This post is sponsored by Pantene. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Are high-priced salon haircare products really “better” than drugstore products? This is one of those misconceptions that I wish would just go away already. I see so many people under this impression that in haircare you always get what you pay for. A prestigious salon product is going to give better results so is worth the high price. When in reality, these ideas are based on misconceptions and marketing. This blog post will dive into the nitty-gritty of why. Thank you to Pantene for sponsoring this blog post! While sponsored, all the ideas presented are my own.

TLDR: Use the products that work for you. If that’s a drug store product, keep on using it, and don’t let people (who generally don't know what they’re talking about) convince you that you should be using something different. With that, let’s get on with the post.

Misconception: “higher-priced ingredients = better performance”

Price points for ingredients are not necessarily indicative of performance. Oftentimes, they can instead be attributed to the efficiency of production, and sustainability. For example, sodium lauryl sulfate (SLS) is affordable not because it’s inferior, but because it is produced in a continuous production process that is very efficient. Compare that with a surfactant like sodium cocoyl isethionate (SCI), which is generally marketed as a premium “sulfate-free” “eco-friendly” surfactant. SCI can be drastically more expensive not because it’s better performing or more eco-friendly, but because it is produced in a batch process which is far less efficient (1). There is a reason why the cosmetics industry chose to optimize SLS/SLES production. Consumers like it - which is apparent by the fact that the top-selling shampoos globally have SLS &/or SLES. Many well-studied and supported ingredients for hair care (e.g. silicones, panthenol) are quite affordable, whereas many under-studied/supported ingredients are not. Many highly marketed botanical extracts and oils have little to no evidence behind them, despite their often high price-point. There are a lot of factors that make these “naturals” more expensive, such as supply issues for the many botanicals that are currently wild-harvested - which is actually a pretty big sustainability threat (2,3).

Misconception: Drug store products “don’t actually improve hair” compared to higher-priced products.

I think this misconception comes from a fundamental misunderstanding about how hair care products work - which as it turns out, is pretty comparable across the price spectrum. For example, high and low-priced products alike make use of fatty alcohols (e.g. cetyl or stearyl alcohols). These ingredients are able to penetrate into the hair fiber core and between cuticle layers to restore flexibility (as measured via torsional strength and stress fatigue methods)(4). When it comes to conditioners, it’s not the fancy oils or extracts doing the heavy lifting. It’s the, often underappreciated, cationic (positively charged) ingredients. As your hair becomes more damaged, it takes on a more negative charge, that, due to electrostatic interactions, attracts the cationic ingredients to preferentially deposit onto the damaged areas of your hair (5). Here they can a) neutralize the negative charge, and b) shift the hydrophilic (water-loving) surface of damaged hair, which isn't great at keeping water out, to a surface that is more hydrophobic (water-hating). This is more representative of healthy hair, which is much better at holding moisture levels steady. See figure 1 for a visual of how cationic ingredients deposit onto the hair. At the end of the day, technical jargon aside, cationic ingredients are widely used across the price spectrum and are a big reason why conditioner products work so well.

Figure 1. How cationic ingredients are deposited onto the hair.

The final ingredient type that is consistent across the price spectrum are ones that are surface smoothing and lubricating. Ultimately these ingredients help fill the gaps created by lifted, damaged, or missing cuticles, with silicone ingredients being the most demonstrated to do this job well (5). By smoothing down the hair surface, your hair will generally look and feel a lot better. BUT WAIT! DON’T THESE INGREDIENTS BUILD UP?! Turns out, not really. Using shampoo regularly, this really is not something that you need to worry about. And those hair scrape tests that went viral a few years ago - they were scraping off the cuticle layer and not silicone “build up.” Here’s a quick explainer video I did on the topic last year. Again, an idea based on a fundamental misunderstanding of hair science and hair care formulations. Hopefully, after reading this section you now have (if you didn’t already) an appreciation for how these products work. So far, pretty similar between drug store and salon products.

Figure 2 is a quick visual recap of what describes “healthy feeling” vs “damaged” hair. To get “damaged” hair to feel better, what you want is a) lubrication to smooth those cuticles back down b) more hydrophobicity (water-hating to prevent water from getting in) and c) less negative charge. This is why fatty alcohols, cationic ingredients, and hair smoothing ingredients are the superstars in your hair care products.

