Beauty Editor's top 3: The best haircare of 2020

In the fifth and final instalment of our Beauty Editor's Top 3 series, let's take a look back at the best haircare of 2020. 

This was the year we took our hair into our own hands. Closed salons and extra time spent at home opened up a world of home blow dries with the best hair dryer (opens in new tab), temporary colour fixes, and trying all those hair masks (opens in new tab) we didn't have the time or patience to bother with before. 

Now for the caveat I'll put on all of my end of year top threes, which is that the headline is a lie. Not a great whopping porker, just a white lie to make things a bit a more exciting - like the whole Father Christmas thing (apologies to any eight-year-olds reading this)  

Of course, of tall the hair products launched this year these aren't unequivocally the three very best, forsaking all others. What they are is my subjective personal picks, the ones that I feel most deserve a shout out amongst many, many brilliant new innovations that also could have made the list. And - let's be honest - they are also the ones that made enough of an impact at some stage in the year that I am able to call them to the front of my foggy end of December brain. 

Formalities over, you are now ready to discover my pick of the best haircare of 2020. These are the products I think you need to know... 

Read more Beauty Editor's top three:

• The best skincare of 2020
• The best bath and body of 2020
• The best makeup in 2020
• The best pefumes of 2020 (opens in new tab)

Pureology Hydrate Soft, £21.45

I tried so many hair masks this year I couldn't keep my work testing samples sufficiently topped up and had to buy emergency supplies from Boots. What I learned was there are lots of good masks than work well enough, then there are a few absolutely great ones that make a world of difference - this is one of those. 

It only needs left on for a few minutes, but is so quenching I could practically feel my parched hair drinking it in. Once rinsed it made detangling easier and blow drying smoother, yet doesn't leave behind any filmy residue or heaviness as many masks do on fine hair. It contains lovely things like sweet almond oil and shea butter and it smells all heady and aromatic like a fancy spa. 

View Pureology Hydrate Soft, £21.45, Lookfantastic.com (opens in new tab)

GHD Helios Hair Dryer, £159

Every since a certain vacuum cleaner brand turned its hand to hair dryers it feels like everyone else is tripping over themselves to reinvent the wheel, dryer-wise. Not ghd (opens in new tab) though - their latest blockbuster dryer offered us something that looked and felt reassuringly familiar, with all the whizzy technology packed away inside so you don't have to worry about it. 

This winning combination of sophisticated power and care with user friendly controls and dashing good looks earned this my best hair dryer (opens in new tab) accolade in 2020 as well as a Woman & Home 2020 Beauty Award.  (opens in new tab)

View ghd Helios Hair Dryer, £159, Johnlewis.com (opens in new tab)

Josh Wood Colour Gloss, £19

How many of us experimented with our hair colour this year? My social media feeds were full of box dye converts, root cover uppers and temporary pink toners, so I got involved with Josh Wood Colour Gloss. This line of deep-conditioning, shine enhancing colour-depositing creams already offered blonde and brunette shades, but in 2020 we got this excellent selection of reds too. 

I tried Copper Gold and for 20 minutes of effort was rewarded with six washes of fresh honeyed tones over my grown-out blonde balayage - low stakes, high satisfaction hair fun at it's finest. All of these shades share a grown up sophistication often lacking for the red hair market, and there's something to suit every natural hair colour.  

View Josh Wood Colour Copper Gold Gloss, £19, Joshwoodcolour.com (opens in new tab)