Salon Top Tips

By Benjamin Shipman, Marketing Director Kebelo

It’s no secret that organic and natural foods are becoming increasingly available as more consumers seek to live healthier lifestyles and become more aware of what they are putting in their body. However a new consciousness is coming into play, too, as people consider the ways in which the food they eat radically affects their health, and therefore what they put on their body, skin and hair will have a huge impact too. So why this shift and why do product ingredients matter so much?

Consumers are becoming savvier and, with the wealth of information available to them, are prepared to spend longer researching products before they buy rather than the ‘grab and go’ mentality that may once have been the case. People have long understood that processed food is full of hidden ingredients, and that when they eat it, they don’t fully know what it is they are putting in their body as opposed to, say, a piece of fruit. If they are going to switch to eating more natural foods to improve their general health, it makes sense that they will want to use natural products to improve the health of the hair.

When I launched Kebelo with my brothers in 2010, it was our aim to use powerful natural ingredients to fortify the hair, in the same way that wholesome foods have strong health benefits. The list of ingredients found in our products reads like a health-conscious shopping list of superfoods, vitamins and minerals including quinoa, chamomile, grape seed oil, soy and hydrolysed wheat. These new formulations show that there needn’t be a trade-off between using a natural product and getting a great result. Experts continually say that the best haircare routine starts from the inside out, so it stands to reason that the ingredients in a haircare line should follow suit and boast ingredients that people would happily consume, knowing that they can safely put them on their skin and hair without worrying about nasty chemicals or toxins that are likely to cause aggravation.

Parabens are one such inclusion in haircare that have come to attention recently as, according to certain studies, these chemicals (which include methylparaben, ethylparaben, propylparaben, butylparaben and isobutylparaben, among others) may harm human health by contributing to the development of cancerous tumours. Many people therefore look to avoid them in products, only using ranges that are made without the use of parabens, like the entire Kebelo retail collection.


Consumers tend to be more trusting of a product if they know that it contains natural ingredients. Products packed with unpronounceable chemicals that customers don’t understand conjure images of toxicity or health-harming additives. If a product contains ingredients that they can find on their local supermarket shelf or health food shop, they understand what is in it and the benefits that it can provide to them. Knowing the health benefits that these ingredients have when eaten, therefore, provides a further sense of trust to consumers that they will do just as good a job when applied to the hair or skin.

People are also becoming more aware of sensitivities and skin irritants, and can find it difficult to source products that are suitable for these concerns. Natural products for the hair and body tend to cover these bases more so than those that are filled with chemicals, in the same way that some find eating a more natural diet helps with certain food intolerances. More and more research is cropping up in the news naming specific synthetic ingredients that can be to blame for irritations or even be harmful, so it’s understandable that with this new knowledge, consumers seek to find products that contain purer ingredients. Essentially, for an increasing number of people, it’s what’s on the inside that counts, both in the food that they consume and in the hair and beauty products that they purchase.

12/2/2015