Figure 2 - “healthy feeling” vs “damaged” hair.

Misconception: “salon products work better than drug-store products.”

Actually, when you go and test these products, the performance is pretty comparable. And in many cases, drug-store products have even better performance - Note, many of the products sold in drug stores are by large companies able to invest top dollars and expertise into product development and claims substantiation. What differentiates drug store and “prestige” products more than anything? Marketing.

Here I’ll reference two studies done internally by Pantene, looking at two of their conditioning products sold in drug stores vs two very well-regarded highly-priced products that shall not be named. These studies looked into hair smoothness and shine, which are important indicators of “healthy” looking and feeling hair to users.

In the first study, formulas were compared on their ability to return smoothness (i.e. decrease friction) via the Instron Double Comb (IDC) Test method. Methods are as follows: a) 4 grams, 8 inches of bleached hair are treated using 0.1ml/g of product, b) hair is compared, and c) data is analyzed at a 95% confidence level. In the results below, the lower the index, the less combing force needed to comb the hair swatch, and therefore, the more smoothness that had been returned to the damaged hair.

Figure 3. Combing experiment setup using hair swatch. This is likely the single most important test in the hair care industry for claims support (6).

In the second study looking at the formulas ability to restore shine, the Visual Shine Method was used, which uses 10 grams and 9 inches of flat brown hair from the general population. Using three hair swatches per product treatment using a standardized treatment procedure, after which swatches were brushed lightly 3 times using a vented brush and then hung up to dry. Swatches were visually assessed for shine using a continuous scale by naive graders to assess each treatment group. The data was evaluated at a 95% confidence level, with the greater the index vs the control treatment, the better the shine. Here are the results:

Misconception: Drug store products leave a heavier film on your hair. This is why you should be purchasing more expensive hair care products.

There is this idea out there that drug store products leave a heavier and thicker film on the hair compared to higher-priced products, and this is why you should spend more. With an understanding of how hair care products work, it should be pretty apparent that this is a misconception, but in case you need a visual - here you are! Below are Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) images (1000x, 2500x, and 5000x magnification) from hair tresses treated with either Pantene’s Daily Moisture Renewal Shampoo + Conditioner - to represent drug store hair care products, Prestige product 1 from the above tests, or a non-conditioning shampoo to show a starting point between both treatments. These treatments were all applied to moderately-damaged, wavy hair. I can’t see them in the microscopy images, can you?

Figure 4. SEM images from hair tresses treated with prestige vs drug store hair care products.

Take-Home

At the end of the day if you feel like splurging for that prestige-priced product because you like the way it feels or smells, by all means, use the products you enjoy. But if you think that you have to spend top dollar to find products that will work for you, that just simply is not true. The idea that you have to be affluent to enjoy effective hair care (or skincare) - it’s not grounded in reality and also, IMO, is icky and elitist. There are plenty of effective, affordable products sold in drug stores. You don't have to spend an arm and a leg to find a product that will work for you.

References

Jiménez-González, C., Poechlauer, P., Broxterman, Q. B., Yang, B. S., Am Ende, D., Baird, J., ... & Manley, J. (2011). Key green engineering research areas for sustainable manufacturing: a perspective from pharmaceutical and fine chemicals manufacturers. Organic Process Research & Development, 15(4), 900-911.
Lambert, J., Srivastava, J., & Vietmeyer, N. (1997). Medicinal plants: rescuing a global heritage (Vol. 355). World Bank Publications.
Schippmann, U. W. E., Leaman, D., & Cunningham, A. B. (2006). A comparison of cultivation and wild collection of medicinal and aromatic plants under sustainability aspects. Frontis, 75-95.
Marsh, J. M., Brown, M. A., Felts, T. J., Hutton, H. D., Vatter, M. L., Whitaker, S., ... & Henry, I. D. (2017). Gel network shampoo formulation and hair health benefits. International journal of cosmetic science, 39(5), 543-549.
Bhushan, B. (2008). Nanoscale characterization of human hair and hair conditioners. Progress in Materials Science, 53(4), 585-710.
Evans, T. (2020). Testing Tactics in Hair: Equipment—A 'Buyer's Guide'. Cosmetics & Toiletries.

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