I stumbled upon this question over at the excellent beauty blog Doryn’s Dish. Essentially, the reader wanted to know if the salon products that you buy at the local Kroger (general store) are the same as the ones you can buy at a salon. The answer referenced this story by a news team out of Fort Meyers, Florida. The story was so biased and misinformed I thought a balanced, insider response was needed. We’ll reproduce it here for our readers.
Interesting story. We are cosmetic chemists that work in the industry and know that this story is a bit skewed. If the news reporters wanted to get the “real” story, they shouldn’t be asking the head of Paul Mitchell because he is completely biased.
The truth is these salon brands depend on ‘diverted’ product to boost their sales. They want to have it both ways. They want to tell you that Paul Mitchell is a salon-only brand which makes it seem more exclusive, but they also want the high volume sales that they can only get through mass market outlets like your local Kroger. Additionally, they don’t want to anger their salon distributors because people are able to get the same stuff but for cheaper.
They make up this story of products being inferior. In nearly all cases, they are not.
The way diversion works is this. Paul Mitchell hires a company to manufacture their products. Then Paul Mitchell sales people get and fill orders from distributors. Distributors are legitimate businesses that sell directly to independent salons. The distributors can order as much as they want, then sell it to the salons who can then sell it to you.
Some of these distributors work directly with stores like Kroger, Albertsons, etc. So when these stores put in an order (a really big order compared to a salon) the distributors just order more product from Paul Mitchell to fill the Kroger order.
Paul Mitchell doesn’t even question the big orders because they like the extra sales. They turn a blind eye to what`s going on just so they can express public “outrage” that their product is being sold at the local drugstore. This is bunch of bunk.
The stuff you get at the local Kroger is every bit as good as the stuff you get at the salon. Don’t be fooled. If the folks at Paul Mitchell really wanted to stop these sales, they would simply question their distributors and find out who is selling to Kroger, or Target or Albertson.
The problem of counterfeiting is a real one, but it’s not something that you’ll find at large stores like Kroger. That company is not going to sell something contaminated because they would be sued in a heartbeat. The places that are a little more sketchy are the small shops (some salons) with the dust on top of the bottles. Those are the places you have to worry about.
Check out I Want That Hair.com for hair beauty products.
The Beauty Brains Bottom line…
You can trust that if you’re buying a salon brand from a regular store, there is no difference between it and the stuff you can get at a salon.
And if anyone from one of those salon brands sees it differently, they are welcome to respond to the Beauty Brains.
Loading ...
{ 9 trackbacks }
{ 93 comments… read them below or add one }
Next Comments →
I have some grey hair that I’d like to color but to look natural. Just curious, what’s the best store-bought hair color for men? I would prefer to use something that I could shampoo-in once a week or so. Or, a semi-permanent product that would fade after several shampoos so that I would not have the obvious grey roots. Any help would be much appreciated.
Thanks – Kevin O
Hi… I am an esthetician who sells MD Formulations. When I was on maternity leave a long time customer repurchased on of her favorite MD Formulations Cleansers at a local flee market for less than the wholesale cost. She then complained that it was breaking her out. I asked to see it and when she showed it to me it clearly was not the same product. Different odor, color, texture, but the exact same packaging. Buyer beware!
Yes, beware of opinions expressed by people who are selling products. Although, we wouldn’t recommend buying your beauty products from Flee Markets either. This post just says if you find a salon product at a legitimate grocery store you can be sure it’s the same thing you can get at your salon.
There is truth in your statement here but you don’t know all the facts! Paul Mitchell products in a Salon actually are better than the products that his chemicals go into in the store! Fact is that what you buy in the salon has the right amount of each chemical so that the product will do what the bottle says. Now what goes into the store is a portion of what you can buy in a salon but they add water and different types of sulfates to dilute the product. So in this case then your product from the store is not the same as the salon product. You have a good case here but you don’t have all the facts!
