Anti-frizz for hair? Yes please!

Unless you've been gifted with poker-straight locks or lustrous corkscrew curls, Britain's weather is terrible for hair.

The perpetual sogginess is an ideal condition for frizz, and the worse of it is that it can strike at any time - usually when you've just spent an age blow-drying your hair.

As someone who has spent an entire lifetime trying to tame her hair, it's become something of an obsession.

Permanent straightening treatments are great but often leave your hair feeling a bit flat, and the last treatment I tried was a Brazilian blow-dry - which was underwhelming to say the least.

I found myself spending as much time trying to control it before the treatment, and after a few washes, I felt the shine had slightly gone from my hair.

Since then, it has emerged that some Brazilian blowdrys use formaldehyde as their active ingredient to straighten the hair, and although you can now get treatments that don't use the chemical, I wasn't that happy with it in the first place to try it again.

Then Yuko, the Japanese company behind the eponymous hair-straightening treatment, brought in Anti-frizz by Yuko. I've experienced its permanent straightening treatment with excellent results - my hair needs almost no blow-drying and it's shiny to the point where you'll need sunglasses. And, it's the perfect middle ground for those who don't want poker-straight hair or to commit to a permanent treatment.

Anti-frizz lasts three months - the same period as the Brazilian treatment - and you need to use products that don't have sulphates in them, as these strip the keratin from the hair. It is handy then, that Yuko has just launched its new range of products.

On the day I go to the salon in Mayfair, London, it is blissfully quiet - it operates for clients but mainly as a training hub for other hairdressers.

Emmi, my stylist, begins by explaining: "This isn't designed to make it straight, it's all about smoothing and controlling frizz."

Japan has the strictest laws, apparently, on using chemicals in beauty products, so this treatment uses natural protein. Anti-frizz also doesn't use a high temperature to set the hair - Emmi says anything above 190C blisters and creates white specks. And there is soya in the products.

I'm told it will take 90 minutes, and after washing my hair, Emmi sprays it with a pH balance because shampoo is alkaline.

The first step is to apply solution 1 - this opens the cuticle and softens the bonds in the hair. Emmi starts at the back of my head because she explains: "This is where the hair is always the strongest."

Unlike the straightening system - which has strict rules, including one that dictates you can't use it on damaged hair - you can have Anti-frizz whatever your hair type, even if it is coloured or brittle. Solution 1 is left on the hair for around 15 minutes and then it is washed off.

Solution 2 smells like green apples, and after my hair is washed, straightened and dried, it seriously looks like hair from a Pantene ad. Or a posh wig. After Emmi spritzes some serum on it, it literally gleams.

The real test, however, comes after I have to wash and dry my own hair and four weeks on, it is still one of the best anti-frizz treatments I've tried. My hair hasn't lost any of its lustre, and when the heavens open, well, let's just say I take my time scrabbling for the umbrella.

Anti-frizz by Yuko starts at £150, but goes up depending on the length of hair as well as the volume. Visit the website or call 020 7629 7555 to book an appointment.