Counterfeit Hair Care Products

Professional Products in Drug Stores Possibly Contaminated

© Jill Nessel

Apr 27, 2008

The next time professional hair care products show up on the shelves of the local drug or grocery store, consumers should know that their favourite brand did not end up there directly from the manufacturer.

Professional salon products that are sold outside of salons are called "diverted products", and according to Beautys Systems Group Canada, this is bad for not only the manufacturer, but the consumer and the store selling the product as well.

How Does Product Get Diverted?

“Collectors,” as described by John Paul Mitchell Systems, contact salons and make attractive offers to have the salon purchase large quantities of product on its behalf. Usually, the collector will offer to pay more for the lot than the cost the salon would pay, so there is little work for the salon to make a quick buck. The collector then sells the product to mass retailers at a discounted price. The retailer in turn, prices the product at the same price as salons or even higher in some cases creating no advantage to the consumer.

Counterfeit operations have almost mastered the art of duplicating packaging, tricking the retailer and the consumer into thinking they are purchasing authentic products. Manufacturers can spot counterfeit packaging by telltale signs such as language errors, font and size errors, subtle shape differences, and of course by analyzing the product within.

FOX News reported June 10, 2003 that counterfeit hair care products independently analyzed were found to have dangerously high levels of toxic bacteria and other impurities—enough to make a person sick and require medical attention.

What is Wrong with Buying Diverted Product?

Professional salon products purchased in a drugstore, grocery store, through the internet or at any other unauthorized outlet, may be:

• old, resulting in loss of effectiveness of ingredients. This is a waste of money for the consumer.
• counterfeit, which means it is completely unknown what hazardous ingredients are in the product and may make the consumer ill.
• diverted, which means consumers are contributing to devaluing the professionalism of the product and industry.
• tampered with, which means harmful ingredients could have been added as filler, again, potentially making the consumer sick.
• discontinued or recalled product which is dated, defective or harmful to the consumer. There is a reason the product was taken off shelves in the first place.

Any professional product purchased at a drug or grocery store will not be guaranteed by the manufacturer. Most salon products indicate this right on the product.

Be An Informed Consumer

Next time professional product is found at a drug or grocery store, notice that the shelves don’t usually carry as much inventory as the regular drug-store brands. This is because the store isn’t ordering specific quantities—it is taking what it can get from the collector. The price may not be significantly cheaper than the salon down the street, and there is no rhyme or reason to the lines being carried or what products from those lines. What is sold this week may be replaced by entirely different brands and types next week.

Ask the manager of the store where the product was purchased, and if it is guaranteed the same way salons guarantee professional hair care products. Be informed, and be careful when purchasing salon products from a mass retailer.

Diversion

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