Skye, we do know the facts. The facts are that Paul Mitchell products in the salon use the same ingredients that the ones you get in the store use. There is no difference. Look at the ingredients on the labels!
It is complete nonsense that they “add water and different types of sulfates to dilute the product.” They don’t.
Our facts are based on a comparative scientific analysis of the salon formula versus a store bought formula. Where do you get your facts?
As a sales rep selling professional beauty products for over 10 years, one major differnce about the salon products found in supermarkets and drugstores is how old they are. I look all of the time and constantly find packaging that was discontined sometimes 5 to 7 years ago. Gross! Plus, the products often cost more than in the slon. Buying from a salon not only supports a local business it also ensures your products are fresh.
Karen: I too have seen old product in supermarkets and drug stores. But that’s usually only in the small “mom and pop” type stores. The main mass market chains do NOT keep inventory that’s 5 to 7 years old. And for that matter, I’ve been in some salons that carried old product as well. So I agree that you shouldn’t be buying products that are more than 5 year old, I don’t think that’s a good reason to shop in a salon.
This is for Kevin. I tried MiN’s Color (amazon.com) and had great results! It’s so much better than Just for Men. Just thought you might want to give it a shot.
well beauty brains i didn’t go to school to learn about how to keep peoples hair healthy and show them what is good for their hair for you to just fill everyones head up with nonsense. i spent a lot of time in school learning about these things to help out my clients and my clients will be the first to let you know that i don’t push products on them but i do educate them in the things that i learned through school i paid good money to get my license…what have you done besides try to fill peoples heads with crap?
Skye:
We certainly don’t mean to imply that you’re pushing products that you don’t believe in. Our point is that sometimes the professional salon companies convince stylists that their products are better than “mass market” brands when this is not scientifically true.
We’re sure you worked very hard to get through beauty school and you should be proud of that. But with all due respect, that does not make you a cosmetic chemist.
In addition to advanced chemistry degrees, we have been formulating and testing hair care products for over 30 years (between all the Brains combined) and so the “crap” that we’re filling people’s heads with is based on a solid understanding of the chemistry of formulations and how they interact with biology of hair.
The bottom line: You’re an expert in cutting, coloring and styling hair. We’re experts in the science of hair care formulas and what they do to hair.
I worked in a salon for a couple of years when I was studying and learnt a lot about the question you’ve raised. My theory from first hand experience is this – if you have problem free hair and you don’t heat style, then commercial products are fine. If you do have problem hair, then some of the cheaper salon brands can help. If you have major problem hair and you heat style, colour, bleach and constantly test your hairs ability to break then unfortunately the better products do the job – with different ranges suiting different hair types. Paul mitchell for example didnt work at all for me. But Kerastase did.
If you straighten your hair with a professional tong at 200 o.C, then you need a professional protector, which i’m afriad (and i’ve tried them all) you don’t find in the shops. Any products with silicone in it like pantene are bad for heat styling – as they form a silicone barrier which appears shiny on the surface, but can break your hair with intensive heat. You need a product that actually makes your hair shiny from the core.
Remember l’Oreal own more haircare lines than anyone else – kerastase, l’Oreal professional, L’oreal Elvive (commercial) Matrix and Redken to name a few – and they’re all different prices, and i’m afriad the quality is reflected by that – but its a clever marketing technique.
My advice to anyone who has average hair, with not too many issues to use an organic shampoo, or anything oil based (not for greasy hair), even coconut oil on its own is a great hairdresser secret for condition – like food, the less chemicals, the less damage.
I have nice hair. It is in great condition and I always get compliments from my stylist. I wash and dry it every day. I also color often. What do I use? Head and Shoulders shampoo. I only use conditioner once and while and use what ever is on hand. So I definately agree that you don’t have to use expensive products to have great hair!
Beauty Brains, when you responded:
“We’re sure you worked very hard to get through beauty school and you should be proud of that. But with all due respect, that does not make you a cosmetic chemist.
