When the salon started to be curly hair focused 15 odd years ago, the salon was educated according to one persons book, and opinion. Since then we realized that although the book was useful and correct in it's own right - others have come out with their own opinions - all of which is correct depending on the persons hair texture, density, curl type, and what you want to achieve.
Have you ever watched a YouTube video and the influencer had gorgeous hair, then you tried it and it didn't work? That is because your hair wasn't like the influencer. People need to be educated, but you also need to know what kind of hair you have and what works for you... so I do encourage you to experiment, and if it doesn't work move on, but at the same time don't do experiments that do harm to the integrity of your hair or scalp. If you don't want to do the experiments go to a professional that will take your hairs texture, density, porosity, and curl type into consideration.
Listening to clients is crucial whether you're a Doctor, psychologist, or a stylist. An example of this is when Deva had a class action lawsuit because people were reacting to their products. I started seeing client with really bad scalp issues. Clients were also coming in and saying that they were losing hair.
At first I was making excused like....are you stressed, or maybe your going through hormonal changes. Never in my wildest dreams did I associate it with the product until a client told me that she was having extreme hair loss. She started eliminating products and soon realized that the Deva products were responsible. When she told me this I said "mmm really"?. She said look up the threads -and so I did. What I found out was that hundreds of people were complaining about various reactions to the product. I then decided to take the product off the shelf because I started looking at the the ingredients. What I found is that 1. it had a huge amount of proteins. Proteins in itself isn't bad, but when you get a too much protein it can become dry and brittle. The same goes with Moisture. If you get too much moisture your hair can become dry because the hair shaft becomes so swollen that it pushes the cuticle open which in turn causes the moisture to escape. Looking further down the ingredient list I found that the preservative used was a formaldehyde releaser.
WHAT TO LOOK FOR ON THE LABEL: Formaldehyde, quaternium-15, DMDM hydantoin, imidazolidinyl urea, diazolidinyl urea, polyoxymethylene urea, sodium hydroxymethylglycinate, 2-bromo-2-nitropropane-1,3-diol (bromopol) and glyoxal.
This ingredient (if people have senstivities to it) can cause a number of different side effects such as dermatitis, headaches, watery eyes, runny nose, hair loss, and hives. Sensitivity may develop over time from repeated low-level exposures.
REGULATIONS: Banned from use in cosmetics and toiletries in Japan and Sweden; in the EU, restricted in personal care products, and labeling is required in products that do contain these chemicals; concentration restrictions in Canada. The EU allows the use of Quaternium-15 up to 0.2% as a preservative in cosmetic products. These ingredients are a cheaper form of preservatives and is not banned in the US.
Deducing there is some pattern is important to figuring out if something is working or not working. Do not be susceptible to influencers and marketing ads. Really listen to your hair and scalp.
