The Next New Vegan Haircare Miracle

Why is it that every time there is a new discovery around a fruit or vegetable providing health benefits, it shows up in a shampoo or hair product?

We've all seen the ad campaigns… 

"Do you want healthy shiny hair? Well try our new shampoo and conditioner infused with acai to revive damaged hair, leaving it shiny and healthy in just one use." Or "…with this aloe vera-infused shampoo, very dry hair can experience fast hydration!"

Honestly, as a professional in the beauty industry, when I see these ads, I feel sorry for the consumer. Many unsuspecting victims, who are looking for an answer to their hair problems, honestly believe that if it’s on TV or recommended by a magazine, it’s true. 

Well you may want to rethink and see those ads for what they are…the "reality tv of haircare." But like those shows, it's not all "real."

With all these food-based hair care products drowning the market, lets take a closer look at their list of ingredients. There’s coconut, green tea, bamboo, strawberries, olive, avocado, wheat, watermelon; the list goes on and on… (I'm starting to feel hungry.)  :)

What about the foods (also with amazing benefits) that you would never in a million years imagine could be added to a shampoo, conditioner or hair color? Here are a few products and ads I made up that you may see soon.

Hair color with quinoa contains proteins, which strengthen hair, while seeping into your body, preventing the need to actually eat quinoa. (Apparently it can stop hair color from fading so it has been added to shampoos and conditioners.) I almost fainted when I saw the product.

Cod liver oil has for centuries helped fight cholesterol with its incredible health benefits.  It can now be used on your hair, leaving it shiny like the scales of a fish, reflecting moisture in the atmosphere as if you were swimming in the ocean.

How about my super foods like watermelon? Now available in a hair mask (with or without seeds) it can add never-ending moisture to your hair without the annoying visits to the bathroom.

But my favorite is a kale and garlic daily conditioner. Not only does this combination have the approval of nutritionists and heart surgeons across America, it can grace your hair regimen, leaving you vampire-free and with hair that will never be constipated because of the high fiber content!! (I'm still giggling because I also stumbled upon a keratin and garlic shampoo!!)

Consumers, we need to stop being gullible and believing all these flashy ads. Often that amazing hair was transformed with either a wig or tons of extensions…and it’s often had some help from a computer to give it that incredible liquid flow that’s to die for (or die trying.)

Before you grab that new product ask yourself this these questions.

1) What am I (or my hairdresser) currently doing to my hair that maybe damaging it?

2) Who do I trust more, the celebrity on the TV screen whipping her hair back and forth with a fat check in her bank account or the hairdresser that you see regularly?  

3) Is my existing shampoo or conditioner working? Did it live up to its promises? And what were those promises?

4) Can these foods actually make a difference in my hair? Says who??

So the next time you see a hair ad telling you that they have revolutionized the use of lettuce in your hairspray, run!!! 

We should consider eating all these ingredients and maybe we will actually have better body and hair…