You hear it every time you go into the salon..."what shampoo and conditioner are you using?" "__insert store brand here__" "ohhhhhh.....well....I really would recommend ________"
Are the stylists being pushy, or is there really a good reason they're recommending salon brand shampoo, conditioner and styling products?
Let's review.
If you don't currently use salon products, have you EVER come home and recreated your hair to look and feel how it did in the salon after your stylist did it? I always hear that the client can never recreate the look. Can you get close? Believe it or not, but a large reason for this is the shampoo and conditioner, a smaller part the styling product, and then technique. Yes, I listed technique last. If a 10 year old girl can flat iron her hair, so can you.
On an emotional level, often times the products in the salon are produced in pretty bottles, nice scents, and with very specific things that they "treat." You might be someone that buys hair products based on the smell, or how pretty the bottle looks and you're not alone! Emotional purchases are one of many reasons people spend money.
If you're more scientific, you may need to know what research there is to back the theory that salon brands are better. Using basic math, we know that quality ingredients cost more, even in bulk, they cost more. So right off the bat, you get what you pay for. But what are you paying for?
Here's an ingredient list for Suave shampoo (approx $1.50 a bottle)
Tropical Coconut Shampoo
Water (Aqua), Ammonium Lauryl Sulfate, Ammonium Laureth Sulfate, Ammonium, Chloride, Cocamide MEA, PEG-5 Cocamide, Glycol Distearate, Cocamidopropyl Betaine, Fragrance (Parfum), Hydroxypropyl Methylcellulose, Polyquaternium-10, Tetrasodium EDTA, DMDM Hydantoin, Citric Acid, Ammonium Xylenesulfonate, Propylene Glycol, Isopropyl Palmitate, Tocopheryl Acetate [Vitamin E Acetate], Methylchloroisothiazolinone, Silk Amino Acids, Methylisothiazolinone, Honey, Urtica Dioica (Nettle) Extract, Rosmarinus Officinalis (Rosemary) Leaf Extract, Cocos Nucifera (Coconut) Fruit Extract
Water you know, but remember you can't tell how much water is in the mixture. You may be paying for diluted shampoo causing you to have to use more, and buy the shampoo more often to be effective.
Next there are sulfates. What is a sulfate? Sulfates are what is commonly used in soaps. It breaks down grit and grease by increasing the surface tension between water and an object, foams up and gets things clean. Did you know sulfuric acid is a sulfate? You know when you drop sulfuric acid on objects it foams and bubbles as it's burning? Diluted sulfuric acid is doing that to the oil on your hair.
Ammonium is a compound that's formed from ammonia. Also known as the waste product of animals. Ammonia salts of nitrogen are explosive.
Chloride is an ion formed from chlorine. It's corrosive. When bonded to ammonium to form ammonium chloride it's commonly used as an acid.
Silk amino acids are silk protein. Which doesn't do you much good because your hair is made of keratin protein, so it doesn't hold or stick or absorb, but it does coat your hair leaving it feeling soft.
Cocamide MEA and DEA are more sulfates made of the fatty oils of coconut. They foam and cleanse as well. They are very irritating to the skin and can cause severe allergic reactions.
So in summary - suave is: water, sulfates, silk protein and fragrance.
In contrast, only a couple dollars more for a bottle (approx $7) and still available in many beauty departments at grocers and departments stores, there's Bed Head products by TIGI.
Bed Head Tigi Moisture Maniac: Aqua (Water) Sodium laureth sulfate, cocamidopropyl betaine, lauryl glucoside, alcohol denat. (sd alcohol 40) glycol stearate, sodium chloride, polyquaternium-10, hydrosypropyl methycellulose, fragrance, panthenol, dmdm hydantoin, tetrasodium edta, ampisostearoyl hydrolyzed wheat protein, methylparaben, propylparaben, yellow 6, red 33, yellow 5, red 4 and blue 1.
First difference - suave's 26 ingredients to tigi's 21 including coloring.
There's still sulfates in them, however there is only one kind. It's not as good as sulfate free shampoo, but it is less damaging. The cocamidopropyl betaine is the synthetic compound from coconut oil that is made to replace the severely irritating cocamide MEA/DEA and be more gentle on the skin.
Lauryl Glucoside is a compound made from lauryl alcohol (a water insoluble solid with a floral fragrance often used as an emollient) and glucose (simple sugar).
Alcohol denat is denatured alcohol. It's added to make the shampoo taste bad...probably to keep children from drinking it.
Glycol stearte is an emulsion. There are preservatives, coloring, vitamin B, etc also in the shampoo.
So, in summary the TIGI is water, a smaller amount of sulfates including a less irritating chemical substituted for what is used in the cheaper stuff, fragrance, and vitamins.
There are other brands like Pravana that doesn't use ANY sulfates. As per their website: Our unique brand infuses all shampoos and conditioners with Pravana’s Proprietary Naturceutical Complex™, comprised of nine time-proven Meso-American botanicals known for their therapeutic and healing properties teamed with three different hydrolyzed proteins to enhance hair’s strength, elasticity, and shine from the inside out. Pravana’s Shampoo are exclusively sulfate, sulfite, and salt-free. All Pravana hair care formulas are also free of cocamide DEA and MEA, and contain no phthalates or other hazardous ingredients. We employ no animal testing or animal ingredients in our products.
So now that you know what goes into shampoos and what you're paying for - why does it mean you can't recreate the look at home?
Simply put, cheap shampoos dry your hair too much and irritate the skin causing your scalp to overproduce oil to compensate. I'm not even going to go into depth about conditioners, but animal fat and wax is widely used in cheap conditioners to make your hair feel soft, covering up the dryness. Using the cheap stuff might make your hair FEEL ok, but it doesn't mean it's healthy.
Healthy hair is shiny, soft, manageable and has elasticity. Damaged dry hair is frizzy, brittle and dull. Healthy hair has a pH of 4.5-5.5...damaged hair is all over the place. Our hair is naturally slightly acidic, but sometimes the shampoos and conditioners we use alter the balance...opening the cuticle and leaving it open for chemicals to get into the hair, weakening the structure, and drying it out.
So now you know even though your hair might not feel dry, it IS dry, preventing you from being able to style it the same way your stylist does. (Also, ever noticed you can go 3 sometimes even 4 days after getting your hair done in a salon and still have it look great, but you can't do that with your own products?)
Believe it or not, salons are not in business to sell you hair products. Salons are in business to keep your hair healthy and looking its best. You'll never keep customers in your chair whose hair looks awful. Companies like suave, pantene, etc are in business to make money. They don't care about the health of your hair, and if you have a problem, will be very quick to give you a coupon or something as they have no personal investment in you. A salon knows that it doesn't matter who is at fault, that future business relies on happy customers and most importantly, healthy hair.
So is it worth it to spend the extra money? Even if you spend $40 on shampoo and conditioner and it lasts you 4 months, that's a $10 investment each month. That's 2 frappucinos from Starbucks, one super size meal from McDonald's, 10 candy bars from a machine. That's almost nothing compared to the health of your hair that can literally take years to repair. Is it worth it? I think so!
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