Q.  My shampoo has changed its perfume and it is now so horrid I don't use it any more.  I have tried many of the affordable supermarket-type brands but I find all the scents metallic and harsh.  Please can you find out if there is anything with the ingredient panthenol and which would thicken fine hair, with a lovely smell?  I am on a budget but would pay a reasonable amount for something good.  A.  We think the problem with a lot of very inexpensive shampoos is that no matter how good they are at their job, they are formulated with a cocktail of mainly synthetic chemicals. Our advice is to go for a product using more natural ingredients, which – we hope – will suit your sensitive nose.  However, fragrance is such an individual experience we cannot – sadly – predict for certain that the scent we find delicious will strike your olfactory nerves the same way. As you say, one can’t always smell hair care products from the bottle before buying.  So, generally, we recommend buying them in travel sizes if possible. There is a promising product, which contains panthenol (vitamin B-5) plus lots of other natural goodies, called Rice Protein Volumizing Shampoo by Peter Lamas.  It comes with a matching conditioner.  Each costs £16 for 360 ml from Victoria Health - buy here.

In our book The Anti-Ageing Beauty Bible, we trialled  ‘Volumising Haircare’ and we are going to suggest some products that did brilliantly in this.  There are also invaluable tips in the book from top stylist Andreas Wild at the John Frieda salon in Mayfair for dealing with fine or thinning hair.  (Just in case you feel tempted to acquire a copy, www.victoriahealth.com has signed copies of the latest edition of The Anti-Ageing Beauty Bible for £10.99.)

The first shampoo and matching conditioner to wow our testers was the amazingly named Yes to Tomatoes Tomato Volumizing Shampoo, with its partnering Daily Volumizing Conditioner.   Boasting potent antioxidants plus 26 Dead Sea minerals, this duo is 99.6 per cent natural and available at www.victoriahealth.com - buy here.  The 'Yes to' ranges are very popular with testers for our 'Beauty Steals Awards', who universally rave about what extraordinarily good value they are.

Secondly, we would like to bring your attention to another niche brand, in this case from London hair salon Gielly Green.  Their Gielly Green Volume Shampoo comes under the ‘more natural than most’ heading, and does not contain any synthetic fragrances.  One of our testers described the scent as ‘green/citrus/unisex’.

Both were awarded glowing comments from our testers for leaving hair thicker, glossier and more manageable… and ‘much, much better than normal shampoos’...

•  Peter Lamas Rice Protein Volumizing Shampoo and Conditioner/£16 for 360 ml at www.victoriahealth.com - buy here  

•  Yes to Tomatoes Tomato Volumizing Shampoo and Conditioner/£8.99 each at www.victoriahealth.com - buy here  

•  Gielly Green Volume Shampoo/£16 for 200 ml at www.johnbellcroyden.co.uk - buy here