In addition to advanced chemistry degrees, we have been formulating and testing hair care products for over 30 years (between all the Brains combined) and so the “crap” that we’re filling people’s heads with is based on a solid understanding of the chemistry of formulations and how they interact with biology of hair.
The bottom line: You’re an expert in cutting, coloring and styling hair. We’re experts in the science of hair care formulas and what they do to hair.”
I just sat there smiling and thinking in my head “Oooohhhhh!”. I’m currently in school majoring in Chemistry and will be changing that to Chemical Engineering soon. I’m striving to become a cosmetic chemist none the less. Thank you for answering this question I had. I just recently got into more high end hair care and wanted to know what all this rumor was about with salon products being sold at drugstores, supposedly being unauthentic or of less quality.
everyones hair is different .some people need a good salon shampoo and others can handle a waxy shampoo. i prefer to use good products on my hair because i feel the difference. people go to a salon to get help with their questions. and if they would like to continue to see hairstylists around then they should buy products from a licensed salon because thats what ususally pays the rent!
Michelle,
I’m scratching my head trying to think of what store brand shampoo uses wax in their formulas. I can’t think of a single one. And don’t say Pantene because there isn’t any wax in it. If you disagree, which ingredient do you consider wax?
This is certainly a tricky debate… when you pay more for a salon brand, you are paying more for the support behind the product such as the stylists advice – for example, most salons will allow you to trade in a partially used bottle for a new type if it didn’t work out for you. Drugstore brands usually don’t offer that support – but you get a cheaper price. Hey, I’m in the Salon Biz, and I totally agree with your site on the Diversion debate. It lets the big companies play both sides.
I sat in the salon and was a little put off by a person working there telling a customer that the Bed Head products at Wegman’s (a major grocery chain in my area and #3 on Fortune 100’s best company to work for, list) were all “bootleg.” People don’t realize that…hello? If they were bootleg, don’t they thing the real company would do something about it? I mean supposedly it’s illegal right? So…why would they continue to be allowed to carry it? My mom is best friends with a woman who owns her own salon and she refuses to tell people that they’re not the same. She says they are the same, and it’s just what people are taught. This is stressed so adamantly to the workers that they become passionate about it. They actually believe they’re telling the truth. Now, I actually do have 2 questions. 1) Isn’t this slander? I mean, can’t salons get in trouble over this? and 2) I had a perm in June 2007, and just colored it yesterday (April 2008). My hair’s pretty dry and before the perm I had colored it several times before. What would be the best products for processed hair like mine?
I bought a bottle of Bedhead shampoo at Rexall this week (pharmacy chain) and it was totally different inside the bottle than the salon version I’ve been buying.. different shade, different smell. When I looked closer at the bottle, there were little changes in the label – 90% same, but some different wording. So, I think sometimes product is ‘bootleg’… like the big scandal with the fake Colgate being sold at a discount chain last year.
Alic,
Shampoo companies re-launch their products all the time and change things like color, fragrance, formula, packaging, etc. If indeed your experience happened as you reported, a more likely explanation is that you were buying an older version of the product on one occasion and a newer version on the other.
Also, just because there are occasional stories in which bootleg products do get sold, that doesn’t mean it happens frequently. In fact, you are more likely to get bootleg products at an independent salon then you will at a large chain store.
im also a hairstylist and we put alot of effort into selling products and giving advice to our clients. your article is completely untrue, what you get in the regular stores are NOT okay to buy. we have many representatives of product lines that give us places to report places doing this. you are NOT going to get bootleg products in an independent salon and i think it is ridiculous that you even said that. why would we want to give our clients something that was bootleg? we have actual product representatives from the comany, large chain stores do not. they buy it from the black market and then try to sell it to people because they know people will buy it because its easier to get your hair products while you’re grocery shopping instead of making another trip to the salon when you don’t need to go there. and we do NOT ‘depend’ on these chain stores selling the products. we depend on our clients buying it from us, which is obviously the smart thing to do. a chain store cannot tell you what products are good for your hair or how to use them correctly. and distributors do NOT sell them to chain stores, it would not be in their best interest to do that because they would not make money off the products they sell to salons. it is extremely offensive for you to tell people this is okay because it is false information and it is wrong.
