Sarah might be suffering just a teeny bit of hair care envy this week. The reason? Anna, a neighbour and dear friend in Dorset was in dire hair distress so Sarah walked over an – obviously essential – care package (left at the bottom of Anna’s drive, FYI) with samples of Azure, the new natural vegan line created by Lesley Clarke, co-founder of the Nicky Clarke hair empire.

There are four ranges in the AZURE line up: as well as Rescue & Repair – the one that Anna’s been using, there’s Smooth & Curl, Healthy Shine and Amplify for thinning hair. This morning, a rave review came winging into Sarah’s in box. Thus the angst – though that was alleviated (almost…) by a warm fuzzy feeling of  ‘having been really generous’.

Anna has grey hair that she usually colours a deep auburn. She describes it as ‘menopausal, disappointing-type hair that’s a shadow of my former luxe waves, due to years of rough treatment followed by a sharp drop in hormones’. Her usual routine is to condition it intensively several times throughout the week with oils and conditioners and get out the straighteners at least once to smooth the frizz. But, she writes (and you can tell the words are beaming with delight), ‘this week has changed all that.’

She washed and conditioned it once with AZURE Rescue & Repair Revolutionary Shampoo and Conditioner and ‘It was shiny and smooth and silky,’ she reports. ‘Then just FIVE DAYS LATER – and I’ve never been able to leave it that long before - I washed, masked and conditioned it (NB that’s the Azure order of play), using the Intense Mask, which you leave for five to ten minutes. Again, glossy manageable hair and NO FRIZZ! My straighteners haven’t been out of their drawer – and that’s not because current times dictate messy Up-do’s and sweatpants chic!’

Anna loves the cheerful ‘Cavalli-style’, blue/green/gold signature packaging and the ‘reassuringly expensive’ smell of coconut and yuzu. But, as she points out, the prices are a whole lot less costly than that yummy smell implies, starting from £9.99 for 250ml for the AZURE Rescue & Repair Revolutionary Shampoo and AZURE Rescue & Repair Revolutionary Conditioner, and £10.99 for 150ml for the AZURE Rescue & Repair Revolutionary intense Mask.

A note from Lesley Clarke here to say that she created AZURE after developing skin intolerances some years back. It’s free from potentially irritating synthetic chemicals including sulphates, parabens and silicones so it’s suitable for anyone with skin allergies or sensitivities. Oh, and super good marks for AZURE’s sugarcane bottles, which are 100% renewable including the caps and labels.

Find the whole AZURE range at boots.com.

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