7 hair products you don't really need.

At Mamamia, we've been talking a lot about beauty stuff we don't need (vagina masks, how are you!? Didn't see you walk in).

As we all know, the beauty world is bursting with fancy myths, fluffy claims and 'viral' products that don't really do... anything. 

And with bucket loads of info out there, and a snazzy beauty product launching every other day, it's our job to help turn down the noise and sort through the unnecessary stuff. 

Recently, we wrote a whole piece about the skincare products you don't really need, according to a skin doctor. And the response to this article was huge.

Meaning? When a packet of chips costs you seven dollars these days, people are keen to hear where they can save.

Of course, beauty is such a personal thing — and you should always feel like you have the freedom to spend on whatever the hell you want. But if you're anything like us you'd much rather fork out on products that actually work.

Watch: Mamamia's Laura Jackel got her hair chopped after 40 - and she's making us want to cut ours, too. Post continues below.

So, since we've already covered the skincare products you don't need, we think it's time to dive into haircare. 

We've brought in the juicy brains of a hair expert - Trichologist Carolyn Evans-Frost from Absolique Hair Clinic in Brisbane - to tell us what we don't need. 

1. Food-based hair care.

Similar to skincare products, hair experts aren't huge fans of food-based ingredients in hair care, either.

"Food-based hair care does not work. These food home hair remedies like egg, apple cider vinegar, onion juice and bicarb of soda, may not damage your hair or scalp, but they also won't help anything," Evans-Frost says. 

"To be fair, there are some active ingredients in the foods I mentioned, but they need to be mixed with other ingredients to be effective. Leave the food in the kitchen."

 2. Hair oil.

No. But this was... unexpected? Maybe a little bit terrifying?? We love our hair oils!

In any case, Evans-Frost said you're probably going too hard on the hair oils - and they're not really doing a whole load of good stuff when it comes to the health of your scalp.

WHOOPS.

"The hair world went crazy over oil," she shares. "And I understand some oils are traditional for some cultures, but I see with a microscope, they are not doing your hair or scalp any good." 

Evans-Forst says if you do use hair oils, it should be "minimal" and "be mindful of the scalp as it can block the scalp oil gland, the sebaceous gland."

Coolcoolcool.

3. Two-in-one products.

The old two-in-one hair products. Ask any beauty editor and they'll tell you it's their worst nightmare. And apparently every trichologist's, too.

"These products claim to be for hair and scalp," says Evans-Forst. "This simply cannot work as the scalp is skin and hair is a fibre. The hair and scalp have different structures and needs."

Touché. 

A good example here is hair loss treatments that are used on the hair claiming to help with hair growth. "It just cannot cannot work," she says. 

"Use them on the scalp, but then separate hair products are required for hair longer than 10 centimetres."

4. Organic or natural haircare.

As with skincare, not all organic and natural haircare products are made equal - and our expert says to be wary of this.

"While organic or natural hair care doesn't have any harmful ingredients, some of them are awful. I would always get personal recommendations before buying any of these. Some of them simply don’t work or can make things worse."

Ooft.

5. Keratin products.

If you're a keratin girl, this one's for you. Because while keratin products are a fixture for anyone with frizzy or unruly hair, apparently they're total poo for the health of your head. In fact, they can actually cause more damage than you might think.

"They became a huge thing for a while there, everyone wanted super straight and shiny hair. But the coating nature of these products and treatments was causing hair breakage! It kept us trichologists busy for a while. Avoid these if you value your hair."

6. Fads and cult-like products.

Take a quick scroll through the streets of #BeautyTok and we guarantee you'll come across tons of 'hair hacks' and buzzy new products touted as the 'best new thing' you need to try, immediately. 

"I’m not going to mention any names as I value my life, but some of these have crazy and damaging hair routines. If it sounds silly or too good to be true, it usually is," Evans-Frost says. 

So, there you have it. Save your money (and time!), friends!

 7. Anti-dandruff products.

While there are some great anti-dandruff products on the market, Evans-Frost says a lot of them can be stripping and contain harmful ingredients. She says this creates "a terrible cycle of use, clean, need to use again, as they never address the underlying cause."

"Some of them can really smell bad with the coal tar ingredients, and they are terrible on the hair. There are many safer scalp cleansers available these days."

Okay, hands up who's not letting go of their hair oil?!

Do you use any of the above products? We want to hear your thoughts! Share them with us in the comment section below.

Feature image: Instagram/@absoliquehairhealthclinic; Canva.

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