I Got Redken Color at an Aveda Salon: What?

I've battled frizzy hair all my life, so I figured I should start using hair products that are as natural and good for the hair as possible so that my hair could be in better condition.

This is how frizzy my hair gets.

I chose Aveda products to reach that goal, which (as far as I can tell) are as natural as you can get for hair products. I started buying Aveda products to use at home, and I chose an Aveda salon to get my color done.

But the Aveda salon I picked, Van Michael, which is a big name around Atlanta with many locations, had been using Redken color on me for years without my knowledge.

What? How is that possible? The Aveda logo is prominent on the outside of the salon, and all you can buy there are Aveda products. So, silly me. I assumed that I would have Aveda products applied to my hair.

Not so much.

It appears that the salon I went to is an "Aveda Concept Salon" as opposed to an "Aveda Lifestyle Salon." I'm not sure about all the particulars between the two, and I'm pretty sure that only people in the industry would know, but I've come to find out that only the lifestyle salons must use Aveda products on clients.

The Aveda salon I went to uses Redken products to color the hair (maybe mixed with Aveda products, maybe not, from what a receptionist told me).

So the whole time I was going to the salon and paying premium prices to get my hair colored in what I thought was Aveda color, I was not. I could have gone to any walk-in strip mall hair studio to get Redken color for a much cheaper price. I was also paying extra for conditioner to be added in, which would have been unnecessary if the salon had used Aveda color on me in the first place because Aveda color contains all the conditioners needed.

I'm a big proponent of "buyer beware" and to take responsibility for your choices. In hindsight, I realize I should have asked whether the color I was getting was Aveda color. But, because this was an Aveda salon and all I could see were Aveda products, it didn't occur to me to ask.

I believe the practice of calling itself an "Aveda" salon, concept or otherwise, displaying only Aveda products and having the colorists go into a closed-off backroom to prepare Redken color, is deceptive by omission.

My goal with this post is to let people know this goes on.

I just had my hair done at an Aveda Lifestyle salon. The colorists prepared the color out in the open so the clients could see the products that would go on their hair.

If you care about using natural products on your hair, make sure that you can see the products that are being used, or at least ask your colorist or stylist what products they will be using.

I'm anxious to see whether my hair will remain as smooth and silky as it was after leaving the new salon with Aveda color on my hair all the way up to my next appointment without my hair starting to frizz and becoming unmanageable halfway through, as I was used to.

What do you think? I'd love to hear your comments. Do you think I was naïve, or was this practice deceptive?