Are $20 shampoos and conditioners worth it? Can good hair-care products be found at the drugstore, or are the expensive salon products really superior? In this comprehensive guide to all things hair care, consumer advocate Paula Begoun answers those questions and more in her reviews of more than 130 drugstore, salon, and department store hair product lines, from Aveda to Matrix and Pantene to Zirh. Thousands of products are described and evaluated according to their performance, reliability, price, and claims. Begoun compares good and bad ingredients, dispels hair-care industry myths, evaluates what helps and what hurts hair, and explains how to tell the difference between reality and hype with respect to a product's performance. Hair sprays, shampoos, conditioners, gels, mousses, pomades, silicone serums, and other items are covered. Her "Best Products" lists make it easy to find items worth trying in any category. The consumer bible of hair-care products, Don't Go Shopping for H...
Customer Reviews:
0 of 0 found this review helpful:
One of Paula's better books, 2008-04-20
Over the years I have purchased several of these books as the price of the book can save you much money in terms of misguided cosemetic purchases. This book, is better than her cosmetics books because she actually packs a lot of other info in the book. There are an ample number of product reviews but she adds in more about the chemistry of what goes into most hair care products.
I like this book the most because she also covers coloring of hair, a variety of other treatments, styling aides, and where your money will get the best bang for the buck. For example, did you know that letting your hair air dry is the best of all for your hair, as it causes no damange?
I like that she covers that there aren't often major differences in drugstore shampoos and what you buy at the salons.
This book is packed with information, information that will help you make better choices. I can honestly say I have saved money since the purchase of this book and rethought a couple of items in the realm of hair care that will also help me save money, and not see a bit of a difference in the health of my hair. While the book may be a little bit out of date in 2008 it is still worthwhile in picking up.
0 of 0 found this review helpful:
Wont buy haircare products again as I did before..., 2008-03-30
A very detailed book with a lot of experiences and observations, a lot. The reviews fit the US market for haircare products better than the European, but even then very very relevant. To some the book might be a bit on the detailed side, but I will never buy haircare products I did before I read the book. -And, by the way, my hair is doing a lot better nowadays... :)
0 of 0 found this review helpful:
Very Helpful, 2008-03-25
Even though this book was published a few years ago, chemistry never changes. I appreciate the way Paula tells you why a product is not good, for instance, a certain ingredient shouldn't be used in leave-in products, that chemical dries the hair, etc. Her non-biased approach cuts through the hype to the cold facts. I love it!
By the way, I've read most of the book, and haven't seen her harping on Pantene. In fact, I thought she was quite critical of some of their products.
0 of 0 found this review helpful:
buying hair care products, 2008-02-15
I purchased this book for my daughter who buys alot of hair care products. I looked through it. I was amazed at the number of inexpensive, over the counter hair care products that are just as good and far less expensive than those they advise you to buy when you are in the salon. Now, we both do our research first before buying hair care products.
8 of 15 found this review helpful:
Handbook for the People's Republic of Follicular Equality, 2008-01-13
There is far more general information in here than in her cosmetics book, information that is interesting to read. There is a lot of information on hair structure, some interesting tidbits on company histories and explanations of types of hair care ingredients and what they do. The problem is that it's often difficult to tell where the facts end and her skewed opinions begin. So while the hair book doesn't SEEM as bad as the cosmetic book, it's actually worse because you can't tell facts from advice that will make your hair fall out.
Comrade Begoun thinks we should avoid salons at almost any cost, use cheap hair care products, and once again she is the only thing standing between me and big bad corporations. Using a salon brand is for purposes of prestige only, since she rates them on ingredients alone rather than results. Former residents of the Soviet Union will find themselves waxing nostalgic for the days of standing in line for toilet paper and bread as they read through this 700 page infomercial for Pantene, L'Oreal drugstore products and Exxon. The insanity of rating products on ingredients alone continues in this book. Just because L'Oreal owns Kerastase doesn't mean that their drugstore product is as good as their salon product. She totally lost me when she claimed that the effects of Joico K-Pak Deep Penetrating Reconstructor can be reproduced by mixing mineral oil with your regular conditioner. I mean, where does she come up with this stuff? Is there a monkey pulling random ideas out of a hat for her to use?
The way she talks about waiting between perming and coloring is irresponsible. Of course double processing will damage your hair, but the reason for waiting is for the chemicals from the first procedure to dissipate, for less damage and perhaps avoiding a disaster. People will read this and run with it, perming and coloring on the same day & possibly end up with green, straw-like hair, or even bald. She encourages people to do their coloring at home, and I am all for a do it yourself job that comes out great. But the fact is that most home jobs do not turn out well due to a lack of skill, and then people end up at the salon anyway. Encouraging people to mix hair colors at home is reckless considering most of the people who take her advice have no experience doing it.
Her disdain for salons and professional stylists is very apparent in spite of her claims that she loves them and the services they provide. Always call the professionals, folks. If you call Comrade Begoun after you've dunked your head in mineral oil and botched your home color job, all you're going to get is a re-direct to her websites and HER OWN LINE OF HAIR CARE PRODUCTS. Granted, she has only two choices for hair, but in the People's Republic of Follicular Equality, what did you expect? She says hairstylists can't be relied on for accurate information because they are trained by hair care companies, and because they don't do complicated analyses of product ingredients. I don't know about HER stylist, but mine was trained at a beauty school. Second, it's true-- they don't do detailed ingredient analyses-- because they don't HAVE to. They are **familiar** with ingredients, but they also USE the products EVERY DAY on all kinds of hair, including their own. My stylist knows what shampoo will fade my hair and what won't, the best protection for heat styling, the hair spray with the best hold, and what treatment will really help prevent split ends and breakage.
If I took everything she said seriously, I'd be huddled in a corner thinking my hair will fall out if I move or touch it. I can't blow-dry it, towel-dry it, brush it, heat style it, wash it, perm it, color it-- the tone of the book is enough to make you want to shave you head and forget about it. Everything, even good personal hygiene, damages hair. While much of this is true to an extent, the book makes it sound like your hair will fall out if you look at it funny. She makes it sound like taking vitamins for hair is an exercise in futility, that internal factors have nothing to do with the condition of your hair, but contradicts herself later in the book. After a point the contradictions and absurd statements will make you go cross-eyed.
I will say that the chapter on African hair was interesting, and I don't think it was at all racist. When she said, "the natural state of black hair is currently not an acceptable fashion statement for women of color," I think she meant that it's society in general that for whatever reason finds it unacceptable. The statement needed clarification, and I blame the editors for not catching this. If nothing else, she has sparked an interest in me to learn more about African hair, but it's not enough to save this book from becoming another complete waste of time for any purpose other than entertainment. Keep it on your fiction shelf, and get hair advice from someone who has actual credentials.
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