About this site
Most “best leave-in conditioner” articles online are written by editors who’ve never washed hair professionally, ranked by affiliate commissions, and last updated four years ago with a date bump.
This site is different. Every review here is written by a working hairstylist who has used the product on real clients, in a salon, through repeated chair work — not in a single review session. Every ranking reflects what the stylist actually reaches for in their kit, not what paid best.
Who writes these reviews
Barb Thompson is the first — and currently only — stylist behind the reviews on this site. She’s a working hairstylist with over twenty years behind the chair, editorial credits in Vogue, Harper’s Bazaar, InStyle, Marie Claire, and Cosmopolitan, and a global cutting educator credential for R+Co. She tests products on real clients every week.
We plan to add more stylists over time. Every new reviewer will be named, photographed, and credentialed. No anonymous “our editors” bylines. No paid sponsorships disguised as editorial. If a brand relationship exists, it’s disclosed on the reviewer’s bio page and on every review where that brand appears.
How this site makes money
We earn affiliate commissions when readers buy products through our outbound links. This is how the site covers its costs.
This model has an obvious conflict built into it, and we deal with it two ways:
1. Rankings never follow commissions. The products ranked highest are the ones the stylist actually recommends. We don’t bury the best product at #8 because another brand pays a higher commission — and we don’t include a product only because it has an affiliate program.
2. Conflicts are disclosed, not hidden. If a reviewer has a paid relationship with a brand (e.g. educator, ambassador, consultant), that relationship is listed on the reviewer’s bio page and again on any review of that brand’s products. You can see the conflict and decide what to do with it.
Read the full affiliate disclosure and our methodology.
What we don’t do
- We don’t accept paid placements. Not on reviews, not on rankings, not in lists.
- We don’t run sponsored content. If a post is sponsored, it won’t be on this site.
- We don’t bump dates. When a review is updated, the update reflects actual re-testing or new products — not a freshness fake-out.
- We don’t rank products the reviewer hasn’t personally used. If a product shows up on this site, the stylist has worked with it in the chair.
Contact
Press, brand, or partnership inquiries: hello@hairstylistapproved.com.