Circle Of Friends provides salon-quality hair care for kids through products designed with the needs of kids in mind.
What Is Circle Of Friends?
Circle Of Friends was founded in 1995 with the goal of creating hair and bath products for kids.
Eleanor Keare, who became president of Circle Of Friends in 2002, acquired the company in 2005 after increasing revenues by a factor of 5, likely aided by Keane's previous experience working for brands like Disney and The Body Shop.
Circle Of Friends Products
All Circle Of Friends hair care and bath products are created with the use of botanical extracts, nourishing oils, and targeted hair proteins for kid-friendly cleansing.
The company is dedicated to safe and healthy products and refuses to use phthalates, sodium lauryl sulfate or sodium laureth sulfate, formaldehyde releasers, or drying alcohols in any of their products.
Circle Of Friends categorizes their care products by matching certain fragrances to specific hair types. Matching a kid-friendly fragrance consistently with each hair type – thin, fine, curly, or coily – is done to make it easy for parents to choose an appropriate product for their child's hair.
Care products from Circle Of Friends also present educational opportunities as well. Each different product is branded with a different multicultural “Friend,” with the packaging reflecting information and knowledge about that Friend's geographical location and the culture in which he or she lives.
The cultural and ethnic differences of these Friends are also reflected in the hair type the product is meant to be used for in order to provide additional educational reinforcement.
Circle Of Friends also claims to not use animal testing in the development of any of their products. This provides parents with ethical or moral concerns some freedom and latitude to choose the company's products and rest assured that there are no moral compunctions to using the products on their children.
Circle Of Friends Hair Care Categories
Circle Of Friends has six categories of hair care products grouped by fragrance and two categories used for more specific hair conditions, and come with a separate shampoo, conditioner, and detangler in each fragrance. Fragrances and the associated “Friends” with each fragrance include:
- Raspberry: suggested for thick hair, featuring Rosa (Spain), Mei (China), and Ana (Costa Rica)
- Pineapple: suggested for curly hair, featuring Pia (Indonesia), Ciara (Ireland), and Sofia (Mexico)
- Apple: suggested for all hair types, featuring Carson (United States) and Einar (Iceland)
- Blueberry: suggested for fine hair, featuring Hans (Germany), Sasha (Russia), and Nadia (Malaysia)
- Coconut: suggested for coily hair, featuring Luiz (Brazil) and Mia (United States)
- Tea Tree: suggested for oily hair, featuring Liam (Belgium) and Alina (Austria)
Circle Of Friends also features the “Stylers” and “Swimmers” product lines. Instead of shampoos, Stylers include the following hair styling products, also associated with individual aromas and hair care needs:
- Vanilla Hair Spray: medium-hold hair spray, featuring Valerie (Canada)
- Mango Mousse Foam: soft volume and style definition, featuring Janaina (Brazil)
- Grape Hair Jam: styling wax for soft hold and a matte finish, featuring Jacques (France)
- Lemon-Lime Shine: hair slicker for medium hold and a shiny finish, featuring Luc (France)
The Swimmers line is specifically for after-pool hair care, designed to minimize the damage done by chlorinated water, salt water, and excessive sunlight. Swimmers feature three products:
- Swimmers' Shampoo, featuring Kylie (Australia)
- Leave-In After-Swim Conditioner, featuring George (England)
- Pre-Swim Conditioner, featuring Emma (The Netherlands)
Circle Of Friends hair care products are available at a wide variety of retailers and typically sell from anywhere between $10 to $20 per bottle, depending on specific type and bottle size.
Circle Of Friends Reviews
Circle Of Friends products have garnered very positive reviews, easily earning between 4 and 5 stars on sites such as Amazon. Parents are overall quite pleased with how well these products tame their kids' sometimes wild hair.
The Swimmers' collection is especially well-regarded by parents whose children spend lots of time in the water, either at the pool or in the ocean.
Circle Of Friends Verdict
There are any number of children's hair care products out there.
Some work better than others, and some cost more than others, but it looks as if that Circle Of Friends combines high quality children's hair care at an appropriate price point, making it easy for parents to keep their kids' hair manageable and healthy.
Truth be told, most of the Circle Of Friends' product line is more appropriate to longer-haired children.
This means that parents of kids who prefer short hair (usually boys, though this isn't exclusive by any means) will likely find fewer products that will be appropriate or useful besides the Swimmers line and just one or two other select products.
Even that being said, it's likely this will be more than satisfactory, based on the reviews these products have received. Is purchasing Circle Of Friends going to cost you a bit more than children's hair care products from different manufacturers.
The general consensus is that you're paying for a higher-quality product, though – not to mention one that's been developed by a company that's dedicated to using child-safe ingredients that haven't been tested on animals.
Indeed, the moral and ethical values of Circle Of Friends is a strong selling point, and one that justifies the increased costs – not taking all those common shortcuts like using phthalates or relying on animal testing increases production costs, but many parents will gladly pay the premium on products that are socially responsible.
An added feature of promoting multiculturalism and providing avenues for learning about different cultures through different hair products is also an excellent selling point for Circle Of Friends.
In the 21st century, celebrating diversity can be seen as a strength, and encouraging that celebration of diversity in children is a strong positive.
In the end, Circle Of Friends is an excellent choice for any parent of a child with “problem” hair, provided he or she has the extra budget to spend on premium child hair care products.
By all accounts, Circle Of Friends products are diverse enough for all hair types and conditions, and they work well enough to justify their increased cost.
