Hello and question

Hello and welcome to the forum.  I hope you will post often.

You raise a very good point and question.

In the majority of cases what your stylist told you is NOT true.  However, it's possible they have been told this from the professional product distributors or told to say this by the salon management.

Many stylists and professionals know the real truth about what goes on, but they turn a blind eye to it. 

If your stylist sells Pureology but you can buy it cheaper at the drugstore around the corner what is your stylist going to say?  It's a hard situation and an ongoing problem.

This whole situation in the hair industry is called diverting. Most hair and beauty experts and insiders know that it's all a big shell game. 

If you love your stylist and their work you may want to buy your products from them because this is an added source of revenue for them and actually supports their ongoing business.  The product may be more expensive but in the long run if it keeps your favorite stylist or salon in business, it may be worth it to you.

The real deal is that large hair care companies may sell directly (sometimes they try to prevent it from happening, but it still does) to grocery stores, discount stores etc if the chain is willing to place a large enough order (millions of units). 

However, the hair care companies don't want professional hairdressers to know if they do go ahead and divert because these very same companies usually tell hairdressers that they don't divert. 

Of course its also possible the professional companies are trying to prevent non-professionals from selling it, but its almost impossible to stop now because of multiple distributors of professional products who know how to get a hold of the coveted professional products and then sell them to a wide range of non-professional locations. 

In the early days professional hair care companies would promise to only sell their products through professional licensed stylists.  That gave the stylist an advantage in competition against large chain stores, drugstores and similar.  It was also a way to attract clients to the salons because in the early days they truly had a monopoly on the best professional products.

With the introduction of internet buying back in the mid to late 1990s many professional stylists, salons and beauty supply companies realized that in order to stay competitive, they had to sell online.  They started doing so which was labeled diversion.  Even when professionals stylists sell professional products online, they are still considered to be selling improperly.

The big chain stores like Kroger, HEB, Central Market, Drugstore.com, Amazon.com, Bed Bath & Beyond, CVS, Walgreens and etc. got into the game starting as early as 2000.

Although some of the professional hair companies still claim they only sell directly to professionals, many are willing to take those big million dollar orders from the very chains they say they don't sell too.  You really can't blame them, especially in this economy. 

It still is very upsetting to professionals who believe they should have exclusive rights to sell professional products.  Meanwhile this whole diversion thing is hurting a variety of different groups.

In all fairness there are some isolated cases where products are counterfeited, meaning that someone will match the formula and bottles and give the appearance of being a popular brand ,but with the easy access to the brands, this is much less of a problem then it was some years ago.

I want to go on the record as saying I personally am neither for or against diversion. As I said, its a very controversial topic, almost as controversial as politics or religion and there is no easy answer or fix. 


Edited by Karen Shelton - November 29 2010 at 3:28pm

Hello all, excellent forum!