In our post on “Too Many Shampoo Choices” we quoted Rob Fisher’s blog. Rob came back with some excellent comments clarifying his earlier rant. Rather than keep his points buried in the comments section, we thought we’d followup with another post. Take it away Rob:

Are there too many choices?

It was fun to find my article mentioned here and read your comments, so I thought I would respond.
In answer to each of your comments:

1) There are too many choices if you just want to buy some shampoo quickly, but don’t want to end up with your hair accidentally volumised or something. Of course, if you really care about getting the best possible product there can *never* be too much choice. To turn it around, I think there can never be too many electronic gadgets, but a technophobe would not necessarily agree.

2) Because it was written as a fun rant, I think I came across as more cynical than I really am in that article. I agree that companies are responding to the market and that is exactly what they should do. I certainly don’t think that they are deliberately misleading people, or that there is anything wrong with creative language. It’s just that that type of marketing doesn’t work for me. Perhaps the marketing guys are missing a niche, or perhaps there’s just no money to be made from marketing a Ronseal-style “does exactly what it says on the tin” shampoo.

3) I was thinking of readers of a certain style of beauty magazine raving over the latest product and showering it with awards when I used the words “stupid” and “gullible”. I would certainly encourage skepticism when it comes to evaluating products, and I’m sure most people do. This website does just that, for instance “Paraben Perils” article is exactly the type of thing people should be reading to help them evaluate products. I certainly agree with your final point.

So, I’m still looking for the ideal shampoo that will make my fine hair look as good as possible, without smelling funny or coming in a pink bottle or having any new-age sounding ingredients like ginseng. Got any recommendations?

The Beauty Brains bottom line

Thanks for the kind words and for taking the time to follow up with us Rob. We appreciate it. As far as recommending a shampoo for you that doesn’t “smell funny” or ” come in a pink bottle, ” well, our expertise is reviewing the science of the product and not making aesthetic judgments. But maybe our readers could help you out with some ideas. Anyone have any suggestions for Rob?

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