Lather up with this volumizing shampoo, and your hair immediately feels different—like there’s actually more of it. (Don’t worry, that doesn’t mean it’s bushy.) Fructose and glucose coat hair shafts to give them more volume, while vitamins B3 and B6 strengthen strands and lock in moisture.

Best For: Lifeless hair in need of body and bounce

Best Styling Product
PureOlogy DryShine Style ($20)

Smooth this gold-flecked pomade through damp or dry strands, and you get just enough control to keep hair in place without any sticky residue. It also has heliogenol, a UV-protecting sunflower-seed extract, that prevents color-treated hair from fading in sunlight.

Best For: Light-to-medium hold

Best Conditioner
Burt’s Bees Grapefruit & Sugar Beet Conditioner ($7.99)

You’ll be able to run a comb through even the kinkiest of tresses after using this lightweight conditioner. Essential oils, including lemon, lime, and tangerine, are to thank for the unmistakable shine that looks glossy but not greasy.

Best For: Dry or damaged hair

1. Shampoo: 365 Everyday Value Shampoo from Whole Foods Market. Worth a trip to Whole Foods, this shampoo (which comes in three scents, as well as fragrance-free) cleanses without stripping the scalp. It’s free of parabans, artificial fragrances, and genetically engineered ingredients. ($1.99)

2. Hairstyling product: Dove Intense Damage Therapy Heat Shield Spray. Flat irons, curling irons, and blow-dryers, oh my! Dry and damaged hair gets help from this conditioning spray. How it works: Silicone droplets coat the hair and absorb the heat, so your hair doesn’t have to. ($3.78 )

  3. Deep-conditioning treatment: Garnier Fructis Strength & Repair Instant Melting Masque. This creamy conditioner with a subtle apple aroma uses moisture-carrying lipid molecules (known as ceramides) to repair damage caused by harsh chemical treatments and overuse of styling products, judge Sandra S. Tsao says. Its moisturizing avocado and apricot oils help make dry hair healthy again. ($3.99)

4. Hair conditioner: Biolage Cooling Mint Conditioner. A must-have if you’re prone to breakouts around your hairline. Glycerin controls oil production while a combination of green tea, mallow root, and aqua oils protect against self-imposed stresses like your high-watt blow-dryer. ($14) 

Ten years ago, we noticed more and more products promising health and beauty, so we put together a panel of dermatologists to select the best. A decade later, the bar is still being raised, as you can tell by our 2008 beauty winners. You don’t have to go far to find these favorites; most are at drugstores and department stores nationwide.

Lisa M. Donofrio, MD, an associate clinical professor of dermatology at Yale University School of Medicine, was glad to see diversity in the products on the shelves. “Companies are really starting to take into consideration a wider range of ethnicities and age groups,” Donofrio says.

Grace H. Pak, MD, a board-certified cosmetic dermatologist with a private practice in New York City, was excited by the increasing number of green products. Beauty companies “are all using botanical ingredients and more recycled material for packaging,” Pak says.

Sandra S. Tsao, MD, an associate program director for procedural dermatology at Harvard Medical School, was impressed with the reduction of potential allergens in products. “This makes more products accessible to even the most sensitive individuals,” Tsao says.

By Rozalynn S. Frazier and Colleen Sullivan

Earache relief
Warm olive oil can soothe your child’s (or your) achy ear, says Rachel Lewis, MD, a pediatrician at Columbia University Medical Center. (Note: Only for kids 2 and up.) Use a syringe to place 2 to 4 drops of warm oil in ear (5 to 10 in your own). Follow up with doctor.

Stainless steel polish
Stainless steel appliances are magnets for fingerprint smudges. Make those marks vanish by applying a very light layer of olive oil with a soft cloth in a circular motion, says Catherine Houska, consultant to the Specialty Steel Association.

  Dry-hair conditioner
Revive damaged hair with this treatment from John Masters of John Masters Organics hair- and skin-care lines: Saturate hair with extra-virgin olive oil, then wrap with a warm towel for 20 minutes. Shampoo, rinse, and condition if needed.

Skin soother
Olive oil’s essential fatty acids are a natural Rx for rough elbows, hands, and cuticles, says dermatologist Lisa Donofrio, MD, of the Yale University School of Medicine. Nightly, rub a small amount of the extra-virgin variety into parched skin.