew’ to someone who washes their hair more often (and once a week is more Jo’s thing), but she was at home in Hastings where there’s zero pollution and it kept her hair looking good – no, great – for a fortnight.
Actually, the instructions tell you to work it through hair from mid-lengths, but where Jo needs body is at the roots. So Eugene used it there, and you know what? It delivered amazing root lift, too. If you are looking for swing, and oomph, and volume and bounce, Sam McKnight Cool Girl Body Plumping & Volumising Cream is your baby.
We’re telling you now, Sam: THIS MUST NEVER, EVER BE DISCONTINUED.
(Oh, and Jo’s keeping the short hair! Loves it, in part thanks to this.)
£29 for 150ml – buy here
£22 for 50ml – buy here
* We are advocates of washing hair as infrequently as you can get away with, to maintain condition. And save time. Loads and loads of time, back in your life to do the things you really want to do. Why not at least try leaving a bit longer between shampoos? Your hair and scalp might take a little while to adjust, but many people we know have been astonished at how they’ve managed to beat the wash, condition, style, repeat cycle that all haircare companies (er, probably including Sam’s, sorry, Sam!) want us to buy into.
