Round 1. Supermarket vs Professional.

You've been waiting 6 weeks for this appointment - Getting those greys covered or a brighter blonde, reading all about which celebrities are too thin or pregnant for the 8th time, time at the basin with that infamous head massage, you have your split ends removed, a bouncy blow dry and you leave the salon feeling a million dollars.

Fast forward three days and you're in the shower, you reach for your $8 supermarket shampoo - you notice that your colour fades a little, your hair isn't as soft as it was and you're struggling to get a brush through the ends. Straight away you blame your stylist.. b!tch.. I knew she left my colour on too long. It couldn't possibly be the bottle of glorified dish-washing liquid you've just used.

Honestly, if supermarket products did what they say they do on the bottle, don't you think we'd be using and stocking them in salon? Profit margins would be higher for us and they would be a lot easier to sell with all the extra advertising and celebrity endorsements they are given. It's not just shampoo and conditioners - it's the cheap dry shampoos, the heat protectors, the thousands of different types of oils available.

There are good reasons that salons will deny services to clients that use certain shampoos. There are ingredients in supermarket products that can cause a build up in the hair and on your scalp which in turn can effect how the colour takes to your hair, they can effect the ability to lighten your hair, cause colours to prematurely fade, they can cause dry and broken ends, frizz, scalp conditions and hair that feels oily even after it has just been washed. When the build up of paraben, plastic and silicone that are used in supermarket shampoos come in contact with a powder lightener or hi-lift colour it can cause a chemical reaction and in extreme conditions it can cause the build up of products to melt into a hot liquid, that if comes in contact, will burn your skin.

I know what you're thinking, professional products are more expensive and you just can't justify spending that extra money. You're right - you do pay more up front but spending more on professional products will ultimately end up costing you less. Professional products contain higher quality, active ingredients and are in turn more concentrate so you use a lot less than you would with the cheap alternative, your colour will last longer, your hair will be shiny, easier to manage, grow faster and it will be a hell of a lot easier to achieve that babe'n balayage you've been dreaming of.

Think of it this way, if you bought a Farrari, would you fill it with cheap fuel ? Next time you're at the salon, speak to your stylist about what you should be using. Ask yourself if you're wasting your time spending $200+ on your hair just to wash the colour down the drain with the $8 bottle of shampoo or whether its worth the risk to spend the extra few dollars upfront, not to mention less often and protect your investment. My advice -

Kelly x

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