Root cover-ups: Beauty Lab

Root cover-ups: Beauty Lab

The latest product craze? DIY root cover-up. For as celebrity colourist Josh Wood explains: "When it comes to down to changing your hair colour, nine out of 10 times, it's just about covering grey. I have clients who simply wouldn't be able to go to work with grey roots coming through. A superstar singer, a city lawyer - either way, they need to see me every 10 days. And not everyone has time for that!" Much more convenient are the handbag-sized root cover-ups flooding the market. Here we road-test the new on-the-go colour tools.

Color Wow root cover up, £28.50; colorwowhair.com
Like the Kate Bush same-named song, this is already a wondrous classic. Use the narrow brush to define your eyebrows and the thicker one to dab away those pesky greys in your mane. Soft, natural-looking colour that you can build on through several washes, and available in 6 shades, this remains the product to beat. If it were permanent it would be a 10. 9/10
Charles Worthington Instant Root Concealer, £9.99; boots.com
Charles Worthington is a lovely man and a very successful hairdresser. This product, however, is neither. What's needed for this high sensitive job is a highly sensitive tool with precision aim. This was like being blasted with a mud cannon, with the predictable effect. My hair looked cloggy - who knew that was even possible? - and felt worse. 1/10
Alterna 2-minute Root Touch-up, £24.95; lookfantastic.com
No dramatic change, but this product does take the edge off any dark roots, which makes it a good tool to eke out time between salon appointments. It does however take two washes to get rid of the tacky cream after application. 6/10
Bumble and Bumble Hair Powder, £28.00; bumbleandbumble.co.uk
A little goes a long way, and this works like a combination of a dry shampoo and a strong hairspray. The colour deposit covered up my roots subtly but effectively, but the aerosol meant one had to aim accurately. 7/10
Giorgio Armani Eye and Brow Maestro, £26.50; armanibeauty.co.uk
Once I'd got the hang of this - the trick is to mix it with enough water - I loved the portability of this little pot, which can also be used on eyebrows and eye-lids. A true multi-tasker and very natural-looking. 8/10
Josh Wood Blending Wand, £12.50; marksandspencer.com
This product is a slightly terrifying dark sludgy brown when you pump it out, and it felt a bit like putting make-up in my hair, but the colour evened out when I applied it and looked good. The neat applicator brush made for very easy application too. 8/10