Have you ever googled “Hardest words to spell?” Niche, Sarah. What have you got up your sleeve this week? You see I did the other day to find out if my nemesis word was on there.
I found “insouciant”, “milieu” and “fuchsia” (to be fair this one gets me every time), but my word was missing, and that’s jooj — or is it joosh? Zhuzj? Or maybe zooj?! For heaven’s sake, Sarah, explain yourself. It’s the word that hairstylists have used for decades to describe that indescribable, “something-something” tussle movement that makes hair look great.
Now I need never type the word, squint at the screen, question myself, delete and eventually resort to Google again because the hair guru Luke Hersheson launches his long-awaited Zhoosh Foam (£12) on Sunday. “We went back and forth deciding whether to go for that name as everyone has different ways of spelling it,” he says. Fair play, I feel their pain, having so far debated this with five people who are dead certain that it’s actually “zhuzh”.
Now I’ve got that off my chest: what is it and who needs it? Well, according to Hersheson, who has tested it on his regular clients such as Victoria Beckham, Dua Lipa and Keira Knightley: “You’re in for a treat if you have fine, flyaway-prone hair.” So is it a volumiser? A mousse? A hairspray? Simple answer: it’s an amalgamation of all three.
For Hersheson, “zhoosh is a bit of oomph, grit and attitude. It’s that thing you can’t put your finger on that brings hair to life.” He describes his new-gen foam, which looks and feels a bit like a men’s shaving cream, as the modern way of adding pizzazz and volume, but — and it’s a big but — he’s quick to point out this is not a typical volumiser. “Historically most volumising products were better left to the pros. So many clients would feed back that they found them sticky or that their hair went crispy.” This, however, can be used and layered and used again, and somehow the texture just keeps getting better — never crispy, I promise.
Advertisement
The idea is that you apply to dry hair and it will work its magic. “It’s made up of thickening agents and alcohol, so you’ll see that it doesn’t wet the hair.” Here are examples of how to incorporate it. If your concern is flat, oily roots, rub it into roots and it will absorb the oil and give hair some oomph. If your hair feels lank and limp from the mid-lengths to ends (this happens to me when I’m overdue a haircut), scrunch it in for extra texture and a relaxed wave. If you have second-day flatness, use it all over to give life and volume. That’s not to say it has no place in wet hair: “You can use it on wet hair if you want a bouncy blow-dry. Smooth it into roots to prime and prep for extra body and boldness.”
I’ve been using it for a week and keep slipping it into my handbag for on the go. Every time I look in the mirror and think my hair is verging on floppy and meh, I scrunch this in for a caffeine hit. So many hair products overpromise and underdeliver, so this is a real breath of fresh hair (oh, Sarah!).
Hersheson Zhoosh Foam is available from Sunday
