Cosmoprof Carries Expired Paul Mitchell Relaxers

 Cosmoprof is a national beauty supplier to the professional licensed cosmetologists and other licensed beauty professionals.  They are the exclusive supplier for the Paul Mitchell relaxers in my territory.

I went to purchase a Paul Mitchell relaxer today, and I literally found that most of the relaxers were expired.  I learned a few months back how to read the Paul Mitchell batch codes.  I also had to return expired relaxer back to the store a few months back.  I have called the Cosmoprof toll-free number twice since then in order to get the Cosmoprof headquarters to eliminate expired chemicals from all of their stores.  I have not seen any progress.

I am hoping that no one else buys the expired Paul Mitchell relaxers. On a separate note, Paul Mitchell headquarters said that they discontinued making mild and super strengths, yet Cosmoprof still keeps the expired mild and super strengths stocked on their shelves.

I assume that the Cosmoprof warehouse keeps shipping expired products into its stores to replenish their ordering counts. I am still waiting to hear from Cosmoprof headquarters with an update on removing expired Paul Mitchell relaxers from all their stores and their warehouses.

Anyone purchasing the Paul Mitchell relaxers from Cosmoprof should call Paul Mitchell headquarters to confirm the freshness of the relaxer.  If the batch code starts with a "9" then it means the relaxer was manufactured in 2009 which makes it approaching five years old.  Our clients deserve fresh products!

Expired shampoo is one thing, but expired chemicals cause huge liability issues.

Paul Mitchell Relaxers 2014 update

Hair stylists using the Paul Mitchell relaxers should start checking their batch codes on their Paul Mitchell relaxers.  The mild and the super strengths are the ones that need to be checked to see if it is expired as soon as possible.

If you see "s9" at the beginning of the batch code then the relaxer was manufactured in 2009 and is approaching five years old.  The Paul Mitchell company says that their relaxers have a three year shelf life. So as far as North Carolina is concerned, the main distributor for the Paul Mitchell relaxers has an overabundance of expired Paul Mitchell relaxer on their shelves in the mild strength as well as the super strength.

The mild strength and the super strength formulas are being discontinued by the Paul Mitchell company due to low demand.  Only the regular strength relaxer will continue to be supported.  The regular strength relaxer seems to remain fresh on the store shelves.

This update from the Paul Mitchell company truly is a tell-tale sign that the natural hair movement is not slowing up anytime soon.

Sylists, if you have an expired Paul Mitchell relaxer return it to your distributor only if you have purchased it within the last sixty days.  They should exchange out for other product.   Any relaxer purchased outside of the sixty days may need to be trashed and counted as a loss.

I will be switching my clients that were on the mild Paul Mitchell relaxer to the Fiberguard Affirm Mild relaxer.

Are Expired Relaxers safe to purchase and use?

 So I stumbled across these expired Chi Deep Brilliance Relaxers in a local beauty supply store.  The store was courteous to place a clearly readable sign that the relaxers were expired and to use at your own risk.

My first thought was "NO, expired relaxers should not be sold nor used," but then I looked at the expiration date on the packaging.  I saw September 2013.  So many of these relaxers are about four months past the expiration date.  That's not too bad.  If these relaxers get a year or two past the expiration date, then I would really be concerned.  Are you wondering why the expiration date does not give me extreme concern?  The real question is whether or not, the relaxer is still fresh enough to straighten hair?

Well, the packaging of all the expired relaxers were very new looking.  As a reminder, many times,  relaxers that have a fresh relaxer date on them can still spoil prematurely because someone may accidently leave the lid slightly opened and the oxygen causes the product to expire before time.

If a relaxer expires, then it may or may not have an odor, but without a doubt, expired relaxer will NOT straighten the hair, and in addition, it may cause damage to the hair without straightening it.

So these expired relaxers may actually still work just fine.  So are you wondering if there is a way to test the safety of the relaxer product without applying to your head or anyone else's head?

Yes, here's a way to test it . . .  1) Buy some Afro kinky bulk 100% human hair

and 2) run the "relaxer in question" through a sample piece of this "afro hair."

If the hair sample relaxes quickly within 3 minutes after massaging the relaxer product through, then the relaxer is still fresh enough to use on a head.  This test should be repeated as needed if days or weeks go by before needing to use the same relaxer product again.

In the picture above, the afro kinky hair on the left is what the braiding hair looked like before applyting relaxer to it.  I used a fresh Affirm Normal relaxer for this demonstration.  I did not purchase any of the Chi relaxers.

Are you surprised at my response?  Any thoughts?  I do have two more thoughts.  I think relaxers with expired dates should be donated to homeless shelters along with sample braiding hair for women to test the clearly marked expired relaxer prior to using the product on anyone's head.

We also need to be cautious about disposal of a large quantity of relaxers at one time.  It could harm our environment or get into our water supply.