Most comparisons between brands start with the ingredient list and end there. In practice the difference between a good and a bad choice is rarely in the ingredients: it is in whether the brand works on a real working day.
A Protocol, Not Just a Product
Professional cosmetics differ from home care in being made for a treatment: a sequence, a time on the skin, combinations between products, and a clear idea of what follows what.
What to expect from a protocol
Steps with stated amounts and timings. Indications and contraindications. What to do with reactive skin. What to recommend at home afterwards. A brand that hands you a product list and leaves the protocol to you is selling raw material, not a system. What one looks like in practice is in the article on a salon anti-ageing protocol.
How many treatments it covers
A range with three protocols will get you through one season and no further. Check how many different treatments the range covers, and whether there is a sensible choice for the commonest cases: hydration, anti-ageing, problem skin, sensitive skin, pigmentation.
Training and Support
A product the team does not know how to use stays on the shelf. Training is part of the offer, not a favour on top of it.
What to ask
Whether there is training at the start, and who it is for. Whether there is training for a new member of staff six months in. Who answers a question from the treatment room on a working day. Whether there are written materials that stay in the salon, or everything was said once.
The Home Line Is Part of the Maths
The result of a treatment is held by what the client does at home between appointments. A brand with no home care line leaves you explaining why the result fades.
And it is a second source of income
A recommended product bought from the salon is revenue with no extra time in the chair. The difference between the partner price and the retail price, and whether anything stops you selling to your clients, is part of the same sum.
Documentation and Composition
What should be available
A full ingredient list for every product. The name and address of the responsible person, which by law are on the label too. Confirmation that the products are notified in the European CPNP portal. A date of minimum durability, and for products lasting more than 30 months a period-after-opening figure as well (Article 19 of Regulation (EC) No 1223/2009). And where there is a claim about results: who ran the study, and on how many people.
The product information file is held by the responsible person and made available to the authorities rather than to the buyer, so do not ask for it: ask for the list above, which you are entitled to.
What becomes your obligation
A salon that buys and resells is a distributor within the meaning of Regulation (EC) No 1223/2009. That means labelling in the local language, storage under the manufacturer’s conditions, and a duty to report serious undesirable effects. A distributor who explained this before you signed is probably straight about the rest too.
How to read the claims
A claim about how the skin looks is normal for a cosmetic. A claim to treat a condition is not, and is a sign to be careful. If a brand promises results from another category, it will probably promise your clients the same, and the explaining afterwards is your job.
Stock and Delivery
The most underrated criterion and the commonest reason a salon changes brand. Check what proportion of the range is in stock right now, how long delivery takes, what happens when a product runs out halfway through a course of treatments, and whether there is a minimum order.
Distributor or Reseller
An official distributor can trace provenance and batch, and answers under Regulation (EC) No 1223/2009 for what it distributes. A product bought from a middleman may be cheaper and at the same time untraceable. For a salon that works on a client’s face, that is a difference worth checking.
Price, Looked at Properly
Compare the cost per treatment, not the cost per pack. A large pack with a small amount used per treatment often works out cheaper than a small pack at a lower price. Work out how many treatments one bottle gives you before you compare two offers.
A Short List of Questions for the Distributor
How many protocols the range covers and whether there are written materials. What the training at the start includes. Whether there is a home care line, and on what terms. What the delivery time is and whether there is a minimum order. Who the responsible person under Article 4 is, and who carried out the safety assessment. And the most useful question of all: may I speak to two salons that have worked with you for at least a year.
Next Step
Our own terms for salons are set out in cosmetics for salons, the range is in professional cosmetics, and what a consultation before a treatment looks like is in analysing the skin.