Our top 4 affordable alternatives for luxury haircare products
Not too long ago a new trend started that has catapulted luxury haircare into one of the fastest growing categories in beauty. It’s called the “skinification” of haircare. Broadly speaking, it means treating your hair with as much care and attention (and of course the same number of products) as your skin. With some skincare enthusiasts using as many as 10 products in a single daily skincare routine, you can imagine the envy of haircare marketers who decided to jump on the bandwagon and turn their category into a rocketship as well.
The market has embraced this skinification trend and the number of luxury haircare brands and prices for haircare has skyrocketed. During the pandemic, the constant stress that people faced and continue to face contributed to a lot of scalp issues from what we can see anecdotally in our community. Staying at home and not being able to go to salons increased the willingness to experiment with over the counter hair treatments at home. We think that further catapulted the healthy hair category.
A little while ago we started adding haircare products into our comparison platform and while we weren’t sure how many brands we had to add in order to start getting some meaningful comparison results, it appears that we have reached that critical mass. As well we postulate that due to haircare using a smaller number of overall ingredients, the matches are coming up higher and more often. The number of overall possible ingredient combinations in haircare is smaller.
So what are the top 4 affordable alternatives for luxury haircare products in 2022 that have totally floored us?
Let’s take a look.
- An affordable alternative to Briogeo Scalp Revival Charcoal + Coconut Oil Micro-Exfoliating Shampoo $42 is the Walmart Equate brand Scalp Care Exfoliating & Detoxifying Shampoo $6.47 at a 99% Match Score. The Briogeo scalp repair line is what put Briogeo on the beauty map and remains one of their most buzzed about products. That’s why finding this affordable version that is so similar is very exciting.
Let’s Compare:
- both are exfoliating scalp treatment shampoos
- both contain charcoal and coconut oil as claims ingredients
- both contain castor oil and tea tree
- Briogeo markets its haircare as 6-free and both products also contain no sulphates, silicones, parabens, DEA, or phthalates - Kenra Professional Volume Spray $18.50 has a 100% Match Score comparable in Sally Beauty brand Generic Value Products Volumizing Spray $9.99. Both products are the same volume at 10 oz.
Let's Compare:
- Both volumizing sprays
- Same INCI list
- Maximum volume and hold
- Fast drying
- Humidity resistant - Oribe Superfine Strong Hair Spray $42 has an 93% Match Score comparable in R+Co Outer Space - Flexible Hairspray $32.
Let’s Compare:
- Sheer, strong hold, high-performance finishing spray
- Super fine spray pattern for ease of application
- Modern, brushable, and natural finish - DevaCurl Styling Cream Touchable Curl Definer $28 has a 98% Match Score comparable in Hairitage by Mindy McKnight Ahead Of The Curl! Curl Creme $7.47.
Let’s Compare:
- Both styling cream for curl definition
- Both contain jojoba and tapioca starch
- Moisturizing styler that leaves your curls shiny without the crunch.
- Produces moveable curls
Remember you can discover products based on a product's INCI ingredient list using our SKINSKOOL ingredient-list similarity tracker. We always recommend to put in every product before you buy just to get the necessary contextual information. You don’t truly know everything about the product until you see what it compares to, ingredient list wise, on the market! Happy Comparable Beauty Hunting!
