After much hype, Mizani, the specialist hair care range from L'Oréal has finally hit these shores. Mizani (I'm told the word means "balance" in Swahili) has been a cult product in the US for 15 years. Sold as one of the very few premium products only for Afro hair, it's a world away from many of the dated, cheap-looking offerings we have had to put up with over the years.

A key principle behind Mizani is exclusivity, and as such you will not find it on a supermarket shelf near you. Neither will you find it next to the bags of synthetic hair and industrial jars of cocoa butter at your nearest "black" chemist (although I say black chemist, very few actually have a black proprietor - why is that?). As of this month, you will, however, find it at a few carefully selected upmarket salons specialising in Afro hair. At the moment there are only six, all in London, but L'Oréal promises a national roll-out soon.

The collection (shampoos, conditioners, relaxers, colours and styling products for relaxed and natural hair), is wide and varied, with prices starting at £8.50 for shampoo, to £15.25 for a rose conditioning hair dress. I'm still working my way through the range but what I have tried (shampoo, conditioner, night-time treatment) has rescued my hair from its usual midsummer frizz. More impressively, I was in a salon recently and had one of those "I want what she's having" moments, only to be told the woman whose tresses I was admiring had come in to test-run the range.

Redken Men also launched this summer, which means there is now a range that black men don't have to feel embarrassed to have in their bathroom. Finally, there's the Phyto range; it's not new but I thought it worth a mention because, due to its exclusivity, it doesn't get the attention (or praise) it deserves.

· Mizani, 0800 072 6699; Redken Men, 0800 444880; Phytospecific, 020-7620 1771