Why We Carry Innersense and Why We'll Never Go Back

When we brought Innersense into the salon, we weren't looking for another product line to fill shelf space. We were looking for something we could actually stand behind: a brand whose values matched what we believe about hair care, and whose products could perform at the level our clients expect.

Innersense checked both boxes. Here's why it's on our shelves and why it's staying there.

The Story Behind the Brand

Innersense Organic Beauty was founded by Greg and Joanne Starkman, a married couple who both spent years working as stylists behind the chair. They built their careers in the beauty industry, and like most salon professionals, they didn't think much about what was in the products they were using every day on themselves and their clients.

That changed when their daughter Morgan was diagnosed with Williams syndrome at 22 months old. It stopped them both in their tracks. They started reading labels, asking questions, and looking hard at what they were bringing into their lives. The more they looked, the more they realized that the professional beauty industry, the one they'd devoted their careers to, was full of ingredients they could no longer justify using.

So they decided to build something better. It took four years to develop the Innersense line from the ground up, sourcing certified organic ingredients and working to meet a performance standard that actual salon professionals would respect. The brand launched in 2005, long before clean beauty was a buzzword, and it has stayed consistent to that mission ever since.

Greg describes Innersense as a love story. We think that comes through in how the products are made.

What Clean Beauty Actually Means Here

The term "clean beauty" gets used loosely. It can mean anything from "we removed one bad ingredient" to a genuinely different approach to formulation. Innersense sits firmly in the second category.

Their products are free of sulfates, parabens, silicones, synthetic fragrances, and a long list of other ingredients that the professional beauty industry has relied on for decades. Not because those ingredients are always dangerous in every context, but because Innersense made a choice to do without them entirely. No exceptions, no workarounds.

That matters more than it sounds. Silicone-free formulas are harder to make perform well. They don't give the same instant slip and shine that silicone-coated hair gives you. The product has to actually work rather than coat. Innersense figured that out, and the formulas hold up.

The scents come from essential oils, not synthetic fragrance. The hold and texture in their styling products come from plant-based ingredients like honey, organic aloe vera, and bamboo extract rather than from polymers. It's a more considered way to build a product, and you can feel the difference when you use them.

Why We Chose It for Our Clients

We talk a lot about Albuquerque's hard water at Hairpins & Scissors, because it affects every single client who walks through our door. Hard water mineral deposits coat the hair shaft and cause buildup that dulls color, kills volume, and leaves hair feeling heavy and unresponsive no matter what products you use on top of it.

Most conventional product lines address this with silicones, which cover the deposit rather than clearing it. Innersense's silicone-free formulas let the hair breathe and respond. Clients who switch notice that their hair feels lighter, their color looks brighter, and their scalp feels more balanced. That's not marketing. That's what happens when you stop coating the strand and start working with it.

We also carry Innersense because we have clients who are pregnant, nursing, or going through health changes who want to minimize their chemical exposure without giving up a real hair care routine. We have clients who've had reactions to conventional products and are starting over. We have clients who are just paying more attention to what they put on their bodies. Innersense gives us something we can recommend to all of them with complete confidence.

But the most personal reason is Leticia, our co-founder and lead stylist. Over the years she spent behind the chair, she developed allergies to color chemicals and to ingredients that had been part of her daily routine for years. For stylists, this happens more than most people realize. Daily exposure adds up, and eventually the body can say enough. Finding products that were genuinely safe for her to work with, not just safe for clients to use but safe for the person applying them hour after hour, became a real priority for us. The search for clean, non-toxic professional products that could hold up in the salon is part of why we found Innersense, and part of why we take it as seriously as we do. It's not just a product line we like. It's something we needed.

The Products We Reach For Most

Every Innersense product in our lineup was chosen because it fills a specific need we see in the chair. The scalp line addresses buildup, dryness, and thinning concerns that most mainstream products don't touch. The Repair Mask is one of the most effective treatments we carry for chemically damaged or over-processed hair. The styling products let curly and wavy clients build a full clean routine without defaulting back to silicone-heavy alternatives.

Two products that clients consistently respond to most:

Where to Start

If you're new to Innersense and not sure where to begin, the best move is to start with the thing your hair needs most right now. Dealing with dryness, damage, or brittleness? Start with the Repair Mask. Struggling with scalp issues like dryness, flaking, irritation, or thinning? Start with the scalp line.

Our Shop Your Routine tool will build out a complete routine matched to your hair type and concerns, including Innersense products where they're the right fit. Or stop by Hairpins & Scissors at 7005 4th Street NW in Los Ranchos and we'll point you in the right direction in person.

We're proud to carry this brand, and we think you'll understand why once you try it.

Love your Hairstylists at Hairpins & Scissors!