After doing some extensive on and off line research, it is safe to say, some times yes and sometimes no....sorry.  It truly seems to be hit and miss when it comes to the best hair products AND they are certainly not indicated by price point or being found on a salon shelf.  

You can find overpriced, over hyped, poor performing products on salon shelves as  readily as you can find reasonably priced well performing products on drugstore shelves.  The trick is to know which products they are and how to pick them. 

Here are some tips that you can use to help you pick your hair products.

Best Hair Products Tip #1  Word of mouth recommendations from trusted resources. 

Start with your hair stylist.  

Yes, your hair stylist will more than likely make salon product recommendations.  But consider the fact that they have worked with your hair, know its condition and needs and they will be the most effective, and knowledgeable resource when it comes to  matching a product that will perform for your hair.  Remember they want your trust and your business...they are not (in most cases) going to recommend something they don't  know for a quick retail sale.

When it comes to styling products...they have fine tuned their product choices down to a science.  Achieving your hair style wishes is number one.

You can also consider the "word on the street" i.e.. among friends, at the water cooler at work, etc. you get the picture.  Just be discerning between someone who is genuinely pleased with a product she has used and someone who surrounds everything she uses with a lot of hype.  

Whether you are looking at a product line in a salon or in the aisle of a drugstore...

Best Hair Products Tip #2  Narrow down product to suit your hair type.

Your fine, chemically treated, damaged, coarse, parched, etc hair needs product that suits its particular needs.  Fragile hair needs gentle formulations, thick coarse hair stronger hold,  fine limp hair needs lighter weight etc.  

Whatever the product, use your head (and hair), to lead your choice. Hair industry packaging language is pretty straightforward.  At least simple enough for you to determine if the product is suitable for your hair needs or not.

Best Hair Products Tip #3  Carefully consider how products approach a remedy to your hair issues.  

Be on guard for promises that are NOT possible to deliver... like "repair split ends".  Once your ends are split, nothing will change their state (in fact, they will likely continue to split).  You can minimize their appearance with product that will coat and smooth the hair shaft, sticking the split together basically, and basically conceal split ends (often trading off product buildup, weight and dullness overtime). 

The best hair products can offer moisture, treatment, cleansing, hold, temporarily improve volume, shine, control, frizz  but can't offer lasting repair, or reconstruction of your hair.

Best Hair Products Tip #4  Pay attention to the ingredient list. What are the ingredients? AND What order are they found?

Federal regulations require ingredients to be listed by quantity, largest to smalles on a package label.  The properties of an "all natural" plant based product that offers those special plant extracts at the end of this ingredient list, or even near the end, will bring minimal if any benefit.

In general when it comes to cleansing products/ shampoos take note of the surfactant ingredients (detergent element that cleanses) they use.  The price point will often reflect whether the shampoo contains lower quality harsh surfactant ingredients like sodium lauryl sulfate and ammonium lauryl sulfate or higher quality using more gentle surfactants like sodium cocoyl isethionate and methyl cocoyl taurate (sometimes labeled simply as “coconut oil” or “fatty acids”).  This information was resourced from an excellent and informative article on Shampoo. 

The number of great quality cleansing, conditioning and styling products that can be found in drugstores certainly attest to that.

Best Hair Products Tip #5  Rotate your shampoo and conditioner line up regularly.

It will help you avoid product build up and unwanted dull limp styling behaviour.

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