I respectfully disagree. Since I work in the manufacturing end of the beauty business, I get to see a different side than you. I can understand how you come to your conclusions. I just have had a different experience. Distributors do sell to chain stores precisely because they make more money than they do when they sell to independent salons. It’s just how the business works.
OK, as a hairdresser, I dont care how much you say that they sell to these stores, THEY DONT. That would defeat the purpose of the parts of their web pages, where we as hairdressers, can report diversion. It doesnt help them it hurts. AND just so you know, JPM and other companies are joining forces to create a way to track these bottles and know where they are going so that they can STOP diversion. It hurts us, and its been proven with many testing that they have found many of these products to have been switched and or really old. And I completely agree with BRI, it is very offensive when you are saying that it is ok, and that its going to be the same. WRONG WRONG WRONG WRONG!!!!!!!!!!
We’ll just have to agree to disagree.
Hmmm….I think I’m going to take a chemist’s word over a hairdresser’s any day. The best thing though about buying product in a salon is that you can get a stylist’s opinion. That’s why I usually prefer to buy higher-end makeup as well; I want someone to help me with it and make recommendations.
Wow, what a great debate! I can understand a stylist frustration with so called “professional” products selling out to chain stores. For a stylist her product sales feeds her family. When their sold at Target it feeds the congloberant s/p
. In addition, as a professional she has chosen a hair care line to represent and truely believes in her line.
In my opinion, it’s all about the ingredients, and the level of active ingredients. Some ingredients are just better than others. I’m not a shampoo expert, but do experience better results from shampoos that are formulated for my hair type.
I agree with Sumi that it is great to have an a beauty professional help make personal recomendations and help narrow down the choices from amoung the many product lines.
P.S. I understand your point; salon products sold in stores are they the same? I think some reader may have misunderstood your post. Good read thanks!
I thought this was all very interesting. I decided to email a product line I use and ask them whether what I bought at a major local chain is the same as their products I buy at the salon. This was there response.
Thank you for visiting PureOlogy on the Web.
“PureOlogy is committed to selling our products only through authorized salons accompanied by expert professional advice to best meet the consumer’s needs. We are unable to guarantee the authenticity of products that are not purchased through an authorized salon.
To find a salon in your area that uses PureOlogy products, please visit our website at http://www.pureology.com and use the Salon Locator feature, or call 1-800-331-1502 Monday through Friday, 9:00 am – 7:00 pm, ET.We look forward to your continued interest in PureOlogy.”
To which I responded..”If Pureology can’t guarantee the authenticity of products that are not purchased through an authorized salon than who is selling those products. They are the same bottles and have all of your contact information on it. I would think this would be a liability to Pureology or at least Pureology would want to know who is using their information to sell products that they can not authorize. The products I purchased were at a major grocery chain that I doubt would take any chances selling products that can not be guaranteed by the distributor. There are a lot of rumors and conspiracies going on about how these products are sold. I like pureology products, but as a consumer I would rather buy another product than be told many different things about buying salon quality products like Pureology. If you could make this a little more clear for me I would appreciate it. Thanks,”
There was response was as follows
“Thank you for responding to our e-mail.
It is our business decision to sell our products only through distributors and salons by professionals who can offer advice on selecting the best products to meet your needs. These professionals also help to ensure that the customer receives fresh product that meets our quality standards.
Unfortunately, some products are diverted outside our normal distribution channels. We take this diversion issue very seriously. We have in the past terminated, and will continue to terminate, relationships with those businesses that are selling the products into the gray market to unauthorized retailers.
