Product Warning!!!

There are times to be thrifty and times to spend that extra little amount. One of those times is with shampoo and conditioners. I know it's so easy to go to Shopper's and just grab some shampoo. Oh look, it's on sale! It's so cheap! It smells so good! They even have my salon brand here!
 Wait...what?
Have you noticed how drug stores and supermarkets now carry salon brands like Joico, Bed Head, etc?
Ever wonder why, considering the back says "Only guaranteed when sold by a professional" or "Sold only in salons"?
Curious, I asked my hair stylist about it. She said that it's pretty sketchy stuff, black market type deals. When salons and distributors receive the products they are on the shelves for sale. Some places allow returns/exchanges if the product doesn't work for the customer. This is great. So the salon takes it back, and sends it back out with their sales rep who sometimes can't send it back to the company, or the company won't take it. They turn around and sell it to the drug stores at a low cost. You don't know where this stuff has been. It could have been in someone's car in the winter (extreme temperatures compromise the product), it could have even been used. Either way, if you don't buy it from the source it's no good. I buy my shampoo and conditioners (salon brand, L'anza) at Chatter's where it's cheap for the big bottles, and they have sales quite often. My hair stylist says she actually goes there, too.
Another reason why you shouldn't buy lower end product? It's really bad on your hair. My stylist can actually look at your hair and see the build up. Pantene is a perfect example of this--sure it makes your hair super shiny and soft, but it uses a lot of wax to do so. Coating your hair in wax for a long period of time is no good. Love lather? That's added salt. Also not good.
When asked if any drug store products were even okay she actually thought about it, then said no. It's just not worth it. Spend the extra money.
That being said, I do have my Dove deep conditioner but twice a week is okay as long as it's not an everyday occurrence.
Go on--next time you see this in the store, check the back. Then back away!

I Care Deeply About You!

With cold winter here we need to take as much care with our hair as our skin. Static hair is a common occurrence in the colder months because there isn't enough moisture in the air to hydrate it.
There's a whole whack load of home remedies to fix this (dryer sheets, lotion, etc) but the easiest and the best is probably something you already do.
You condition your hair everyday, but do you leave it in the appropriate amount of time? Does it have enough moisturizers?
I bleach my hair so it gets stripped and damaged. In order to keep hair silky and in good condition I have 3 different conditioners. The normal one is an everyday use, a deep conditioner to use every other day, and a deep treatment conditioner used once a week overnight.
When using the regular everyday conditioner, try to leave it in for at least a minute.
The deep conditioner I use is just the Dove Intensive Care brand. It's cheap and it's amazing! Use every third day for 5 minutes.     

 Usually Sundays are my at home spa days. I take a bath, do a 5 step facial, then after washing my hair apply the conditioning mask. I do leave it in overnight so use a plastic shower cap to cover hair and a terry cloth turban over top of that to keep in all the moisture. In the morning simply wash it out (shampoo and normal conditioner) and style hair as normal. The mask I use is a higher end salon product; it's L'anza Trauma Treatment.

 

 You don't need a lot and it's worth it, your hair will definitely notice the difference!