Newsletter
Video Reviews - Who Can You Believe?
By Tara Y. Coyt
The Internet has made it easier to shop, get directions, connect with friends and get advice on new hair care products and styling techniques. With so much information floating around, it can be difficult to know whom to believe.
Professional sites, such as DesignEssentials.com,include videos on how to use products and create styles to maintain chemically relaxed and natural hair at home. Design Essentials® videos can also be found on the Design Essentials® YouTube Channel.
Home videos and Haul videos are also available on YouTube and feature people shopping, showing off items they have purchased or received and providing personal opinions about products. There are a variety of reasons that people create these videos; some have expertise to share, others do it for fun and still others do it to make extra money from product placements, sales commissions, pay-per-click sales or direct payouts from advertisers.
Beauty bloggers also offer advice and recommendations on hair maintenance and new products. Many of these bloggers offer personal advice based on years of hands-on experience, trial and error and/or consultation with hair care professionals. But for every good beauty blogger and video adviser on the net, you can find one who offers less than stellar advice that might actually cause harm to your hair.
Hair care web sites, videos and blogs can be helpful and informative tools for all hair types if you know whom to trust. As your hair care partner, Design Essentials® offers the following steps to make informed decisions.
Step 1. Read the “About” section of the web site or blog page. Information about the individual or company should indicate they are a licensed professional, consult with licensed professionals or have a long history of providing excellent hair care and/or products for the type of hair they are commenting on.
Step 2. Get a second opinion. If you’ve read a product review or watched a video about a specific technique, search for other reviews of the product or do a word search for that technique, e.g., “2-strand twists.” Then follow step 1.
Step 3. Look for advertisements. If a video or blogger offers rave reviews for a product, check the site for advertisements of that product. The existence of an ad doesn’t necessarily mean the review is not true, but there may be a chance the reviewer could be getting compensation to say great things about the product, even if they aren’t true. Then, follow step 2.
Step 4. Look for the following information in “How To” videos:
Recommended tools, e.g. type of comb, brush, clips, etc.
Names and pictures of products used
Explanation of what the product does, e.g. moisturizes, straightens, protects from heat
Easy-to-see video of the product being used on the hair (if they’re pretending the product is there, then it’s not a real how-to video)
The type of hair or curl pattern the product or technique is designed for
A great place to start your video search is the Design Essentials® web site and YouTube Channel, which contain videos on a variety of techniques for natural and chemically relaxed hair such as Scrunching, Pixie Short Style, Barrel Curl Technique, Comb Twist, 2-strand Flat Twist, Spiral Curls, Ribbon Curl, and Airforming. Click on any of the above styling videos to find the technique or products that interests you, watch the video, then search the web and use the above-mentioned steps to find what works best for your personal style and hair type.