IS YOUR HAIR BEING BOTOXED??

In the past, we have seen product companies go to any length to attract consumers by using enticing words or ingredients to help generate new interest in their hair products. I always enjoy the creative ways they use packaging and the media to help promote their new and exciting offerings.

We have seen many examples of this in the past. Knowing that our culture has become more age-conscious, they started using words like “age recharge,” “age defying,” and “time reset,” just to name a few. Then, with all the media on celebrities losing weight, products bombarded the market with promises to make even your hair slimmer, skinnier, or leaner. And it does not end there. If there is a vegetable or fruit that's thought of as healthy to eat, it’s quickly added to shampoos, conditioners and hair colors. Before you know it, all the other companies join in and we have hair products with acai, fruit acids, avocado, and whatever nut or oil is all the rage at the time. I'm surprised we don't have a kale or cilantro shampoo on the market already. :)

Well, apparently it's time to take it one step further. Companies are now using plastic surgery culture as a way to promote hair products. Are you ready for this? Here it is:

HAIR BOTOX!

You heard me right, children! After hearing about this and doing some basic research here's what I know. Loreál first launched it as an in-salon treatment designed to save your hair and scalp. Terms like "feed your hair" "scalp TLC" and "scale back the stress" are being used describe the product. Companies would have you believe that it's been used for some time now on celebrities, and that they love it. I don't know for sure because I have not seen it endorsed by any actual celebrity.

Okay, let's get down to business here. I have never used it and will wait some time before I touch it. Personally, as a hairstylist I can't keep up with all the new hair products that promises to make everyone look and feel younger. I mean, really – are we that desperate!? Lol!

Here's what I do know.

1) I have heard these promises before by other product companies.

2) Having seen other products hit the market with enormous press and branding and then disappear shortly thereafter, I have to be a bit skeptical. Look at "Inoa” hair color, for example. There was all sorts of buzz about this “amazing” ammonia free hair color when it was launched, but where is it now? Where will hair botox be in a few years? And where will your hair be?

3) Once you say a celebrity uses a product, everyone wants it. I wouldn’t act on such rumored endorsements until I had a personal conversation with that celebrity,

if I were you.

4) As we’ve seen with many other big brand name “hair care miracles,” smaller companies are already flooding the market with their versions. We know for a fact that once this swarm of knock-offs hit the market, the quality of a product is never the same.

5) Now that everyone is doing it and it's so easily accessible, some stylists start to stray from the manufacturer’s directions, leaving the client at risk.

6) In a culture consumed by quick results, it will probably now take the place of Keratin (for some salons), and will run its course before the next craze takes over. So let's wait for the reviews.

I recently had the opportunity to see models who had had their hair "botoxed," and the results varied. Please keep in mind that it was NOT LOREÁL BOTOX. One had frizzy, curly, damaged hair, and she liked the results but will stick to Keratin in the future. Keratin allows her to achieve straighter results, which she prefers.

The other also had damaged hair, and was not happy with the end result. Her hair was in worse condition afterward. As a hairstylist, I know many things can affect the results of a product, so until I have it in my own hands, it's hard to say whether I like it or not.

Women with healthy hair (and you do exist!), keep up the good work. We all know there’s only one way for you to end up with unhealthy hair, and that's mistreating it by blow drying too much and tacking on too many chemical services.

Well my lovelies, how's that for honesty?

Let me know your thoughts.

Antonio

The editing of this blog was done by Camile Lamb of the Perfect Words,Ink.