Cheap shampoo: what the pros really think

"When it comes to choosing your shampoo, it is not necessarily about the price but the quality of the product and the beneficial ingredients. Professional or high-end products are superior in quality and therefor tend to come with a higher price point. Cheaper products often contain sulphates and chemicals that can strip your colour or even worse, dry out the hair and scalp. You will find that you go through the product quickly. So, spending more money on a higher quality product is more cost effective and better all round for your hair and scalp," says Teri Lowe, Creative Director at The Hair Surgery. Barry Maddocks, UK Creative Director for Haringtons, agrees that quality is key, "I’m a true believer in you get what you pay for. Of course, some shampoos are going to work better on different hair, but for me using a professional shampoo is better. With professional products you can really tailor it to your client’s needs, not only do you get a product that’s had extensive research when it comes to the ingredients and performance but by buying from a salon you also get that personalised recommendation from your stylist." "Shampoos are designed to do a specific job: to get your hair and scalp clean. Cheap shampoo will do that as well as an expensive one, but the cheaper, supermarket shampoos are mostly just detergents and water that remove the oil from your hair, and the PH is usually higher. You will need to use twice as much as a more expensive brand. A professional shampoo usually contains higher quality ingredients, such as essential oils, plant or fruit extracts and botanicals. At Anne Veck we work with Davines as not only are the ingredients natural, eco-certified and organic, but they also do an excellent job at looking after your hair. Cheap shampoo is lower quality, as a result you will end up using more so it's a false economy" added Anne Veck, creative director for Anne Veck Oxford.