American women spend millions of dollars a year on supplies, products, and appliances designed to make them beautiful from skincare and makeup, to nailcare, to haircare.  With the economy in the state it is, it only makes sense that one would want to know which products are the best value for the price spent.  Here is a comparison of three major salon lines - Matrix, Aveda, and Paul Mitchell.

Matrix is a full line of products avaliable only in salons. There are several formulas to choose from, depending on your hair and the desired result. the five pictured at the right are just a few of the lines avaliable to the public through your favorite stylist. Having trouble finding a salon near you that uses these products? Go to www.matrix.com and use their salon locator! Be sure to call the salon ahead to be sure the product you want is in stock. If not, the stylist should be able to order it and give you an idea of when the product will be in the store and how much you can expect to pay for the item(s).

Matrix products are featured in magazines such as Glamour, Elle, and Cosmopolitan, just to name a few. Celebrity stylists, such as Mark Townsend, use Matrix products to help celebrities look their best, on and off the big screen. For example, Matrix products were used in the movie "Vanilla Sky" starring Tom Cruise, Penelope Cruz, and Cameron Diaz. They are also used on celebrities like January Jones, Amy Adams, and Natalie Portman, to prepare them for everything from the Golden Globe Awards, to the Emmy Awards, and even the after parties. Mark Townsend also uses Matrix products on Mary Kate and Ashley Olsen when they do TV appearances and other promotional performances for their coffee table book "Influence".

According to their website, www.aveda.com, "Aveda™, The Art and Science of Pure Flower and Plant Essences™, was founded in 1978 with the goal of providing beauty industry professionals with high performance, botanically based products that would be better for service providers and their guests, as well as for the planet."  "Aveda manufactures professional plant-based hair care, skin care, makeup, Pure-Fume™ and lifestyle products. Headquartered in Blaine, Minnesota, Aveda is available in Aveda stores, and in nearly 7,000 professional hair salons and spas in 24 countries worldwide."

Aveda products are avaliable for purchase online at their website or in salons and spas world wide.  A bottle of shampoo will cost around $9.50 for an 8.5 oz bottle.  Gift and combination sets are also avaliable, starting at around $35.00.  These products will appeal to those consumers that value all-natural ingredients and gentle formulas.

In terms of standard hair care, such as shampoo, conditioner, and styling products, this is an excellent idea, however in terms of professional products, such as perms and color, the more gentle, natural formulas, while healthier for the hair, and more user friendly than many similar lines, can be less effective in accomplishing the desired result.

Paul Mitchell is another quality salon-only line. The company started in 1980, on $700.00 worth of borrowed money. The black-and-white packaging that the company is now famous for began out of financial necessity - in the beginning, they could not afford the colored ink that most other companies use. The company currently produces over 90 products, all manufactured within the United States. They are sold through 25 distributors to around 90,000 hair salons and schools in the US alone. They also work with distributors in 75 countries that supply thousands of hair salons internationally. The annual salon retail sales are around $900 million.

John Paul Mitchell Systems is the full name of the company, and they are very socially and politically active. The company has joined with celebrities such as Brad Pitt, Richard Branson, and Nelson Mandela to support the non-profit orgainization MINESEEKER which works to rid the world of unactivated landmines. They are also the first hair care company to publicly oppose animal testing. They have created aerosol products that meet stringent Volatile Organic Compounds (VOC) standards in California. They harvest botanicals without harm to the environment. And the company uses giant solar panels to harness the sun’s energy on their awapuhi farm, on the North Shore of Hawaii. The goal of CEO John Paul DeJoria is to make John Paul Mitchell Systems an example for other companies to follow.

"Corporations can and should change the world for the better. We have the perspective needed to leave the world a better place for our having been here." – John Paul DeJoria.

Paul Mitchell products are featured in publications such as Lucky, Harper's Bazaar, US Weekly, O, The Oprah Magazine, Allure, Self, and Shape, just to name a few. Celebs such as Rihanna, Fabiola Da Silva, Lucas Martin, Angus Mitchell, and Holly Beck, just to name a few, use Paul Mitchell products.

To find a salon near you that uses and sells your favorite Paul Mitchell products, go to www.paulmitchell.com and use their salon locator!  And while you're there, be sure to take a look at "Head for Change" and the other campaigns the company is involved in to see how you can contribute to your favorite cause!

These and other "Salon-Only" products are salon only because this allows the companies to guanantee that their products are authentic and will perform as promised.  Lately, "Salon-Only" products have been cropping up on the shelves of mass-retailers, supermarkets, drugstores, and other non-salon places.  This is called "Diversion".  It is important to note that diverted products are not guaranteed by the companies that produce them because they quite simply do not authorize or condone sales at these locations.  These products could be expired, contaminated, or counterfeit.  As such, they could potentially put the person that uses the product at risk of irritation or infection.  Further, the price of these diverted products is typically 10% - 15% higher than you will pay for the real product at the salon.