I don’t know about you, but I’ve always used price or cost as a quick guide to tell the quality of things. Like, when buying meat, I don’t really look at the weight, I look at the price and know that the higher the price, the more it weighs. My eyes can never catch the number for the weight and the printed price is usually the easiest and fastest thing to catch my eye. Dumb thing to do, at least for hair products. Using this same “formula”, I’ve often viewed the priciest hair dye as the most “affluent” or the one with the most quality ingredients; and have viewed the cheapest as low end and almost as generic brands. I just realized something tonight.
I think I mentioned that DH works for L’Oreal. What I realized tonight is that what is probably is factored into the high price of this “high end” hair product is the cost for all the batches that don’t make it into the packaging dept. They are behind right now in successfully producing their hair products because of batches that go bad for various reasons and get deep sixed down the drain. This apparent revelation gets me to wondering about my own system that basically judges things from the surface. I am just not one of those people who patiently read every label on the stuff they buy, and that is probably what these big companies are banking on.
The revelation: L’Oreal products are not expensive necessarily because the product is of higher quality than other, cheaper brands. It could be that they are more expensive because of the bumbling way they run their factories. I might be paying for their mistakes and the results of corporate greed. Yeah, I threw that in because some of these mistakes are the result of mismanagement. In other words, they are pushing the limit when trying to get more with less, much less.
I guess I am blowing off some steam because I never see DH any more. They are way behind in making their stuff and all the OT they work is “manditory” and there is nothing anyone can do about it. There was a stretch when he was working 12 hour days, 5 days a week (sometimes longer), then 8 hours on Saturdays- all manditory. Is this legal? I am wondering though DH says that it is. He’s got time off coming to him that he can’t take because they don’t have enough people. Honestly, the stories I hear could curl your toes, but not your hair!
DragonMommie's World 
Good post. Funny how we look closer at the things we spend our money on when we have a personal interest involved. I am sure that for most products we are paying over and over again for mis-management, bad batches, trying to do more with less, etc.
Unless you have some stake in the company, you probably are very unaware of what you are paying for.
((( DM ))) I heard something not too long ago: The reason we feel angry is never the reason we first think. 🙂 Not having DH around is sure as much as you want is sure to be frustrating on so many levels…hang in there! There’s gratitude to be found in that he has a steady dependable job right now.
You made me smile and chuckle with this post, thank you! What I really so enjoy about reading your blog is how you are such a natural philosopher, always looking deeply into even the mundane subjects like the cost of hair color vs the quality!
tobeme… yes, I noticed that, too. Before I met DH, I could never afford to even LOOK at L’Oreal products. Now I can get some for free with the credits he gets as an employee. I actually stopped coloring my hair, though, because I love these gray streaks, so I get the makeup and shampoos/conditioners for myself and spend the rest on family requests. Hubby comes home every day with stories that I can’t believe otherwise.
The executives there, and I guess everywhere, are valued over the factory workers, yet the workers know so much more about what process works and what doesn’t, yet they are forced to act as mindless robots, following instructions from above from people who do not know anything about cause and effect. They hire and fire people in such a way that hurts production… yet they get all the extra bucks because they are supposed to have more brains… sorry, for the spout off, but even my little brain can recognize stupidity.
Grace… You are right, I really “do” feel grateful that DH even has a job in this day and age. He has been at this job for 29 years and is really the only thing he knows. I keep thinking of companies getting rid of long time employees and hope that it doesn’t happen to him.
Naturalhigh…thank you for your kind thoughts. I never really thought of myself as a “philosopher”… though I fancied myself one… two different things maybe. I do try to look deeply into everything which is the bane of most of my family because when I start talking about things from the deeper side, they have no idea what I am talking about or where it’s coming from! HA! I laugh about it every time… then I have to explain to them what I am thinking to bring the “up to speed”! That is also part of my gemini nature… always thinking far ahead and I am almost never on the same page as the people I am talking to…always, like, 10 pages ahead. Thank goodness that I recognize the problem and take the time to explain myself.