Now that men are spending more time in front of the mirror than ever before, Shoptalk searches out the hair gels that hold their style.

ONCE upon a time it was Denis Compton and Brylcreem. Now it's David Ginola and L'Oreal. Men have always taken their hair much more seriously than we think.

And there are almost as many shelves devoted to male hair shampoos, gels, mousses and waxes as there are for products for women.

Teenage boys spend as much time as their sisters in front of the mirror. And the first sign that your boy is becoming a man is when the styling wax takes its place among the smelly socks and football boots. Doesn't change much in the next ten or 20 years...

Hair products have to do two things

(1) make hair look good

(2) help it stay that way for more than two minutes.

Not many we tested did both. If they were fairly easy to style with, it means they closely resembled glue and left hands and hair feeling sticky and horrible. And if the style lasted all day, it often meant that the gel was like concrete and about as appealing - and hard to wash out. If they had a nice, easy texture it usually meant they were hopeless.

We mentioned the packaging too - because that was important to our younger testers. Don't want to look as if you're using something that looks like your old dad - or your older grandad - could use. And who was Denis Compton anyway?

The other problem was that some of them smelt very odd. Well, OK, let's be honest, they stank. If our testers wanted to keep the style AND the girlfriend, they had to choose carefully.

BEST FOR STYLING

BRYLCREEM STRONG WAX

"Wicked"..... "Gunky but good" "Texture is almost like glue - no wonder it works." But has that distinctive Brylcreem smell - possibly unchanged since Denis Compton's days..

BRYLCREEM EASY WASH WAX

Still very sticky. And those tubs are seriously uncool.

SPEEDO PROTEK PERFORMANCE

"Very easy to use. Good results". Smelt nice too. Nice bright green packaging gives it street cred.

L'OREAL HIGH GLOSS

"Good styler", "Does the job" Smells nice.

CHARLES WORTHINGTON HAIR STYLING GEL

"Wicked styling." Horrible packaging. Very strong smell - enough to overpower those socks.

BEST FOR STAYING POWER

After all that effort on the styling - our testers practically arranged every hair individually - it was a bit of a shame when the carefully created edifice collapsed very quickly. "They all say they keep the shape and shine, " said one tester, "But they don't and you end up looking like a real no hoper"

TREVOR SORBIE MOULDING MUD

"Kept its shape even when you ruffled it, well for a while anyway"

CHARLES WORTHINGTON

"Brilliant staying power"

L'OREAL HIGH GLOSS

BRYLCREEM WAXES

ONLY AVERAGE

ALBERTO BALSAM WET LOOK STYLING GEL

BRYLCREEM MODELLING GEL

LYNX SHORT STUFF STYLING WAX

URBAN RITES HAIR MANAGER

OVERALL FAVOURITE

L'OREAL HIGH GLOSS

Not the strongest styler not the longest lasting - but the best combination of both and has the rare bonus of smelling nice - which should keep the girlfriends happy.