Hairbond Is Not Expensive. The Jar Is Just Honest.
A proper 100ml professional product can look expensive until you notice what everyone else is charging for half the amount.
Hairbond costs £25.
That is not cheap.
It is also not expensive.
There is a difference.
Cheap is the lowest number on the shelf. Value is what you receive for your money, how well it works and how long it lasts.
Hairbond Shaper, Super and Distorter come in proper 100ml jars. Not 50ml dressed up as luxury. Not a thimble with a fashionable name. A full-sized professional styling product for £25. (Perfected Since 2008.)
The trouble is that people often look at the price and stop there.
They do not check the size.
They do not consider how little product is needed.
They do not compare it with the premium brands sitting beside it.
They see £25 and declare an emergency.
So let us do something unfashionable.
Let us look at the numbers.
The Premium Hair Market Loves a Small Jar
There are some excellent premium styling brands.
Hanz de Fuko makes respected products.
Bumble and bumble has a strong professional reputation.
Horace has built a smart modern brand.
Oribe sits proudly in the luxury end of the market.
This is not an attack on them.
It is a comparison.
And once you compare the amount inside the jar rather than the theatre around it, Hairbond starts to look remarkably fair.
Hairbond: £25 for 100ml
Hairbond gives you 100ml for £25.
That is £25 per 100ml.
It is a premium British styling product created around professional performance, distinctive formulas and recognisable fragrances. Hairbond describes its range as created by barbers and built for lasting style without grease or flakes. (Perfected Since 2008.)
The jar is not pretending to be bigger than it is.
There is actually product inside it.
A revolutionary concept.
Horace: £14 for 50ml
Horace Cream Pomade costs £14 for 50ml.
At first glance, £14 looks cheaper than £25.
It is cheaper to buy one jar.
It is not cheaper when you compare the same amount.
Two Horace jars would provide 100ml and cost £28.
Hairbond provides 100ml for £25.
Horace is a respectable product with a natural finish and refillable packaging. Hairbond simply gives you more product for the money. (HORACE)
No insults required.
The calculator has already done the damage.
Hanz de Fuko: £22 for 56g
Hanz de Fuko Claymation is commonly sold in Britain at £22 for a 56g jar. The brand describes the standard product as approximately 60ml. (LOOKFANTASTIC)
Claymation is a well-known premium clay.
But it costs only £3 less than Hairbond while coming in a substantially smaller pack.
That does not make Hanz de Fuko poor value. Different products have different formulations, densities and finishes, so grams and millilitres should not be treated as perfectly interchangeable.
It does show something important.
Hairbond gives you a full 100ml jar for only a few pounds more.
Hanz de Fuko arrived from California with cool hair and excellent confidence.
Hairbond arrived with more product.
Bumble and bumble: £28 for 50ml
Bumble and bumble Sumotech costs £28 for 50ml.
That is £3 more than Hairbond for half the volume.
Its equivalent price is £56 per 100ml. Hairbond is £25 per 100ml. (John Lewis & Partners)
Sumotech is a respected professional styling product. It offers flexible hold, pliable texture and a low-shine finish.
Good product.
Small jar.
Large invoice.
Hairbond gives you twice the volume and still costs less.
You do not need a business degree to understand that.
You need eyes.
Oribe: £40 for 50ml
Oribe Rough Luxury Soft Molding Paste costs £40 for 50ml.
That is equivalent to £80 per 100ml. (Oribe Hair Care UK)
Oribe is deliberately positioned as luxury. It has expensive packaging, high-end distribution and customers who are comfortable paying for the complete experience.
Fair enough.
But Hairbond gives you twice the volume for £15 less than a single 50ml Oribe jar.
At Oribe’s price per millilitre, 100ml costs £80.
Hairbond costs £25.
Suddenly Hairbond does not look expensive.
It looks like somebody in the accounts department has made a mistake.
Here Is the Comparison
Hairbond: £25 for 100ml
Horace: £14 for 50ml
Hanz de Fuko: £22 for 56g
Bumble and bumble: £28 for 50ml
Oribe: £40 for 50ml
These are not identical products. Each has its own formulation, hold, finish and intended user.
But they compete in the same premium styling market.
And in that company, Hairbond is not the expensive one.
It is the one giving you a proper-sized jar.
You Do Not Need Much
The size matters.
So does the amount you use.
A high-quality styling product should not require a fistful every morning.
Start with a small amount.
Warm it between the hands.
Work it evenly through the hair.
Then add more only when the length, thickness or style requires it.
Hairbond’s own guidance recommends starting with a small amount and applying it evenly through dry hair. (Perfected Since 2008.)
Too much product does not automatically create more hold.
It can flatten the hair.
It can overload the roots.
It can turn a clean haircut into something that looks capable of surviving a Channel crossing.
The aim is control.
Not waterproofing.
Because Hairbond products are designed to perform without being piled on, a 100ml jar can last a long time. The exact number of uses depends on the product, haircut, hair thickness and personal application.
A short textured crop will use less than longer, thicker hair.
That is common sense, which remains free.
Even at 100 applications, a £25 jar costs 25p per style.
At 150 applications, it is under 17p.
That is the real cost.
Not £25 every morning.
Pennies.
Formulation Is the Product
A styling product is not valuable simply because somebody put wax in a jar and hired a photographer.
A strong formulation must do several jobs at once.
It has to spread through the hair properly.
It has to create the promised hold.
It has to give the correct finish.
It has to remain workable.
It has to wash out sensibly.
It has to perform consistently.
And because it sits directly underneath your nose, it should smell like somebody thought about it.
Hairbond has always treated formulation and fragrance as part of the identity of each product.
Shaper is not Distorter.
Distorter is not Super.
They are not one generic paste poured into different coloured jars while everyone hopes nobody notices.
Each product has a purpose.
Different hold.
Different texture.
Different finish.
Different character.
That is what a professional range should provide.
The customer is not merely buying 100ml of material.
They are buying control, consistency and a finished result.
Cheap Products Can Be Expensive
A £10 product is not good value when you need twice as much.
It is not good value when the hold disappears before lunch.
It is not good value when the finish looks greasy.
It is not good value when it joins the graveyard of abandoned jars underneath the bathroom sink.
We all have one.
A lonely tub beside an old razor charger and a bottle of aftershave received at Christmas in 2017.
Cheap only matters when the product works.
When it does not, cheap is simply a smaller amount of wasted money.
A £25 Hairbond jar that performs properly, needs only a controlled amount and lasts for months can be the better purchase.
That is value.
Not the lowest ticket price.
Hairbond Is Premium, but It Is Fair
Hairbond is not trying to become the cheapest styling product in Britain.
It should not.
The race to the bottom is already overcrowded.
Hairbond competes through its formulations, fragrances, professional heritage, presentation and performance.
But premium does not have to mean ridiculous.
Some premium brands charge £28 or £40 for 50ml.
Hairbond charges £25 for 100ml.
Some brands give you a small jar and call the missing product exclusivity.
Hairbond gives you the product.
The Verdict
Hairbond is not cheap.
Cheap was never the ambition.
It is a premium professional styling brand offering full-sized 100ml products with distinctive formulations, strong performance and the kind of finish that means you do not need to keep adding more.
Compare it properly.
Check the price.
Check the size.
Check how much you need.
Then check what other premium brands charge for 50ml.
Hairbond is £25 for 100ml.
Bumble and bumble is £28 for 50ml.
Oribe is £40 for 50ml.
The argument ends there.
Hairbond is not expensive.
It is premium without taking the mickey.