Gee Your Hair Smells Terrific... too bad it's not clean

OK my little, styling gurus—Listen up:

A darling young man posed a very good question last week, which then prompted me to write!

(Good Lord, It's a Miracle! We should give that 'young man' a medal for getting her to write once again! --B)

He said, "Missi, do shampoos you buy at, like the grocery store and stuff, have a lot of wax in them, and is that bad?

Naturally, I responded, “Yes, as a matter of fact!”

One distinct difference between professional products and retail store hair products are the ingredients. As you may have guessed, hair care products sold in retail outlets are produced using cheaper ingredients, and usually have twice the fragrance, and are very much enhanced with waxes and/or plastics.

One of the main reasons for the inclusion of wax in hair products is to hold the fragrance in the hair. (Do you remember the product, Gee Your Hair Smells Terrific? For those of you that don't, I kid you not…you could smell that shampoo a mile away! One of my girlfriends had it, and I was so jealous—I think I was around 10 years-old, but thinking back, I bet you could have baked that shampoo and put a wick in it to make one sweet smelling candle!)

On that note, when assisting clients with product purchases in the salon they always have one main concern: “It has to smell good!” Now, I love clean, fresh scents as much as the next girl, but if we’re being completely honest, and really want to know—the best products made for your hair are not going to leave behind an abundance of fragrance.

Professional products sold in the salon are made specifically to benefit the health and integrity of your hair—not load it down with fillers, fragrance and wax.

With that said, when using non-professional products, or those you buy at your local grocery store, you could run into issues after prolonged use. Wax can cause significant build-up on your hair, leaving it heavily coated, and in turn, dull and flat. Furthermore, this can cause additional problems with your hair color, highlights, permanent waves, texture services, and other services, for which results are dependent on the quality of your hair. If you’re having issues with your color holding, your perm taking, or other services not reaching their full potential on your hair—ask your stylist about this, or even better, think about what products you’re regularly using on your hair—that’s most likely the answer.

Switching to professional products and with the regular use of professional products, you will see significant changes in the quality of your hair, and your services. In my salon we even recommend that you don’t use the same professional product continually, but rather, “switch it up” every couple visits. We encourage our clients to make it a rule to not buy the same product twice in a row.

Also, for individuals that use a lot of styling products, I always encourage them to have a high-quality, custom shampoo (color-treated, moisturizing, curly, straight, etc.), and most importantly, a clarifying shampoo to use once a week to avoid product build up on their hair. Yes, your styling products (gel, mousse, hair spray, etc.) can and do build up on your hair. This is normal, but for Heaven’s sake—you shouldn't have to worry about your shampoo building up on your hair! Besides, even the best styling products are not going to do a thing for you if your hair if it is coated with wax build-up from your cheap (not affordable—just cheap) shampoo.

So, if nothing else, at least take this last tidbit away from all of this…If you’re visiting a reputable salon and paying competitive prices for beautiful color and texture services, use products (color-treated hair products, chemical-treated hair products, etc.) that are going to enhance and maintain your hair--not derail your efforts!

And of course, I have to leave you with one last thing…

"Would you wash your dry clean-only clothes with generic laundry soap?" …I think not!


Happy Shampooing,

Missi
xoxo