Is Your Stylist Lying To You?

March

Courtney’s question: I was reading a magazine article about natural remedies for dandruff and was shocked that the article quoted a hairstylist saying that SLS in shampoo causes dandruff. “That’s impossible” I thought, having been a loyal reader of your blog. It seems that stylists always seem to be handing out this bogus advice about how hair works without any scientific evidence to back it up. Is this just bad training or a conspiracy to sell product?

The Left Brain’s rant:
You’re right about SLS (Sodium Lauryl Sulfate), Courtney. It does not cause dandruff. The real cause is a complex combination of hyperactive skin cells and the effect of a fungus. (For more details read this discussion on the causes of dandruff . ) As far as why stylists give bogus advice, that’s an even more complex subject.

Conspiracy theory

If there is a conspiracy to sell product, I don’t think it comes from stylists. I believe they are a tremendously talented group of people when it comes to cutting, coloring, and styling hair. While stylists are trained in beauty school, for the most part they are not given much background on hair biology or product chemistry. (That’s the forte of cosmetic scientists, like The Beauty Brains.) And without this kind of scientific training, it’s easy for stylists to believe whatever their told by the companies selling salon products.

Blame the salon companies

I really place the blame primarily with some of the salon companies that educate the stylists. Why? It’s well known in the industry that salon products make more outrageous claims than their mass market counterparts. This is partly due to the entrepreneurial nature of the salon business and partly because most salon companies do not have their own R&D or technical resources. They hire companies known as Private Label, or Contract Labs, to create their formulas and to manufacture them. But since they don’t advertise on television, they’re not called on to provide robust support for the claims they make about their products. So, it’s easy for salon companies to pass on information that may be, shall I say, exaggerated, and stylists repeat that information to their customers, whether it’s true or not. And that’s how you get stylists saying SLS causes dandruff.

Bigger may be better

By the way, salon brands that are owned by larger companies like L’Oreal or Proctor and Gamble, are less likely to engage in this kind of misinformation campaign because they are generally backed by better research and development. Many people believe salon products are better than “big company” products, so they don’t like to hear this statement, but it’s true. See our previous posts on L’Oreal and P&G to see which salon brands they own.

The Beauty Brains bottom line

Stylists and scientists are both critical players in the beauty industry. Without scientists, stylists wouldn’t have products to use. And without stylists, there wouldn’t be an expert audience of artists to use our formulas. In my opinion what’s best for the industry, and for consumers, is to have talented stylists providing input to the scientists who are developing formulas. The stylists can learn from the scientists and the scientists can gain insight on how to make better products. That’s the best of BOTH worlds.

What do YOU think? Do you trust what your stylist tells you? If not, where DO you get your beauty information? Leave a comment and share your sources with the rest of the Beauty Brains community.

7 Responses to “Is Your Stylist Lying To You?”

Courtney Says:

Thanks for posting my question!
Anna Says:

I think part of the problem is that consumers think that the hairstylists or the people who sell cosmetics are the experts, and have the knowledge of cosmetic chemists. Not true!
I used to work for Prescriptives, and we were literally brainwashed with “product information”. Mind you, nothing scientific, just pure marketing. They did not tell us how the products really worked, function of the ingredients, etc. We had to memorize the “spiel” verbatum, and “share” it wit the customers. What I found funny is that many of my esteemed collegues also told customers the most ridiculous things- I overheard one telling a woman that only Prescriptives eye make up removed would properly remove mascara. Other brands would make her eyelashes fall out, and eyelashes don’t grow back (Ha!). The sad thing was that the customer was horrified, believed her, and bought whole bunch of stuff, worth $300.00.
GP Says:

I know from experience and a couple of dermatologists that if you have a tendency, SLS WILL make dandruff/seborrhea act up. About half of shampoos contain that, so there’s choices, I don’t think it’s about “selling”. The other half contains ALS (ammonium instead of sodium) and it works better for people who get bad results from the SLS ones.
Blog buzz — prostitute, Lara Flynn Boyle, dandruff and facial exercises « Skin of the Stars Says:

[...] · Is Your Stylist Lying To You? [...]
Ameba » Blog Archive » Daily Top 20 Blogs - March 15th Says:

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Ginger Says:

I’m 46 years old and have used a variety of shampoos to fight dandruff for the last 20 years. Last year, I started using natural shampoos that didn’t contain SLS and similar ingredients. My dandruff went away. My scalp has never been better since making this change. No more itching or flaking. My mother also made the change and reported the same benefits. Was it eliminating SLS and similar ingredients? Could it have been another ingredient? I don’t know, but I do know that I’ll never go back to regular shampoos again.
thebeautybrains Says:

Ginger,

That’s an interesting observation. What are the ingredients in your natural shampoo?