What Trichologist Bridgette Hill Buys At the Drugstore

I’m a beauty junkie, and I’m a bather. I believe in baths as rituals for relaxation. In the winter months, my joints can get achy. Epsom salts are for when I feel stiff. Then there’s the sensory aspect with the lavender fragrance in the steam. It’s so relaxing. Also, magnesium’s very important because of my deficiencies at play. I take a supplement, but I think the Epsom salt helps retain it in the body. I typically follow up with a non-drugstore brand magnesium body spray. I usually have a great night’s sleep when I do this ritual.

When I’m not in Epsom salt, I love an oat bath. I love oatmeal on the scalp for a lot of scalp issues. I love it on my body, too, believe it or not. I love the beach, and I take oatmeal baths to restore my skin. My skin feels amazing after. I’ll also do this when I want to feel luxurious, like before an event and I want to feel glowy. I’ll follow up with my oils and sparkling creams for glowy, bronzy skin. Also it just helps to retain moisture. It’s so great for people managing skin conditions (however, like we always say, you want medical guidance with that). But if you’re just feeling itchy or irritated, soothing colloidal oatmeal is just an amazing ingredient for relief. It helps to restore and protect that skin barrier and let it do its healing work. The only downside is just the ring it leaves on my tub. I hate cleaning it up. That’s the hard part about it.

Full disclosure, I was a René Furterer girl for years. The Pierre Fabre company is a big part of my understanding of how pharmaceuticals can really impact cosmeceuticals. Pierre Fabre has made a gentle, luxurious cleanser at Avène. It does not irritate my skin. It does have a little bit of fragrance, which is sometimes hard for me, but for whatever reasons, I don’t have any issues. I don’t feel a difference from my luxury cleansers when I use this. I feel like I’m still in that same family, and it’s at a more accessible price point.

I started using Aquaphor’s ointment a while back, but the balm version really changed how I use it. It’s designed almost like a ChapStick. I love the size of it, because it fits in my travel bag. It’s in a solid form, so there’s no mess and I don’t have to think about it. I use it on my hands, my lips, pretty much everywhere. It’s just one of those must-haves in every beauty closet.

This is such an underrated product. Believe it or not, I even bring this into the salon for clients because of the shine and that lamellar technology. It’s all about layering, layering, layering conditioners and moisturizing agents to give hair that high-reflective impact. You can get that benefit with barely any commitment with this versus something like a mask or treatment. By the time you’re putting this in, you’re rinsing it out. It’s also great for clients who are very afraid of conditioning because of their hair type and texture, whether it’s too fine or too oily. This lets the hair fiber get the benefit of what true conditioning agents do, which is superficial repair, and because it’s water-based, there’s no residue.

For clients who aren’t curly or don’t heat style, this is great weightless protection as a conditioner. For curly clients or someone with hair like mine, it really helps reduce frizz. It also helps extend the longevity of my styling products because I’m already starting with this textured layer, this water-based film that’s there. My curling products really benefit, and I don’t have to use as much of it.

This is a great formula. Again, I have brought this into the salon back when I was behind the chair full time and would have assistants blow out hair before I would highlight or do color treatment. It gives the hair so much movement, but it’s still so hydrating. And it doesn’t have a film or buildup, which I sometimes can find in botanical-infused waters. The fragrance is great. It’s lightweight. You can layer your heat protectant and still have this moisturizer. You don’t necessarily need a cream-based leave-in with this. You get a good, beautiful blowout. Again, for textured, coily, and curly hair, it’s a great water-based leave-in when you just want to refresh the curls, or even if you don’t really want to put product in. Sometimes I don’t want to have that product feel in my hair, but I still need the moisture. This is that go-to for me.

This was a surprise find for me, mainly because the blueberry scared me initially. I was like, This sounds like a joke. But it’s unbelievable! I mean, I can’t tell you how many people with highly-textured, coily hair need more accessible price point products. We spend a lot of money trying to find the right thing. Then the product is not moisturizing enough or doesn’t have the definition that I need or is too greasy. This collection has done a phenomenal job. They have formulated the balance of emollients and moisturizers that are so great for truly 4C hair, if you’re going by the number system. There’s not a product in this SKU that I have not been impressed with. I lean on the shampoo when I want a hydrating cleanse that doesn’t strip my hair. I’m really impressed by how I feel cleansed without needing to follow up with a conditioning treatment. I think it’s smart. It’s a need in the market that is so hard to find reliable results. I think for a drugstore brand, they’ve done a really brilliant job.

[Editor’s note: Curls’s shampoo is currently out of stock, so we included another product from the line that’s available.]