How hair hit new heights

It's a bit like the mini-skirt index that relates the height of hemlines to movements in the economy. The worse the economic reality, the higher those hairstyles climb.

It's also the result of the top session stylists - the ones who do all the fashion shows and are allowed to let their imaginations run riot - showing off just what they can do, aided and abetted by the latest developments in product technology (Christopher Kane's looks were created by the Tigi Creative Team using Your Highness Thickening Gel Creme from their Catwalk range; £9.50, www.catwalkbytigi.com).

There are products that can smooth unruly curls, or create curls in straight hair; others to eliminate frizz or create shine.

In the real world, we tend to want hair big rather than just plain high; to have the luxuriant tumbling tresses of Cheryl Cole or the loose waves that those Gossip Girl ladies love.

Even the shortest haircuts are majoring on volume just now, like Rihanna's volumetric "undercut" or the artful hair-sculpture favoured by Elly Jackson of La Roux. Choose your style, pick your products and off you go.

How to have high hair

Use a volumising shampoo and conditioner, whether it's Herbal Essences Weightless Volume Shampoo (£2.29) or Shu Uemura's Muroto Volume Amplifying Shampoo, £20, 0800 633 5021.

These have special ingredients that either coat the hairs to thicken them or encourage the hairs to stand away from each other.

Don't be scared of styling products. If you use too little, you won't get results, if you use too much, you'll end up a sticky mess - so yes, you need to practise with them, but don't let that put you off.

Two tricks for greater lift without resorting to hair pieces and back-combing: with tongs or straighteners, grab sections of hair close to the scalp and hoist them vertically for a few seconds or, in time-honoured fashion, apply your chosen product (Realhair's Root Lift, £14, 020 7589 0877, works a treat) and dry your hair upside down.

Think texture. The most extraordinary product of the year has to be Microweb Fiber from Sebastian Professional (£13.50, available in Selfridges from November).

Spread a blob over your palms, pat them together and watch as the stuff expands into a spider's-web of floss that can then be rubbed into roots or smoothed through hair, then moulded and styled at will, up, out, over to the side.

Another quick route to texture is via dry shampoo.

An ultra-fine powder, designed to de-grease hair and make it look good for another day, it is much loved by stylists for adding volume and thickness.

Try Trevor Sorbie's new Dry Shampoo (£4.99 at Boots) or James Brown's handbag-sized can of Dry Shampoo, £1.98 at Boots.

Heated appliances can work wonders (please, please, use a heat-protection spray. You want to style, not fry, your hair).

I'm still hooked on my heated rollers (old-fashioned but they do a great job) but can tell you that Andrew Barton's triple-barrelled Making Waves device makes short work of creating loose beachy waves on any length of hair (£30, at major retailers), while BaByliss's latest Pro 230 "Straight & Curl" Straighteners have bevelled edges, which makes them brilliant for creating curls, too (£50 at Boots).