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it’s important for you to shop around and find a product that performs the way you like at a price that you can afford. Just don’t get too hung up on the names the companies use to describe their products. That’s the marketing part of the industry, not the science part.

      ARE SALON PRODUCTS IN REGULAR STORES THE SAME AS THOSE IN SALONS?

      Winnie wonders: Are the salon products that you buy at the local grocery store the same as the ones you can buy at a salon? I saw a news story that said products in stores are fakes.

      Salon products are no different than those sold in stores. Selling salon brands in places that aren’t salons is called diversion. The truth is that these salon brands depend on “diverted” product to boost their sales. They want to have it both ways. They want to tell you that Paul Mitchell is a salon-only brand, which makes it seem more exclusive, but they also want the high-volume sales that they can get only through mass market outlets like your local Target or Walmart. Additionally, they don’t want to anger their salon distributors because people are able to get the same stuff—but cheaper—in nonsalon outlets.

      They make up this story of products being inferior. In nearly all cases, they are not. Here’s how diversion works. Paul Mitchell hires a company to manufacture its products. Then Paul Mitchell salespeople get and fill orders from distributors. Distributors are legitimate businesses that sell directly to independent salons. The distributors can order as much as they want. They then sell it to the salons, which can then sell it to you.

      FOLLOW THE MONEY

      Some of these distributors work directly with stores like CVS and Walgreens. So when these stores put in an order (a really big order, compared to a salon), the distributors just order more product from Paul Mitchell to fill the CVS order.

      It’s not likely that Paul Mitchell even questions the big orders because company salespeople like the extra sales. They turn a blind eye to what’s going on just so they can express public “outrage” that their product is being sold at the local drugstore. This is a bunch of bunk.

      The stuff you get at your local drugstore is every bit as good as the stuff you get at the salon. Don’t be fooled. If the folks at Paul Mitchell really wanted to stop these sales, they would simply question their distributors and find out who is selling to these outlets.

      The problem of counterfeiting is a real one, but it’s not something that you’ll find at large stores like Target. Target is not going to sell something contaminated because the company would be sued in a heartbeat. The places that are sketchy are the small shops (some salons) with the dust on top of the bottles. Those are the places you have to worry about.

      THE BOTTOM LINE

      If you’re buying a salon brand from a regular store, you can trust that there is no difference between that and the stuff you can get at a salon.

      ARE PAUL MITCHELL PRODUCTS MAKING YOUR HAIR BREAK?

      Joan asks: About a year ago my stylist started using Paul Mitchell products on me and I haven’t loved my hair since! Now it’s damaged and it breaks easily. My stylist blames me for using a flat iron. I know that doesn’t help but I’ve used a flat iron for years and have never had this happen. She tells me that’s because I had my hair colored so much. I have never had these problems until she switched to Paul Mitchell. Is it possible that his products made my hair start to break off and thin out?

      We see how you could think that Paul Mitchell made your hair go bad, but we doubt that’s really what happened. Paul Mitchell products are not different enough from other products you’ve been using (except for probably costing more), so there is likely a different reason you’re experiencing hair breakage. It is natural to leap to conclusions like this, but they are often incorrect.

      Instead of worrying about Paul Mitchell, we’d blame three other factors for your hair problem:

      1 Flat iron usage is very bad for your hair. That’s probably the most immediate cause of daily breakage. If you want less damage, consider ironing less frequently.

      2 In the long run, the worst thing you can do is chemically color your hair. Coloring breaks down the hair’s protein, making it weaker. Frequent chemical processing literally pushes your hair to its “breaking point.”

      3 The first two factors are worsened because you’re getting older and your hair is weaker. As we age, our hair gets less dense and more prone to breakage. That’s probably why you’re seeing so much hair breakage recently—Father Time is catching up with you!

      WHAT TO DO

      So, what can you do? Well, the shampoo doesn’t matter much as long as you’re using a conditioner. The Paul Mitchell conditioner is good, but so are many other cheaper, mass market brands like Fructis, Pantene and TRESemmé. You might consider using one of these every time you wash your hair. The conditioner should provide enough lubrication to the hair so that pulling on it with a comb does not break it. It may even provide some protection against the heat of the flat iron. If you’re not using a conditioner, be sure to use a conditioning shampoo like Pantene 2-in-1. This should help slow your hair-breaking problem.

      THE BOTTOM LINE

      In truth, heat, coloring and age are all conspiring against you to break your hair. You can’t do anything about the aging process but if you stopped coloring and reduced the heat exposure, your hair would break less. Of course, then you might not like how it looks. Such is the price we pay for beauty!

      DOES OJON RESTORATIVE TREATMENT LIVE UP TO ITS HYPE?

      Alison asks: I am wondering what you think of the Ojon products, specifically their restorative hair treatment that claims a 52 percent improvement in the condition of very dry hair after just one use. Is this really any better than other products, and how does it work?

      Ojon’s oil treatment consists of palm oil, fragrance and a few extracts. It’s particularly interesting because recent research has shown that only some oils will actually penetrate the hair. Mineral oil and sunflower oil, for example, will not penetrate. But coconut oil (which is essentially the same as palm oil) will filter deep into the cortex because it is so similar to hair’s natural lipids.

      OIL CONDITIONS HAIR

      Why is that a big deal? Because the natural oils in your hair help make it flexible and waterproof. Washing your hair removes some of these natural oils. So it is possible that applying coconut oil to your hair can fight some of the effects of this oil loss. Once inside the hair, the oil serves as a re-fatting agent. However, this type of conditioning won’t have much effect on the cuticle—the outer layer of hair—so you’ll still need to use a good conditioner to smooth the hair and make it easier to comb.

      Is that a good value? Well, that’s another question. Any other coconut oil-based product should do about the same job and should be much cheaper. We don’t recommend any specific brands, but look for products that feature coconut oil as the first ingredient.

      Is there anything to Ojon’s rain-forest hype? Well, its rain-forest story seems well-intentioned, but this ingredient isn’t proven to work any better or any differently than non-rain-forest ingredients. Coconut trees only grow in tropical climates, but there’s nothing special about trees from the rain forest. So if you like Ojon’s products and you want to support their cause and you can afford the $55 for this product, then by all means buy it. But don’t buy the product just because the company tells you its rain-forest extract is better.

      THE BOTTOM LINE

      Based on recent scientific research, the

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