31st July 2020
In part 3 of brands that I admire, I feel the time is right to talk about Wella System Professional
30+ years ago when I joined Wella as a System Professional consultant, my love affair with haircare started in earnest. I was aware of the brand (Wella) as a hairdresser but the salons I worked in prior to joining them used other brands. In my role as an SP Consultant I learnt not just about products, but also the hair and scalp, in depth! It was a wonderful time learning all about how to recommend products that were suitable for various problems ….. but it was also a great time to learn more about hairdressers and how salons operated, which put me in great stead for the 20+ years I spent working for Wella UK.
But System Professional captured me, I was in awe at its ability to regenerate, repair, rebuild. I genuinely loved the brand and as it developed through its many different guises, something new would come along and just add another layer to the complexity of the formulations. To this day, I’m still a fan of Liquid Hair, a revolution that came along and transformed how hair could be rebuilt, long before all of the Plex products that now seem so commonplace.
I can recall many of the old formulations but No.13 Cutis Kurbad was an absolute fave, as was No.25 Anagen Lotion which I used in its many different formulations for my entire Wella career and beyond.
I have a lot to thank Wella and specifically System Professional for, and the brand will always be very dear to me.
Whilst working for Wella and travelling the length and breadth of Scotland, I came across a brand that, to this day, still inspires me. Working in Charlie Taylor, Perth I was very impressed with the vast range of hair care products the salon carried, and was especially keen to learn more about a curious looking brand, pale grey packaging, pale blue lids, logo embedded into the bottles.
Joico fascinated me, and I was lucky enough to be given some by Charlie to try (against SP). The formulations were very innovative and seemed (at the time) to be much more strengthening than the luxuriousness of SP. This was a very scientific brand that certainly performed exceptionally well.
Over the years, it too has developed, and is now a much wider range that encompasses every possible hair need. The packaging has moved on, naturally, but the performance is still as amazing as it was way back then. Joico is one of the most popular haircare ranges that the review panel here on this website get to use and try out. Whenever I send a message out saying something new has arrived, I can guarantee responses from the reviewers will invariably ask if there is anything from Joico. For more details click here JOICO
When I worked for Wella, Kerastase was the (silent, unmentioned) enemy, it was the brand we had to watch out for because they were after our salons. I absolutely refused to try the products, I avoided them at all costs because my loyalty was with SP. But secretly I admired the range and how it was so big and beautiful and expensive looking. It was always in trade press, and all the very high end L’Oreal salons carried it.
I succumbed once when a friend gave me Satin Bath, an iconic, no, make that legendary range within the portfolio. It was a beautiful shampoo and conditioner and I was mightily impressed by it.
Years later I was lucky enough to be sent a collection of hair loss products from the marketing team who look after Kerastase and …. and I don’t say this lightly, I was literally blown away by the effectiveness of the shampoo and daily tonic. Regular readers will know I’m always actively using hair loss products, and I have tried most brands, but for me, this is probably the best. Perhaps it was just suited to my hair and scalp requirements, but whatever it was, my hair felt stronger and rejuvenated and had definite signs of new hair growth after using for 3 months.
It’s still a gorgeous brand, a big big brand that certainly pushes the boundaries of hair care and is still a fave of lots of my hairdresser friends.
The last brand I want to mention in this post is a range that perhaps not many people have come into contact with.
O’right hails from Taiwan and I was introduced to it by a long standing colleague, Gavin Kidd who was involved with it for a while. Organic, Earth friendly, the worlds’ first haircare range to be awarded ‘carbon neutral’ status, it is innovative and quirky, I have been very impressed with this range and how it has achieved so much in its formulas and packaging. Most of the bottles and packaging decompose naturally, some of the packaging even has seeds embedded within it that grow when you plant them.
The O’right recoffee range is made entirely from the bi-products of used coffee… watch the video.
Of course there are lots more brands that I admire, after all, I am a product junkie and over the coming months I will add more to the blog.
Keep checking in…. who knows what comes next!
NOTE: I am not paid by any of these companies to endorse or promote their brands.
