This article is about the differences between drugstore and high- end curl hair products in order to help you better understand prices.

Before, I begin, I must tell you that before you purchase anything, make sure that the products and brands you love are being sold at a place where they are supposed to be sold. Product diversion is a real thing, and if you are not careful you could be buying a product completely different than the label. Both high-end and drugstore products are susceptible to it. For more information on this, here is a video on the subject and Refinery29 warning us from experience.

Now, into the drugstore and high-end differences and similarities. On a general level, high-end products will cost more. Things that can drive up the cost of any product is the brand, the ingredients, how much it costs to make, and the demand. In some cases, where it's sold makes a difference.

As a general rule the more concentrated the product, the more it will cost because it is meant to last for a while, this is where the saying "a little goes a long way" comes from. This is why if you are newly- natural, you should go for cheaper drug- store brands.

Cheap brands like Pantene tend to have curly hair lines that retail for cheap. More reasonable brands include SheaMoisture and Carol's Daughter. More high- end brands include DevaCurl, Earth's Nectar, and Ouidad. If you buy online, you will be paying more due to things like shipping.

The primary difference in cheaper and more expensive shampoos are the ingredients. Generally, higher- end shampoos have nice ingredients for the label. While there are different types of shampoos (clarifying, moisturizing, color preserving, etc.), their primary purpose is to clean your hair. Your basic drugstore ones will cost chump-change.

Now on to conditioners and deep conditioners. No matter the brand, regular conditioners will cost more than deep conditioners because deep conditioners are designed to be a bit more moisturizing and replenish the hair. I generally notice that the more expensive the conditioner/deep conditioner, the more concentrated it is. So, you should not be using too much and/or over-processing.

Then, we get to styling products. This is where label- reading is important. More concentrated products tend to cost more (hint- Aveda products). No matter what the item is, higher- end products tend to cost more for less because it is probably more concentrated. Cantu's Coconut Cream is cheaper than Shea Moisture's Curl Enhancing Smoothie, however, I can use less of the ladder for the price I'm paying, which makes it a choice. DevaCurl's Supercream cost the most for the least amount of product.

I hope this somewhat helps you wonder why some products cost as much as they do. Do you prefer cheaper brands or more high- end brands?