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Usually one of four things: it's dry, the surface is rough, the colour or tone has shifted, or there's buildup sitting on it. Dull is the result — the reason is what decides the fix. Damage and fine, flat hair are the other two common causes. Work out which one you're looking at before you buy anything.

There isn't one, and anyone who names a single bottle is guessing. If the hair is dry, a mask or conditioner does more than a finishing oil. If it's coated, clarifying comes first. If the surface is rough, a smoothing serum. If it's genuinely healthy and you just want polish, that's when a finishing product is the answer.

Not necessarily. Dryness is one of several causes. Hair can be well moisturised and still look dull because the surface is rough, because there's product buildup, or because the colour has flattened. If it looks dull but doesn't feel dry, adding moisture won't fix it.

No, and this is worth getting right. Dull means the colour is still there but isn't reflecting light. Faded means the tone or intensity has genuinely changed. Dull is a shine problem; faded is a colour problem. Treating one as the other wastes money in both directions. This is also why hair often looks dull straight after a colour service — the cuticle is raised and the lengths are drier, both of which scatter light. Give it a week of proper conditioning before concluding anything about the colour itself.

Five possible reasons: dryness, damage, product buildup, mineral buildup from hard water, or tone. Only the last one is fixed by toning. Cloudy blonde is the most misdiagnosed thing we see — and reaching for purple when the cause is minerals usually makes it look worse.

No. Purple changes tone; it doesn't create shine. If your blonde is dry, damaged or coated, purple will not address any of that and can make dull blonde look flatter. Check what the hair feels like before you reach for pigment — if it feels rough or coated, that's your answer.

Yes, and it's one of the most common causes. Styling product, conditioning residue and hard-water minerals form a film on the surface that stops light reflecting. The tell is that the hair feels coated as well as looking dull, and that products seem to have stopped working. Hard water is the version of this that catches people out — minerals deposit over time, lightened hair picks them up most readily, and it shows as a dingy or greyish cast that no amount of conditioning improves.

Only if the hair also feels coated or heavy. Clarifying strips the surface, which is exactly right when there's a film on it and exactly wrong when the hair is simply dry. If it feels dry rather than coated, clarifying will make it worse.

Oils are usually about softness, nourishment and polish; serums are usually about the surface — smoothing, frizz control and shine. Both run from ultra-light to rich, so neither is automatically the heavier option. The weight on each product card tells you more than the format does.

A shine spray deposits a fine layer of light-reflecting finish with very little conditioning weight. An oil delivers conditioning as well as polish. If your hair goes flat easily, the spray is usually the better answer; if the lengths are genuinely dry, the oil is doing more.

A leave-in is a care step applied to damp hair before styling — moisture, detangling and protection, with shine as a secondary benefit. A finishing product goes on at the end to add polish. A leave-in is not automatically a finishing product, which is why we list them separately.

A gloss treatment improves the surface during the routine — in the shower or as a treatment step — and the result lasts through several washes. A finishing serum sits on the surface at the end of styling and washes out. Different commitment, different persistence.

A product that names high gloss, mirror or glass finish specifically — not just any oil. We've only assigned High Gloss to products whose own copy claims it, so filtering by that goal gives you the real list rather than everything shiny-adjacent.

Something light with a soft sheen rather than a reflective finish. A light leave-in, a balanced conditioner, or a small amount of a lightweight finishing product. Filter by Natural Shine — the goal is movement and health, not reflection.

A mist or a very light serum, on the mids and ends only, in a smaller amount than feels right. Fine hair collapses under conditioning weight, so a lightweight product used properly beats a rich one used carefully. Filter by Weightless Shine or by Lightweight. And yes, a rich oil really can flatten fine hair — it is the most common reason someone concludes shine products don't work on them. The fix is a lighter format and less of it, not giving up on the idea.

You can carry a richer product, and often need one — a light mist may simply not cover a surface that size. Richer oils, smoothing serums, conditioning creams and masks all work. Filter by Rich + Polished.

Mid-lengths and ends, almost always. The root area produces its own oil and doesn't need help, and product at the root is what makes hair look greasy rather than glossy. You don't have to oil the whole head to finish the ends. Whether a product goes on damp or dry hair depends on the formula rather than the format — the application on each product card tells you which, and using a damp-hair product on dry hair is a common reason results disappoint.

Something targeted at the mids and ends rather than the whole head — an oil, serum or leave-in, chosen by whether the ends are dry, rough, coloured or damaged. Ends are older than the rest of your hair and usually need a different level of care than the root area.

A shine mist or lightweight shine drops. Both deposit a reflective finish with minimal conditioning payload. Filter by Weightless Shine to see only the products whose makers claim that specifically.

It can — a smooth blow-dry closes the cuticle and a closed cuticle reflects light. That's why a salon blowout looks glossier than air-dried hair. It's also why heat protection matters: the same heat that smooths the surface damages it without protection.

Only if that product's manufacturer actually verifies thermal protection. We mark heat protection on this page only from a verified claim — never because something is an oil or a serum or has 'blowdry' in the name. If a product isn't marked, treat it as no protection.

Colour-safe finishing products, and non-pigmented colour care where the colour itself is fine. If the tone has genuinely shifted, that's a colour-care question rather than a shine one. Filter by Colour Gloss for shine, or by Shine + Colour Care for products that do both.

Curl reflects light differently from straight hair — you're aiming for definition and softness rather than a flat reflective surface, so a light oil or serum on defined curls does more than a smoothing product would. Our Curl + Texture range is where we'd start.

Yes, and it's usually a two-minute conversation. Tell us what your hair looks like, what it feels like, and whether the problem is dryness, frizz, colour, buildup or simply wanting more polish. Getting the cause right is most of the job — the product almost picks itself after that.