We employ systems to assist us in tracking and dealing with these unethical practices. We continue to invest in technologies that will improve this ability to find these diverters.
To report PureOlogy products for sale outside a salon, please e-mail nodivert@aol.com with the city, state and name of the location where you saw the products. You may also call 1-800-503-3997 to report diversion.
Our diversion department may not send you a reply but please be assured this information is valuable to our company and will be handled by the appropriate individual.
We appreciate the time you have taken to contact us regarding this issue.”
Let me know what you think!
I am a cashier at target and Paul mitchell representives did a buyout at our store cause they said they didnt want their products on our shelves. What the salon brands are saying that their product is too good for our shelves. They lost me as customer by doing that.
As a former cosmetology student and as a consumer… I purchase my salon products from the salon. It makes more sense to me, as the products are guaranteed, there’s always someone available to make suggestions and I usually get a better deal from the salon anyway.
I’m sure some products found on grocery store shelves are exactly the same as in the salon. But, if I’m paying $20 for a product, I want to get the product that I’m paying for. The only way I can really be sure is to buy from a salon.
Yes, the beauty brain is RIGHT, Manufactures sell it directly to the chain themselves or it comes from the distributors. In the beauty industry everyone has a quota – what better way to help your quota than to sell to box stores. Or another thing that happens is a distributor loses a line – and it goes right out the back door to the local grocery store that is more than happy to have it. And YES, hairdressers hate to hear this kind of thing. No, the product is Not watered down at the grocery store shelves. What else is too bad is that with all the great product lines out there the one in the white bottle got mentioned several times and that product line sucks.
this may suprise you but my sister works in a salon (a popular chain) and they do get OLD OLD OLD products from the warehouse for the clearance sales. just as beautybrains mentioned about dust being on top of the bottles? id rather buy from walmart. and COME ON why on earth would a multi million dollar corporation sell COUNTERFEIT products?? obviously these salon prodcut companies would realize it and they would be quickly pulled, duh.
There is one major difference between salon products sold in a salon and salon products sold in a department store – guarantee. Nearly every salon product states on the package that any guarantee offered by the product is ONLY valid if purchased from a salon. Otherwise no guarantee will honored.
And one other thing: Salon products sold in department stores tend to be older products. You can usually tell this by the packaging.
oh and here’s a little food for thought:
would you buy a $2,000 plasma TV from a knitting shop? when that knitting shop clerk couldn’t really give you any information or warranty on that product sold? i didn’t think so. so why would you purchase salon-brand products from a store where no one could give you advice about your hair?
or would you get your blood pressure or your cholesterol meds from a department store where a clerk couldn’t really tell you how to take them?
think about it – many woman pay a lot of money to have their hair looking as good as they can. those women are not going to purchase their products from wal mart. why because they want to make sure they are getting the right product as suggested by her stylist (the person helping to create such wonderful looks.)
In response to Jack:
If that $2000 plasma was $1000 instead, hell yes.
Secondly, that’s an extremely inaccurate comparison, perhaps if the issue had been buying shampoo from a salon vs. a plant nursery (an equally random selection which also does not normally sell shampoo … or plasma TVs). A closer analogy would be buying a plasma from a dealer specializing in TVs were you would be offered personal attention and assistance versus something like a Costco or Walmart.
Also, quite frankly, when is the last time a warranty on a shampoo has been of any use at all to you? And on a side note, warranties offered with TVs are absolute crap unless you buy up.
Comparing medicine which can have deadly effects if taken incorrectly to shampoo? Give me a break.
Especially at the point our country is at financially it should be painfully obvious that big companies will go through any means necessary to make a profit. Even if it means “misplacing” a few boxes. On the other hand, as stylists we would obviously rather have these products purchased from us. That’s how we make our money. I personaly prefer to purchase things directly from the company or a reputible(sp?) distributor but I also prefer product knoweledge and proper hair care over convience.
