Salon vs Supermarket?

I used to be a hair product snob with a serious substance addiction to products like Sebastian & Co Thickening Shampoo/Conditioner/Thickfy Styler/Taming Elixir/Kerastase hair masks...while great, I have found in my hair research that supermarket conditioners contain many of the same ingredients.

For example Kerastase Nutritive Oleo-Relax Smoothing Hair Masque contains the following ingredients: Water, Behentrimonium Chloride, Cetearyl Alcohol, Glycerin, Amodimethicone, Potato Starch Modified, Cetyl Esters, Isopropyl Alcohol, Elaeis Guinneensis Oil, Shorea Robusta / Shorea Robusta Seed Butter, prevervatives, fragrance...

Now consider L’Oreal Vive Pro Smooth Intense Conditioning Treatment. The ingredients are remarkable similar: Water, Cetearyl Alcohol, Behentrimonium Chloride, Glycerin, Amodimethicone, Potato Starch Modified, Cetyl Esters, Isopropyl Alcohol....

With hair extensions, the more conditioning the better. Using a supermarket conditioner, a deep conditioning treatment, smoothing serum and leave in conditioner will cost the same as only buying a salon conditioner and you hair will look so much better. While in the shampoo aisle, look for conditioners with the following ingredients:

Cyclopentasiloxane

Stearamidopropyl Dimethylamine

Amodimethicone

Dimethicone

Behenalkonium Chloride (Cetrimonium Chloride works well with this)

For a leave in conditioner and smoothing serum, look for the same above ingredients. If you find that too heavy for your hair, the following are lighter leave in conditioning agents:

Behenetrimonium Methosulfate

Shea Butter

Pantene, Herbal Essence, Sunsilk, Vo5 are all good options. Happy hunting!