Less, But Better: How I Decide What Hair Products Are Actually Worth Recommending
You know that cabinet under your bathroom sink?
The one with half-used masks, three oils, two leave-ins, an old bottle of something TikTok convinced you that you absolutely needed, and at least one product you can’t even remember buying?
I see you.
The hair industry is really, really good at making us feel like the answer to whatever we’re struggling with is hiding in the next bottle.
Dry hair?
Buy this.
Breakage?
You need this.
Frizz?
New serum.
Damaged blonde?
Here comes another repair system.
And before long, you’ve spent a small fortune and somehow still have no idea what your hair actually needs.
That’s exactly what I don’t want for you.
I’m not interested in recommending everything
There are thousands of hair products available to us.
And because I’m a stylist, I’m constantly being introduced to more.
New launches.
New formulas.
New tools.
New “breakthrough” ingredients.
New products that promise to completely change your hair by next Tuesday.
Some of them are fantastic.
Some are perfectly fine.
Most are purely
marketing.
And I don’t think you should have to figure out the difference by spending your own money and hoping for the best.
That’s part of my job.
Before something becomes a recommendation, I want to know more about it.
What’s in it?
What is it actually supposed to do?
Who does it make sense for?
Does it perform the way the company says it will?
Is there already something simpler or less expensive that does the same job?
Does it support the kind of healthy-hair goals I’m working toward with my clients?
And most importantly:
Would I feel good telling the woman sitting in my chair to spend her money on it?
If the answer is no, it doesn’t need to be on my list.
Some recommendations last for years. Others don’t.
There are products and tools I’ve recommended for more than a decade.
They work.
They solve a problem.
I trust them.
Why would I replace something good just because something newer showed up?
On the other hand, I’m always paying attention.
Sometimes a new product comes along and genuinely does something better.
Sometimes a company creates a tool that makes styling gentler or easier.
Sometimes I find a little accessory that seems insignificant but makes daily hair care so much simpler.
That earns my attention too.
And brands change.
Companies get purchased.
Formulas change.
Products are discontinued.
Quality shifts.
Sometimes the company itself starts moving in a direction that no longer lines up with what I want to recommend.
My loyalty isn’t to keeping the same brand on my shelf forever.
My loyalty is to you and your hair.
If something better comes along, I want to know about it.
And if something I used to love stops earning my recommendation, I’m okay changing my mind.
Why I use affiliate links
This is another thing I realized a lot of clients don’t fully understand.
When I give you an affiliate link, you are typically still shopping directly through that company.
You can still take advantage of the sales and promotions they’re currently offering.
You don’t need to leave my link and Google the brand separately to get a better deal.
In fact, one of the reasons I like working with certain companies this way is because sometimes they can offer you pricing that I simply can’t.
They may run 20% off.
They may offer free shipping.
They may have bundles or seasonal promotions that I couldn’t realistically match as a tiny independent salon.
Through my link, you get to take advantage of those offers while your purchase may also provide a small commission back to my business at no additional cost to you.
You get the product I actually wanted you to have.
You get the company’s current price.
And my small business gets a little support along the way.
That feels like a pretty fair system to me.
I care about how brands treat stylists too
The product itself matters.
But so does the company behind it.
I’m drawn to brands that value education, stand behind their products, support the professionals recommending them, and make it easier for me to take care of my clients well.
Because I don’t want to simply hand you a bottle.
I want to understand what I’m recommending, know why we’re using it, and be able to help you if something isn’t working the way we expected.
That relationship matters to me.
The goal is still to use less
This might sound funny in an article about product recommendations, but my goal is not to sell you as much as possible.
Quite the opposite.
I want your routine to make sense.
If you need four things, I would rather you own four really good things and understand exactly what each one does than own fifteen products you use randomly.
More does not automatically mean better.
More repair products do not automatically create healthier hair.
More oils do not automatically fix dryness.
More expensive does not automatically mean more effective.
And whatever is trending online does not automatically belong in your bathroom.
Sometimes the best thing I can tell you is:
You don’t need that.
Think of my recommendation page as my edited shelf
I keep my current product, tool, brush, and accessory recommendations together in one place.
Not because I think you need everything on it.
You absolutely don’t.
Think of it more like walking over to a shelf in my salon and asking:
“Sara, which one would you actually pick?”
That’s what I want the page to feel like.
A smaller, intentionally curated place to start when you need something — without sorting through thousands of reviews, ads, influencers, and “must-have” products first.
And as I find better options, test new things, or change my mind about something?
I’ll update it.
Shop My Current Product Recommendations:
Because ultimately, products are supposed to support the plan.
They are not the plan.
Healthy hair is still built through thoughtful color choices, gentle daily habits, consistency, regular trims, realistic expectations, and time.
The right products simply help make all of that easier.
Less, but better. Always.
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