If you pride yourself on having clean and healthy looking hair, looking after your locks is a top priority. So using good shampoos, conditioners and hair care products on your hair is important. But when it comes to price and the quality of hair care products, how do you know which hair products to use?

High street products seem much more affordable and therefore giving you better value for money because of the low cost of high street hair products. Branded premium salon products can appear pricey with the average 300ml shampoo bottle priced at 5 times the cost ($20/GBP10) of a regular high street shampoo ($4/GBP2).

On just this kind of price comparison alone, it appears that the cheap high street hair products are the winners as you are getting 5 times as much product for the same cost, or the same amount of product for 1/5 the price of the salon professional hair care products.

When you look more closely at the comparison between the effectiveness and the quality of high street hair products and salon hair products, does the comparison end up in the favour of cheap hair care products, or do the cheaper high street products turn out to be a false economy?

To see if cheaper high street hair products provide more value for money in both the short and long term when compared with professional salon hair care products, we made the decision to test them both to see how each of the hair products compare against one another in a quality test.

We tested a 300ml bottle of shampoo from the high street and a 300ml salon professional shampoo. With the high street product a 50ml application is standard to clean hair where with the professional product a 10ml application was all that was required to clean the hair to the same standard.

Using 50ml per application, the average high street hair shampoo provides approximately 6 applications per 300ml bottle. With just 10ml used per application, the professional salon hair shampoo gives you around 30 applications per 300ml bottle. Doing a little math, the cost per applications are $0.64c/GBP0.32p for the cheap high street shampoo, and $0.66c/GBP0.33p for the salon professional shampoo.

Result: although the high street shampoo appears to be better value, in truth there is very little difference in cost compared to the professional hair shampoo. The professional shampoo is of much higher quality and more effective in cleaning your hair. Buying cheap high street hair shampoo is a false economy. Q? Why would you want to use an inferior product on your hair?

There are a lot of mens hair products available to buy on the market today, and it is often not so easy to know which range you should choose, and which product from that range is the best one for your hair and the one you should be using. It is highly recommended that you use a high quality premium brand hair product for men as this usually guarantees good results. Here are the four best ranges of mens hair products you can find:

Pashana -
* Pashana American Bay Rum Hair Lotion: Originally from the West Indies, traditionally uses aromatic oil distilled from Bay leaves soaked in pure Bay Oil and Rum.
* Pashana Eau de Quinine Hair Tonic: Quinine, known for its curative properties, is derived from the Chinchona Bark found in South America where it is used as a local anaesthetic and in hair tonics and sunscreen preparations.
* Pashana Eau de Portugal Hair Tonic: An excellent finishing product for normal to dry hair that also helps to invigorate the scalp, formulated from an original Portuguese recipe.

Dax -
* Dax Vegetable Oil Shampoo: Another heavy duty product. This is the best available to get excess Dax out of your hair (with the exception of super-neat which is water soluble).
* Dax Green and Gold: Dax Green and Gold is a specially formulated wax that is made from Beeswax and natural oils. Green and Gold offers a superior hold without the unwanted build up or drying of the hair.
* Dax Wave and Groom: Wave and groom is effective on hair which is no longer that 2 - 3 inches long. It is formulated specially to bring out the natural wave pattern of short hair.

Black and White -
* Black and White Lite Pomade: Black and White Pluko Lite is a versatile hair dressing that helps to keep hair manageable and textured all day. Provides light control and superior shine with natural conditioning oils.
* Black and White Shampoo: Black and White Pluko Shampoo. Black and White shampoo is renowned for its quick removal of product build-up and cleansing of the scalp.
* Black and White Pomade: Black and White Genuine Pluko is a versatile hair dressing that allows you to mould, sculpt and create texture.

Fudge -
* Fudge Hair Shaper: Get onto the hard stuff with this strong hold multi-purpose styling tool that really goes the distance. Texturise, mould, piece or simply just shag it out any way you want for that totally ‘lived-in’ look.
* Fudge Hair Putty: Travel first class all the way with Putty, the perfect sculpting tool for maximum moulding. Blow-dry it in for extra body and kick, or finish it off for absolute moulding power with a medium hold.
* Fudge Matte Hed: Firm hold texturising paste. Get some flexible style to your head with firm hold Matte Hed. Work through your hair for definition and movement with extreme matte texture.

Using the right product on your hair will definitely help to give you the results that you are looking for. And when you choose a high quality premium brand range, you can be certain that the hair product will contain the best ingredients for helping you choose the style and look that you are after. You cannot go wrong with the four ranges listed above.

If you pride yourself on having clean and healthy looking hair, looking after your locks is a top priority. So using good shampoos, conditioners and hair care products on your hair is important. But when it comes to price and the quality of hair care products, how do you know which hair products to use?

High street products seem much more affordable and therefore giving you better value for money because of the low cost of high street hair products. Branded premium salon products can appear pricey with the average 300ml shampoo bottle priced at 5 times the cost ($20/GBP10) of a regular high street shampoo ($4/GBP2).

