Hair Product Inflation

[Cinnamon Hair]

Look what happened to my beloved Kenra!

http://classiclength1.googlepages.com/kenraprice.jpg http://classiclength1.googlepages.com/penrapricecloseup.jpg

The price went from $8 a few years ago, to $12 now: 50% markup! This is ridiculous. I'll still buy it, because I :heartbeat Kenra, but I'm not happy. :( I wonder if that is the price everywhere, or just my Trade Secret. I think I will email the company to complain.

I know $12 isn't that expensive, and I only shampoo once a week (CO daily). It is the principle of the matter! grr

Has anyone else noticed this happening to their favorite products?

[GlassEyes]

Yeah, kinky-curly upped the price of their custard a few months back. ): Not pleased.

[misstwist]

I noticed that the Kenra Chelating shampoo is the same price for a much smaller bottle at Ulta. Boo!

[ll]

Yes, the prices on hair care / bath and beauty products have just sky-rocketed over the past few years. I thought for a long time that perhaps consumers who had home equity loans or did well in the stock market felt flush, and were just willing to pay higher prices. However, the prices haven't gone down now that the economy has crashed. A lot of companies are unwilling to lower their prices because that will "damage the brand" somehow, according to marketers. I can't imagine that they are able to sell all of the products with very high prices, and really wonder where all of the unsold products go... Cluttering up landfills?

For salon-type products, I don't know of anyplace where one can buy them cheaper, though I haven't bought these in a bit over ten years, when the prices really started escalating. Some of the natural products are available at heavily discounted prices (25 to 50% off) online, through places like vitacost, vitapal, life's vigor, iherb, lucky vitamin, etc. Additionally, one can sometimes find a few companies' products (Giovanni, Kiss My Face, Shikai, etc.) as bulk in some of the larger health food stores. The prices are much cheaper, and you can chose the size of the bottle you'd like to fill--very convenient if you like to try products before committing to a large size. I apologize if the last bit of this post is a bit off topic to the OP, but thought I'd add it as this may be helpful to others reading the thread. :flower:

[swirlytresses]

Yeah, kinky-curly upped the price of their custard a few months back. ): Not pleased.


I wasn't pleased either! I'm finishing off the jar I have an I'm no longer going to purchase it. It wasn't very cheap to begin with. :( I'm now using FSG (flaxseed gel).

[GlassEyes]

I wasn't pleased either! I'm finishing off the jar I have an I'm no longer going to purchase it. It wasn't very cheap to begin with. :( I'm now using FSG (flaxseed gel).
I haven't found anything as good to replace it with! :(

[heatherdazy]

I once worked at Trade Secret and they sell all their products at the MSRP as do most salons. Kenra does go on sale twice a year, though, once in January (I think) and I can't remember the other time.

You have to remember that most salon product lines also make a color line and that haircolor is mainly made of petroleum based products, so the hair product companies have had skyrocketing costs in the past few years.

And based on the label of your older bottle, it's at least four or more years old, so...

[ademtce]

thats cheap for Kenra for me area is $20 a bottle. i'd kill for that price.

[Cinnamon Hair]

And based on the label of your older bottle, it's at least four or more years old, so...

Yeah, you got me there. I buy several bottles at once to stock up so the old bottle is probably 4 years old. Still though, a 50% price increase is a bit steep.

[Buddaphlyy]

Yeah, you got me there. I buy several bottles at once to stock up so the old bottle is probably 4 years old. Still though, a 50% price increase is a bit steep.

Actually it's not.

I definitely am not in anyway involved with economics or finance in my daily life, but I do vaguely remember in ECON 101 many years ago that the "cost" of a dollar actually falls by $1 every year. So something that cost $1 in year one will cost $2 the next year, even though technically it's the same "price".

So, if something cost $8 four years ago, it's perfectly plausible that it costs $12 now.

[DolphinPrincess]

I was checking around, and they have 1 liter size bottles on ebay for $27 with free shipping. :shrug: Maybe that will help. :)

[RoseRedDead]

Actually it's not.

I definitely am not in anyway involved with economics or finance in my daily life, but I do vaguely remember in ECON 101 many years ago that the "cost" of a dollar actually falls by $1 every year. So something that cost $1 in year one will cost $2 the next year, even though technically it's the same "price".

So, if something cost $8 four years ago, it's perfectly plausible that it costs $12 now.

It's called inflation, aka, debasement of our currency. :D

Cinnamon hair, the price of everything is going up these days... :( It's a good thing my hair likes cheap-o products, I guess.

[Buddaphlyy]

It's called inflation, aka, debasement of our currency. :D

Cinnamon hair, the price of everything is going up these days... :( It's a good thing my hair likes cheap-o products, I guess.

Well I dropped the class at midterm so maybe he actually said the term "inflation" after I left, lol.

I guess I just don't see it as a big deal since I already expect the price of things to go up over time.