Luscious Locks on a Budget

22 July 20252 min read

Hairstylist Kylie Hayes shares her top 4 tips for keeping hair looking luscious and extending the longevity of coloured hair using at-home treatments.

Tip 1: Use Semi-Permanent Toning Filters

To intensify your colour’s tone and avoid discolouration at an affordable price point, Revlon Professional’s Nutri Colour Filters will be your favourite haircare colour treatment during financially tight times.

The unique 3-in-1 product achieves flawless, vibrant hair colour and a silky shine finish in between salon visits, so you don’t need to worry about purchasing an extensive list of haircare products. Kylie says, “Unwanted hair regrowth is bound to happen when delaying a visit to your hair salon, but this pigmented semi-permanent treatment is perfect for enhancing dull-coloured tones and providing that refresh that you are looking for.”

To remove unwanted brassy, yellow, and orange tones, use the Revlon Professional Re/Start Colour Anti-Brassiness Purple Drops, a gentle serum that enhances blonde, lightened, grey, or white hair tones.

Tip 2: Use Nourishing Shampoos & Conditioners

Soapy shampoos and conditioners might be the reason for your colour fading faster, leaving you to be a frequent customer at your hair salon. Kylie says, “Substituting your thick, rich shampoos and conditioners with gentler, more nourishing products will cleanse the hair more effectively and greatly extend the life of your colour.”

Look for products that are free from sulphates, which are prone to strip colour.

Tip 3: Maintain moisture

As coloured hair causes dryness, thinning, split ends, and breakage, Kylie says, “Moisturising your hair with a hair mask weekly helps to lock colour in the hair’s cuticles while also preventing further damage.”

Look for products that nourish, hydrate, and strengthen the hair, leaving it with a soft and shiny finish.

Tip 4: Cut back on heat styling tools

Your trusty straightener and curling iron may also be a leading cause for your hair fading quickly. Kylie says, “Heat opens up your hair cuticles, allowing colour to fade at a faster rate; instead, look to reduce your use of styling tools, and applying a heat protectant before styling will be a game changer in restoring the brightness of colour in between salon visits.”

A House in the Making – A Scent of things to come

For Paul James Graham, ‘Spencer Rambo’ represents the culmination of more than two decades immersed in hair, fashion and creative direction — and the beginning of something much larger. An award-winning hairdresser, educator, creative director and brand ambassador, Graham’s career has extended beyond the salon into education, editorial, competitions, judging, campaigns and major hair productions. That experience – and a reputation built over many years – now forms part of the foundation of Spencer Rambo. But Graham is not building it alone. His husband and long-time partner, Paul Dumenil, brings a different perspective. Where Graham’s career increasingly carried him beyond the salon, Dumenil remained deeply immersed within it – connected to the client, the craft and the everyday reality of creating beautiful hair. Their strengths are different, but complementary. Somewhere between Graham’s broader industry experience and Dumenil’s intimate understanding of the salon, Spencer Rambo began to take shape. Not simply as another name in haircare, but as a house – with its own point of view on beauty, fragrance, design and luxury. Its first expression is fragrance. CADENCE; In Perfect Time and ICON; Be Remembered are Spencer Rambo’s inaugural Hair & Body Perfumes. Designed to be worn through the hair and across the body, both feature an impressive 25% perfume concentrate, alongside Sodium Acetylated Hyaluronate – an advanced form of hyaluronic acid chosen for its moisture-binding properties and affinity with the hair. The fragrances themselves are deliberately distinct. CADENCE opens with aldehydes and jasmine, moving through clove, orange blossom and jasmine before settling into marine notes, amber and musk – polished, atmospheric and sensual. ICON moves differently: floral notes and vanilla give way to amber and matcha, grounded by musk, ambergris and sandalwood for warmth, depth and lingering sophistication. They are, perhaps, best understood as perfumes that happen to understand hair. CADENCE and ICON are only the first glimpse inside the house Graham and Dumenil are building. What comes next is being kept deliberately close. For now, the clues are in the legacy of their hairdressing careers – a world beginning to reveal itself. CADENCE and ICON are the invitation. Behind them, the doors to Spencer Rambo are only beginning to open. “As professional hairdressers, we never take for granted the trust someone places in us when they invest their time and money in something we create for them. we want them to feel that same genuine value when they choose Spencer Rambo – in the quality, the formulation and the experience. Luxury can be beautiful and aspirational, but above all, it should be truthful — Paul & Paul