When you weigh up cheap hair care products and professional salon hair care products and compare them on price alone, cheaper hair care products seem to be far and away the obvious choice, costing 1/5th the price of salon products, giving you what appears to be 5 times the amount of product for the same money.

When you look more closely at the comparison between the effectiveness and the quality of high street hair products and salon hair products, does the comparison end up in the favour of cheap hair care products, or do the cheaper high street products turn out to be a false economy?

To discover which in the long term out of cheap hair care products from the high street and professional salon hair care products proved the best value for money, we decided to test the products to find out how the high street hair products compare with the salon professional hair products.

In our test we compared a 300ml bottle of an average high street shampoo, and an equivalent 300ml bottle of salon professional shampoo. The high street shampoo needed about 50ml per application to clean the hair to our required standard, whereas the salon shampoo needed only 10ml per application to clean the hair to the same required standard.

Using 50ml per application, the average high street hair shampoo provides approximately 6 applications per 300ml bottle. With just 10ml used per application, the professional salon hair shampoo gives you around 30 applications per 300ml bottle. Doing a little math, the cost per applications are $0.64c/GBP0.32p for the cheap high street shampoo, and $0.66c/GBP0.33p for the salon professional shampoo.

Summary: at first glance, cheaper high street hair products appear to be a better buy and provide value for money, but on closer scrutiny there is but a hair’s breadth of difference in the price of salon hair products, and cheap hair products. When you add the better quality and effectiveness of salon products into the equation, the salon products turn out to be much better value for money. Q? Why would you use anything other than the highest quality hair care products on your hair?

Greasy hair can look oily and dull, and have a lank and lifeless appearance. It can look flat and heavy, and it never seems to stay clean and fresh. It takes on a stringy appearance within a few hours of shampooing and refuses to stay full and fluffy. Does this describe your hair? Do you ask the question, why is my hair greasy? Greasy hair can cause social embarrassment as others may judge that the sufferer has poor hygiene and does not wash their hair frequently enough, even if they actually wash it every day.

The grease found in hair is called sebum and is oil that is produced natural by the body. Each of the hairs on your head has a gland called the sebaceous gland immediately under the skin, this gland produces sebum. Oil in greasy hair protects each strand form split ends and dryness, and is in fact a sign of healthy hair. Sebum is made as lubrication for the skin and hair, providing a protective barrier and preventing drying. Sebum is the body’s own natural moisturizer.

Greasy hair is actually an excess of sebum in hair which is a result of overactive sebaceous glands over-producing sebum, stimulated by hormones known as androgens. Although they are present in both men and women, androgens are male hormones and are higher in men. Androgens do two things: One, they increase the size of sebaceous glands in the skin. Two, they cause the sebaceous glands to increase the production of oil.

Because hormones play a role in the production of sebum, one of the causes of greasy hair is fluctuating hormone levels. Greasy hair is most commonly found in teenagers going through puberty, in women because of their monthly cycle or pregnancy, and older women going through the menopause. Stress is also known to affect hormone levels and can therefore be a contributory factor towards greasy hair. People with fine hair often find that they suffer from excessive greasiness, as they have more hair and follicles meaning there are more glands on the scalp, each producing sebum.

There are several external causes of greasy hair. Washing your hair too frequently can cause more sebum to be produced as frequent washing can strip the hair of oils, to combat this sebaceous glands excrete sebum. Sebaceous glands can be stimulated through vigorous scrubbing of the hair and scalp while washing. Touching your hair can also stimulate sebaceous glands, along with vigorous hair brushing which carries oil throughout the hair. The over-use of styling products can cause hair to look greasy as the products can build-up at the roots. Everyday environmental pollutants can also cause hair to look greasy.

There are also several internal causes to greasy hair as well. Along with changing hormone levels, a major cause of greasy hair is the food you put inside of you, i.e. you diet. Western diets are usually much greasier, containing more fat. They are usually processed, containing many additives, and typically are higher in fat and sugar. The high fat content of the diet increases oil in the skin which can lead to greasy hair. The meat in a Western diet often contains some hormones, and these hormones can add to the levels of unbalanced hormones. Greasy hair can also be a sign of a diet that is low in vitamin B.

The key of how to avoid, stop, treat and cure greasy hair is approach it from the outside and inside. Starting with the outside: avoid brushing your hair too often, and avoid brushing your hair vigorously. As you wash your hair, massage your hair and scalp lightly instead of scrubbing them vigorously. The beast shampoo for greasy hair is a mild-ph shampoo that is extra cleansing or clarifying. Look for a shampoo that is specially formulated for greasy hair. To protect against dryness moisturizing shampoos can leave oil in your hair, these should be avoided.