In my opinion both sides of this argument are in some ways correct…it really makes no sense to purchase expensive salon products you don’t know what to do with but on the other hand when products start showing up at Wal*Mart and CVS you can’t really believe in the bootleg stereotype…That $13 CHI silk Infusion from CVS is the same one your stylist gets from her distributor…maybe the salon bottle just looks prettier?
I doubt the companies would ever express knoweledge of their products being ripoffed but everyone is really out to make money and if that means a few boxes of you favorite shampoo got lost in transit and is now being sold by Koreans(no offence meant what so ever…I just call em like I see em) so be it…they made their profit.
Hi. Thanks for the information… I understand that salon grade products might be sold at retail stores as well as in salons and that the individual product is no better from a salon than from Kroger. My question is whether or not salon-grade products (regardless of where they are sold) are better than retail store products (i.e. Redken vs. Pantene.) Could you give any information on this? Thanks!
I loved this debate!
I loved all the hairdressers going nuts defending the authenticity of their products! They say that those hair companies only sell to salons… who is their source again? ah! the hair companies!
Have you ever thought about the fact that maybe you are being played? It is possible, you know. I mean are those big companies in it to take care of you and make sure you can feed your kids, or are they in it for their own profit???
I’ve bought both from salon and from beauty store and found no difference whatsoever.
I am glad this cat is out of the bag.
I am writing an informative paper about product diversion. I am trying to get both sides of the story for perspective. The paper has to be non-judgmental and strictly informative. These are the things that I have found to be fact and have seen with my very eyes. Target, K-mart, Wal-mart, CVS Pharmacy, Wal-greens, and the major grocery store in the towns I visited all had salon brand packaging that was over three years old. They also had current packaging. However, they were always more expensive. I visited chain salons such as Great Clips, and independent salons that charge $50 for a haircut. Every single product on their shelves was $1-$5 cheaper than the products on Target and other stores shelves. I have seen news broadcasts which support this, but I was in each of these stores and did all of the research. Whether or not they are the same products, I will leave to the chemists, but it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to see that the average consumer actually saves money if purchasing these products in a salon. What you are doing could be consisdered just as bad as what you claim Paul Mitchell does. You are not being objective. You say that diversion never, ever happens, hairstylists lie, and Target is always a better deal. Because all of the statements in your website cannot be backed up 100% I guess you are also a liar. I would like to see concrete evidence of your evidence and background that makes you an expert. Do not believe one hype over the other. Research the material and make educated decisions for yourself. They can have differing opinions but it is scientifically impossible for both sides to be lying.
We never said you would absolutely save money if you buy from Target and that diversion never happens.
Good luck on writing a “non-judgmental” paper. Be sure to call anyone who doesn’t agree with you a liar. Professors love that.
I didn’t realise this was such a big deal. Your hair is dead, it doesn’t really matter what you put on it. I buy high street brands and always get compliments on my hair.
Oh, and I would worry about someone who needed advice on their shampoo choice. The bottle has a label, it’s not hard.
One thing you have to be really wary of is people selling salon products on eBay. I think it would be very easy to repackage cheaper stuff into higher-end packages. I bought a huge bottle of an Aveda shampoo a while back on eBay, and it was very poor quality. The smell was horrible– it did not smell like what I had purchased in the store– and it did not clean my hair at all. It almost smelled like a flea shampoo I used on my dog once. Anyway, I know that it was not legitimate and I learned my lesson after shelling out nearly $50. I would not put it past people to do this.
Salon products are now appearing in drug store chains like CVS, Duane Reade, etc… Products like Paul Mitchell, Biolage and Nexus. And I do believe they are authentic. I just think that the people who own or work in salons don’t normally go to that isle in the drug store to check out the new hair care products.
I did a search on this subject because logic seemed to tell me if a company as large as Target is selling salon brand products, why would they risk several law suits because of deceptive business practice? I’ve had several stylists swear the products “fell off the back of a truck”, and “you never know what you’re going to get”. Reading the following article only confirmed my suspicions about the subject.
