For as long as I’ve been in the hair business, I and all the other hairstylist that I’ve worked with are constantly being asked about the difference between salon products and those hair care products that you can buy over the counter. The general population is very skeptical about the product lines that hairstylist use and recommend in the salon. Much of their skepticism is influenced by what they hear about hair care products from time to time and from different sources. They hear reports and discussions on the TV and radio stations and many times by people that don’t work in the industry.
I’ve been in the hair business for about 38 years now. During my career as a hairstylist and educator I’ve had the opportunity to work with many manufacturers representatives and in some cases been in training with the chemist that make hair styling products. From all of the discussions and classes and materials that I’ve read and products that I’ve worked with, it really all boils down to a few main, it very important) differences between salon products and those that you purchase over the counter; THE QUALITY OF INGREDIENTS, and packaging. You might liken the difference between salon products and over the counter to the difference between grades of steak, i.e., prime versus regular cuts of meat. Perhaps the difference between finely woven silk fabric and cotton, or the difference between fine china and everyday dishes.
When formulating the products, the chemist have many choices for ingredients. Those ingredients, like anything else that we purchase, have levels of quality. The more expensive products are so because of what goes into making them. they use the higher grade (highly concentrated) quality of ingredients and also add more of everything, including vitamins and conditioners to those products. Those higher quality ingredients are also added in more concentration then the less expensive products that you find over the counter. The same manufacturers that manufacture salon products also make the over-the-counter products (lesser grade) that are found in many retail outlets. As I said, like everything that’s manufactured there’s a difference between what is manufactured for the high end salon and those that are manufactured for more consumer-based outlets.
You may or may not have noticed that the products you find in salons usually have a more unique and glamorous type packaging. Those types of packaging cost more money. That cost is passed on to consumers. Because of the expense of the product are often times manufactured in smaller bottles to make it more appealing to the salon goers.
Because of these differences, the higher concentration of ingredients and the higher quality, it enables you to use less of the products to get better results. In many cases it boils down to preference, and economics-What do you want and what you can afford.
No it wouldn’t be fair if I didn’t tell you that these over-the-counter products will clean your hair, condition your hair, and style your hair. But the way that they leave your hair, and the degree to which they dry or damage your hair are of more importance to some people than others. Similarly there’s a difference between the product with which you clean your oven or the one with which you clean your fine delicate laundry. One is more harsh than the other. They are not designed to do the same job.
Here’s an example: someone shampoos her hair with XYZ shampoo it says lather rinse repeat. The same day that product gives the hair lots of body and shine. The next day the hair is limp and fly away. The reason for this is that the Product may have been too harsh for that particular texture or condition of hair and removed too much moisture from the hair. So logic says shampoo again to get back to body and shine. So it’s necessary to shampoo more to get the desired results. The reason for that is that the more you repeat the process the more porous you make the hair, which in turn allows the hair to lose moisture more readily and so the only solution is to shampoo again (with that porosity in mind) To get more of the conditioning that gave the hair the body! It can be a vicious cycle leaving the person to think that there’s no solution for her hair. So people try shampoo after shampoo after shampoo looking for different results when really they should go to the salon.
We could go on and analyze each and every product but suffice it to say that in essence it is the quality of ingredients that allows a product to deliver the promised results.
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