Are 'New & Improved' Products Better?

New Affirm Relaxer

Presumptively, yes. Automatically, no. Granted, improvements in chemistry/technology and the addition of new (and hopefully) better quality ingredients can lead to wonderful products that perform miracles for your hair.

However, It is possible that your favorite product will stop giving you the same results after the "improvements." Any change to the product formula means there will be a change in how it works on your hair. With that in mind, you can imagine my chagrin when my relaxer was recently revamped.

Old Affirm Relaxer

I've been using Affirm in regular since 2004 with wonderful and predictable results. My stylist allows me to bring my own relaxer (she uses another line in her salon), so I order it online. Well my order arrived today with a new package notifying me of it's "new and improved" status. The new formula says that it now includes a few oils including Argan oil.

I still have a small amount of relaxer left in the last tub, but not enough to relax all of my newgrowth. My stylist would usually use the remainder of the tub and then open the new tub to complete relaxing my hair.

The concern now is will I get consistent results if I relax one section of hair with the old formula and the rest of my hair with the new formula? I can safely say that I won't.

I will talk to my stylist and decide whether we should either mix both formulas or only use the new formula. I would rather throw away the small amount left in the old tub, than have to worry about getting inconsistent texlaxed results.

How do you feel when your favorite products are "new and improved"? Do you notice any difference in how your hair respond compared to the old formula?