Thank you for clearing up this matter. Sorry stylists. The public knows you make commission on these products, which is why your salon is willing to pay employees to take special classes to “de-bunk” products sold at Targets, etc. I have bought these products from Target since they started doing so, and I’ve also purchased the same products from my salon. I have noticed no difference in my hair, or in the contents listed on the bottle.
I bought Biolage shampoo and conditioner from Target at Christmas. The shampoo lasted for 7 months using it every day. The conditioner lated 3-4 months using it every day. It suds just as well as the product I had purchased before that at a salon. The shampoo and conditioner looked the same, felt the same, and smelled the same as the one purchased at the salon. It was only a couple dollars cheaper than the one purchased at the salon. To have the convience of getting it at Target rather than making a special trip into the mall to go to the salon is a time saver. I just wish Target would stock more product. I often have to look several times throughout the month to find it in stock.
I just got what I consider a pretty good deal at Target, for $26.99, I got Biosilk, silk (12oz) and a Biosilk Shampoo and Conditioner 12 oz each for that price. Not a bad deal. It was all packaged together. I have not tried the shampoo and conditioner yet but the silk is amazing, it has to be real. As for outdated, the product expires in October 2010, so it’s not that old. Target seems to have limited supplies of “Salon proudcts” so I would guess maybe they are diverted, however I trust Target. I doubt a store like Target would sell counterfeit stuff. A dollar store, maybe, Target, Walmart, CVS, Walgreens, I would think not.
I don’t need advice on what shampoo to buy because I can do my own research. Experience tells me whats good and not good for my particular hair. If the big companies want to stop their stuff being sold in stores like Target, Walmart, etc, I’m sure they could. Then if I didn’t want to buy from a “salon” I’d buy other stuff. I also want the chemists here to discuss the differences between non salon brands and salon brands, something like TreSemme, or Suave or Sunsilk, etc.
Oh and by the way I do purchase from salons also, it depends on where I am and what catches my eye at the moment, and of course, price. I don’t pay more for things, I check places and look for sales.
I bought Biolage at a well known store and it was definitely not like what I buy at the salon. It looked, felt, smelled and worked totally different and this happened to two bottles I bought.
I will NEVER buy from anywhere other than a salon again!
I bought a Paul Mitchell shampoo from a salon and the assistant there went down to their basement to get a bottle and guess what, it had dust on the top. Guaranteed fresh? I don’t think so.
Also I went to another salon to get a Biolage hair mask and the bottled appeared to be old too.
Come on, price doesn’t reflect quality.
I can tell you that without a doubt there is a huge difference in the quality of most and I say most shampoos that salon versus the drug store level. My own hair and scalp issues are the proof of this. The ph is grocery store shampoos is too high 99% of the time.
My husband is a brilliant patent attorney and he agrees that many companies sell their products to both markets in order to make a profit. Just take a look at the patent number on the bottle. Their stance on these so called “counterfeits” is merely to protect them from any liability issues. These are not evil entities, they are merely doing the smart business thing. Yes, news stories crop up every so often about some bootlegging scam. However, this media coverage serves two purposes for the company. The first is that you as the consumer get to have warm fuzzies that the company is protecting you and is not just interested in a profit. ( Both are true, how else can the business survive! ) The second is that it also keeps their product in the consumer limelight both of these result in increased sales.
Bottom line– Buy where it makes you happy.
I am a professional in the buisness for 20 years. I would like to believe that all these companies are faithful to us as professionals. However, the truth is that diversion does take place at either the manufacturing or distribution level. These products are the same that we sell in each of our salons. The difference is as was stated earlier, we can educate our clients to select what products best suits there needs. Fact over 60% of clients leave a salon with no recommendations from there stylist. Therefore they gravitate to the mass store in search of a product. If you want your clients to purchase from you or your salon you must step up to the plate. Fact is Fact diversion does happen.
Next Comments →