For a more thorough cleanse, leave the shampoo in for about 5 minutes. You can always rinse your hair and shampoo a second time. How often you need to wash your hair is down to you. Ideally you should wash your hair 1-2 times per week. To find what is right for you, begin washing daily and then reduce the frequency to find your ideal balance of oil production and washing. If you plan to use a conditioner on your hair, apply the conditioner to the mid and ends of you hair only, and be sure to use a conditioner made for greasy hair. If you are using a hairdryer for hair styling don’t let the dryer get too hot, heat can cause the production of more oil.

With the inside: do all that you can to reduce and eliminate any and all stress. In your diet, consider using a vitamin B supplement. Make sure you eat plenty of whole grains, seeds, nuts, leafy green vegetables, salads and fresh fish. Reduce the amount of fatty foods that you eat, avoiding greasy, fried and fatty foods as much as possible. Reduce the number of white flour based foods in your diet, foods like pastries, pasta and bread. Lastly, avoid sugar and sugary foods like biscuits, cakes and soft drinks.

Greasy hair never seems to stay fresh and clean, and can look heavy and flat. Within a few hours of shampooing it refuses to stay full and light and it takes on a stringy appearance. Along with looking oily, greasy hair can appear lifeless, lank and dull. Does this sound familiar to you? Do you ask yourself “why is my hair greasy?” Even if they wash it everyday, others can judge that the sufferer does not wash their hair frequently and doesn’t have good hygiene. This can cause much social embarrassment.

The grease in hair grease is oil and is called Sebum. Sebum is produced by the sebaceous glands which lie immediately under the skin in you scalp and each hair has a sebaceous gland. Greasy hair is in fact healthy hair, and the oil protects each hair strand from dryness and split ends. Sebum lubricates hair skin and provides a protective barrier to prevent drying. This oil is your own built-in moisturizer.

Greasy hair is excess of sebum in the hair and comes as a result of an over production of sebum (oil) from over active sebaceous glands, stimulated by hormones called androgens. Androgens are male hormones that are present in both men and women, but are higher in men. Androgens do two things: First, they enlarge the sebaceous glands in the skin. Second, they cause these glands to increase oil production.

Because hormones play a role in the production of sebum, one of the causes of greasy hair is fluctuating hormone levels. Greasy hair is most commonly found in teenagers going through puberty, in women because of their monthly cycle or pregnancy, and older women going through the menopause. Stress is also known to affect hormone levels and can therefore be a contributory factor towards greasy hair. People with fine hair often find that they suffer from excessive greasiness, as they have more hair and follicles meaning there are more glands on the scalp, each producing sebum.

There are a number of external factors in that cause greasy hair. Washing your hair too often can increase the production of sebum as the sebaceous glands produce more sebum to combat the stripping of oils from the scalp and hair which can happen as a result of frequent washing. Vigorous hair and scalp scrubbing can stimulate hair grease. Touching hair can also over-stimulate glands, as can brushing vigorously which carry oil through your hair. Pollutants in the everyday environment can cause hair to look greasy, along with product build-up at the roots from over-use of hair styling products.

There are also several internal causes to greasy hair as well. Along with changing hormone levels, a major cause of greasy hair is the food you put inside of you, i.e. you diet. Western diets are usually much greasier, containing more fat. They are usually processed, containing many additives, and typically are higher in fat and sugar. The high fat content of the diet increases oil in the skin which can lead to greasy hair. The meat in a Western diet often contains some hormones, and these hormones can add to the levels of unbalanced hormones. Greasy hair can also be a sign of a diet that is low in vitamin B.

The secret of how to treat, cure, prevent and avoid greasy hair is to treat it from both the outside, and the inside. For the outside: avoid brushing your hair too frequently, and when you brush avoid brushing your hair vigorously. When you wash your hair, the best shampoo for greasy hair is a mild-ph extra cleansing/clarifying shampoo that is formulated for greasy hair. Avoid moisturizing shampoos as they can leave some oil in your hair to protect against dryness. When washing your hair, avoid scrubbing your hair and scalp vigorously, lightly massage your hair and scalp instead.

When shampooing, leave the shampoo in your hair for approximately 5 minutes for a better clean. Rinse and shampoo again if necessary. It’s up to you as to how often you should wash your hair. Once or twice a week is the ideal but to find your own balance of washing and oil production start with washing once a day, reducing how often you wash as you find that balance. If you are going to condition your hair, use a conditioner designed especially for greasy hair, and apply the conditioner not to the roots but to the mid and ends of your hair. If you use a hair dryer to style your hair, heat will stimulate oil production, so don’t let it get too hot.

With the inside: do all that you can to reduce and eliminate any and all stress. In your diet, consider using a vitamin B supplement. Make sure you eat plenty of whole grains, seeds, nuts, leafy green vegetables, salads and fresh fish. Reduce the amount of fatty foods that you eat, avoiding greasy, fried and fatty foods as much as possible. Reduce the number of white flour based foods in your diet, foods like pastries, pasta and bread. Lastly, avoid sugar and sugary foods like biscuits, cakes and soft drinks.