Hair and Beauty

Your skincare routine might be outdated

A new beauty ritual is quietly making its way into daily routines, and it has little to do with serums or sheet masks. From collagen powders and gut-friendly elixirs to fasted olive oil and lemon water, “ingestible beauty” is becoming one of the biggest shifts in the wellness space as more consumers focus on beauty from the inside out. The trend reflects a broader move away from quick topical fixes and toward daily rituals designed to support skin, hair and overall wellbeing at a deeper level. For years, skincare has centred on what we apply externally. But as research around the gut-skin connection continues to grow, experts are increasingly questioning whether topical products alone are enough. “Wellness expert and Head of New Product Development at Phytologic, John Mitrev, says true skin health starts internally. “Although topical skincare does help, true beauty starts from within,” he says. “To look its radiant best, healthy, glowing skin requires that we consume crucial nutritional ingredients that support skin health from the inside out, each and every day.” The growing focus on ingestible beauty has sparked interest in ingredients designed to support visible beauty outcomes through nutrition and gut health. Marine collagen is used to help maintain the skin’s structure and elasticity, while hyaluronic acid supports hydration. Vitamins C and E provide antioxidant protection, and probiotics and postbiotics are increasingly being recognised for their ability to support both gut health and skin health. “Antioxidants protect skin from free radical damage and the resulting inflammation, often triggered by UV light,” Mitrev explains. “Collagen supports the internal structure of the skin, maintaining firmness and decreasing the appearance of wrinkles. Probiotics, meanwhile, can balance the skin’s microbiome, which impacts inflammation.” This “gut-first” approach is also driving the rise of brands such as bellyME, which focus on supporting the microbiome with targeted probiotics and postbiotics as part of a broader beauty and wellness routine. By combining gut support with ingredients like collagen, hyaluronic acid and antioxidant-rich botanicals, the aim is to support healthier skin from within, rather than relying solely on topical products. The shift also reflects changing attitudes around beauty more broadly. Increasingly, consumers are looking for routines that feel holistic, sustainable and connected to overall wellbeing, rather than chasing quick fixes or overly complicated skincare regimens. That doesn’t mean traditional skincare is disappearing any time soon. Cleansers, moisturisers and SPF still play an important role in maintaining healthy skin. But experts say the future of beauty is likely to involve a combination of internal and external care working together. The takeaway? Your skincare routine might not be wrong – it could just be incomplete.

Hair and Beauty

The Truth About “Fascia Tightening” — Marketing Myth or Real Results?

Beauty experts reveal what's really happening when treatments claim to "tighten fascia" — and which procedures actually work.

Hair and Beauty

Skin restored: The little-known treatment helping people feel whole again

Skin tells a story; a story of sunlight, laughter and sometimes, survival. What many people don’t expect, though, is how deeply medical procedures can change the way their skin looks and feels. Every year, thousands of Australians undergo treatments that save lives or restore health: mole removals, skin cancer excisions, surgical repairs, grafts and more. The priority is always recovery. But long after the medical journey is over, visible reminders often stay behind — pale or dark scars, areas of missing pigment, grafts that don’t blend with surrounding skin. For some, it’s a quiet reminder of illness, surgery or trauma. For others, it affects how confidently they see themselves. Many are told that nothing more can be done, that the scar will “settle” with time. But for a growing number of people, that’s not the end of the story. There is a next step, and it’s called medical tattooing. Medical tattooing is a specialised form of skin restoration that helps rebalance colour and camouflage areas affected by scarring or pigment loss. Unlike cosmetic tattooing, which focuses on enhancing brows or lips, medical tattooing is about restoration: helping the treated area look more like the surrounding skin. Using advanced pigments and precise micro-techniques, practitioners can reintroduce false melanin into lighter scars, soften darker marks, and create a more natural, blended appearance. “It’s about restoring normalcy,” says Kat McCann, a three-time Australian Cosmetic Tattooist of the Year. “When someone looks in the mirror and sees their skin, not their scar, it changes how they feel in their own body.” The technique can support many types of scarring, including surgical scars, accident-related injuries, burns and grafts. It helps reduce contrast, even out tone and restore visual balance. Is it right for you? Your scar or graft is fully healed, flat and stable in colour. You’ve received medical clearance following surgical or cancer-related treatment. You want to restore natural tone or reduce contrast in a visible area. Why it matters Medical tattooing isn’t about vanity, it’s about resolution. It’s often the quiet, final stage of healing that helps people reconnect with their confidence and sense of self. Did you know? • Australia has one of the highest rates of skin-cancer treatment in the world, resulting in thousands of surgical excisions every year. • Many of these procedures leave pigment loss or scar contrast that remains visible, even after full healing. • Medical tattooing provides a long-term, non-invasive way to blend these areas naturally back into the skin. About the author Kat McCann is a medical tattooist and educator, and a three-time recipient of the Australian Cosmetic Tattooist of the Year award. Through her studio, INKA Cosmetic & Medical Tattoo, she specialises in advanced scar camouflage and restorative tattooing for trauma-affected skin. Complimentary consultations are available for those wanting to know more. Visit www.inkaonlima.com to learn more.