"Before it was my job to immerse myself in the haircare world I felt so out of my depth in afro hair shops," Akesha Reid , digital editor at Hairdresser's Journal , told R29. "As much as it's great to have so much choice, I was baffled by the differences in products that looked the same. The people that work in these shops seemed more interested in pushing their own agenda on what they needed to sell than actually knowing what's good for my hair type." Akesha suggests this could be why peer-to-peer natural haircare blogs and YouTube reviews have become so popular in recent years. She also points out the risks of potentially unregulated products, which are often imported and stocked in afro hair shops. "In many cases, you can buy imported products that don't have any other presence in the UK, such as distributors or UK representation. This can be dangerous, especially considering the chemicals that live in products like relaxers and dyes ."