Kate Middleton's glossy hair—expert shares secret to thick, shiny tresses

Kate Middleton's glossy hair seems more lustrous by the day and leaves many envious fans wondering how she keeps it so thick and shiny. Wonder no more, as an expert in all things scalp and haircare fills woman&home in on the best ways to keep your hair healthy.

• Kate Middleton's glossy hair is likely down to a combination of methods for keeping your scalp and hair healthy.
• Trichologist Ricardo Vila Nova, dubbed 'the hair whisperer,' shares his expert advice to maximize your hair's health and what many DON'T know about scalp health.
• In other Royal news, This TikTok hair hack will give you voluminous waves like Kate Middleton

Kate Middleton's hair deserves all the praise it gets. The Duchess of Cambridge's silky, smooth, and perfectly styled tresses are the envy of her loyal fans. Although Kate Middleton's hair color rarely changes—she often changes up her styling.

Recent photos of the Duchess, with her long hair styled in a chic, straight manner really showcased its luster. Curious to learn how to get hair in tip-top shape, just like the Royal, woman&home spoke to Harrods-based trichologist Ricardo Vila Nova. Ricardo has a degree in Biochemistry, a DSc in BioPhysics, and over a decade of happy customers to show that he knows what he's talking about.

Ricardo, also known as 'The Hair Whisperer,' explains that healthy hair comes from the inside out, why the scalp should be treated with the same care as your face, and his tips to make your hair as healthy as it can be.

Treat the skin on your scalp with as much care as the skin on your face

“I always say we should take care of our hair the same way we take care of our skin," says Ricardo. "For this reason, we cannot forget to be gentle to our scalp. And it’s from the scalp that we reach our follicles."

The expert suggests if you have dry hair, for example, you'll need to do a hydration mask on your scalp before shampooing. "Nowadays you can find detox, hydrating, and exfoliating scalp treatments on the market."

We're all aware of the importance of detoxing our skin, from the best gua sha tools to the best facial steamers. However, many ignore the skin on their scalp—which is a massive mistake.

"Our toxins are expelled by the lymphatic system through our skin, and the scalp is no exception," says Ricardo. "These toxins usually build-up, which doesn't allow collagen and keratin to grow stronger and form the healthiest shiniest strong hair. So, these scalp treatments will detox, protect and nurture our scalp, for shinier, stronger hair."

$55

Christophe Robin Cleansing Purifying Scrub with Sea Salt 250ml | Lookfantastic $55 (£42)

The best-selling scrub features a hybrid formula, combining the naturally exfoliating sea salt, which cleanses, removes impurities, and restores balance to the scalp. The mask also contains natural moisturizing agents from the new generation of active ingredients in hair care and will leave your scalp healthy and cleansed.

Use a hair mask with these key ingredients

Just like the rest of your body, your hair needs key elements to stay healthy. Ricardo suggests using a mask with protein, lactid acid, and collagen elements before your conditioner. 

"You can use it in every wash. If it’s a good mask, your hair strands will absorb all those active ingredients," he says.

However, he strongly suggests that once a week, you use that same mask for 20 minutes, "to nurture and repair the hair more deeply." Then you can apply conditioner, "will close the cuticle and work on the shine and gloss."

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L'Oréal Professionnel Serié Expert Absolut Repair Gold Lightweight Mask 250ml | Lookfantastic $28.75 (£21.95)

This mask is filled with Serié Expert’s restorative Gold Quinoa + Protein power-mix. The nourishing hair masque offers dry, thirsty lengths a huge hit of lasting hydrating, enhancing elasticity, strength, and luminous shine to leave you with healthy, shiny hair.

Consider specialist regenerative hair treatments

A hack to help slow aging, which can also be helpful as a quick but long-lasting boost, is a trichology treatment, like the ones Ricardo offers in his 212.2 salon in Harrods.

Only available from highly trained trichologists, these are, "where you can have a medicine regenerative treatment designed to be performed intradermally. These treatments get to work in the matrix cells of your hair, nurturing your follicles as well as the whole structure of your hair, from the medulla to the cuticle."

Use heat protector when styling your hair

Because nowadays a blow-dry is part of many people's everyday routine, a heat protector is also important. "So, don’t forget that," says Ricardo.

Considering how perfectly coiffed Kate Middleton's hair always is, there's no way she misses out on this important step in her routine!

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Pureology Colour Fanatic 200ml | Feelunique $35 (£26.80)

This multi-tasking hair treatment spray provides 21 essential benefits to prime, protect, and perfect color-treated hair.

Use this game-changing oil

But if you want a game-changer, Ricardo says you must use hydrolyzed oil.

The expert explains, "These types of oils (Hydrolysed) are technologically designed to target the deeper layers of the hair, so you can always expect an extra shine and also repair and protection.”

One example Ricardo can't get enough of is Japanese Tsubaki oil, which is also known as Camellia oil.

Fushi Camellia Cold Pressed Organic Oil Virgin 100ml | Feelunique $ (£18)

Eat foods that nourish your hair from within

And most important of all, because beauty comes from within, Ricardo says diet and lifestyle are the key elements to happy healthy hair. "You can have the most faultless hair care routine," he explains, "but if your blood lacks biotin, iron, folic acid, your hair will know."

He says, "have a diet rich in proteins and fatty acids and keep up your supplements. Stress, skipping meals, processed food, or even our own metabolism doesn’t let us absorb all nutrients."