Jamie asks: I had a stylist tell me once that the salon branded shampoos and conditioners sold at drug stores aren’t the same products as the ones sold by salons. She said to only buy the salon brands at salons or authorized resellers. Is that true?
Mid Brain mouths off:
The quick answer is NO, it is generally not true that the salon branded products you buy at a local drug store are different than the ones you get in salons. According to Right Brain, the legal liability of stores like Walmart or Target would just not be worth it to sell anything but the highest quality products from legitimate suppliers. You have just as much chance of getting a counterfeit product at a salon as you do at a local drug store.
This myth is propagated by salons and salon brand companies to help boost sales in salons and maintain the exclusive nature of the products. You stylist makes money when you buy products from her. Left Brain wrote about it more in this salon products post.
Benefits of Buying Salon
There are some benefits to buying products from your salon such as supporting a small business and getting expert advice on how to use the products. However, you’ll pay extra for something that isn’t any different than what you can get at the local grocery or drug store. Some people are ok with this and consider the extra cost an additional “tip”.
Loading ...
{ 1 trackback }
{ 5 comments… read them below or add one }
I have found that when I purchase mousse from the drugstore instead of my salon (same brand, same bottle), it’s usually runny instead of a nice fluffy white mousse. Mind you, it still works.
I have a question about coconut oil. Is there any benefit that comes from coconut oil when it’s applied on the skin especially in the face? Does coconut oil a comedogenic substance?
Yes you should buy salon products from your salon. Paul Mitcheal, Matrix, Nexxus, Sabatian product were made for salons. If they are in your drug stores they are not supposed to be. Its called divertion. When you buy those product at a store and not a salon you are taking away from the profession.
Not to metion that the prices are usually the same or higher at a store. I know because I checked. As a Stylist and salon owner I always look.
As mentioned in this artical Salons make money from product. Well that may be true but not much money is made. Most of the money made is used to purchase quality product for use in the salon. As in perms, colors and back bar shampoos and conditioners. In larger salons a stylist may get 5% of what ever they sell. Lets do the math. a 14.00 bottle of shampoo means that stylist gets .70 cents wow!! Hope she doesn’t have to spend that on panty hose.
Lets be fair and buy Salon products at a salon. Most salons get 2 for one deals if you look and drug stores always sell them seperate. Besides you will be happier with the results if you are guided to the right products.
Dreniva, coconut oil is definitely comedogenic, and for the same reason it works well in hair: its similarity to sebum.
The similarity of the stuff to sebum is what permits it to penetrate the hair shaft well, making it more flexible and less brittle, like real sebum does.
That same similarity to sebum, when the stuff’s used on skin, is what allows it to do the same to your pores, penetrate them just like sebum does and plug `em up.
Sebum penetrating your hair = good. Sebum penetrating your pores = blackheads.
^
Thanks Janis, you have a point on that but I also research in the internet that coconut oil is indeed comedogenic and how can we say that these informations are credible? Does this apply also to the virgin kind also known as VCO (virgin coconut oil)?