BEWARE OF COUNTERFEITS ON ebay!!!

 Hello, I am a salon owner and licensed cosmetologist.

Most CHI flat iron straighteners on ebay are being sold for over $50 below the actual wholesale cost. (Example: The actual wholesale price of the CHI black 1" original ceramic flat iron is $119.98). Very strict regulatory policies only allow for these irons and any other professional beauty products to be purchased wholesale by salons. Salons can only purchase CHI irons wholesale through their local State Beauty Supply which is heavily regulated in each state. It is illegal for new professional beauty products to be sold wholesale to anyone other than  licensed salons and professionals.

Unless ebay sellers of new professional hair straighteners are an actual licensed salon or a licensed cosmetologist, and the straightener is not priced below the actual wholesale cost, they are not genuine. (Skeptical? ask Farouk)

Selling Chineese counterfeit name brand professional beauty tools and products is Big Business on the internet including ebay. Wholesalers purchase these and other name brand counterfeit beauty products from China through global trade connections (such as: ecPlaza, Trade key, Alibaba, Global Sources, B2B China Sources, ect.) and then sell them on the internet from here in the United States. For example, they purchase the counterfeit CHI black 1" ceramic original flat iron in bulk quanities for around $35 per unit. These ebay sellers and other internet sites can sell them for less than $100 and make quite a profit. (the Chineese waiste no time counterfeiting all the latest brand name products as soon as they come out. Especially professional beauty products which has a huge market)

Internet sellers of these cheap copies will provide their own warranty in case you should have a future claim. They know Farouk will reject your claim knowing it is a counterfeit. As a result you would then discover what they actually sold you. (Farouk will track the bar code/serial number through the State Beauty Supply to the authorized salon named on the receipt you will have to produce should you have a warranty claim.)

Counterfeit professional hair straighteners will not generate the proper high even temperature, the on/off switches go bad in a few months and the plates are only coated to appear ceramic. They will tug/pull at your hair and not glide smoothly. Overall performance of the straightener will be poor with undesired results compared to a truly genuine professional ceramic flat iron straightener.(Counterfeit prof. hair irons are equivalent in quality to the cheap $30 irons you would find at Wal-Mart)

Don't be fooled by the claims to be 100% Authentic (which they all claim) or by the volume of sales generated by these so called Beauty Supply ebay sellers and fraudulant large Beauty Supply web sites.

In effort to halt counterfeit/knock-off CHIs entering the United States through U.S. Customs, Farouk is moving their manufacturing facility to the United States. (They are hopeful they can get cooperation from the U.S. Customs Dept. to stop anything with their copyright and trakemark from getting through since they won't have any of their actual products coming in from outside the U.S.) 

Below is a copy of a message I received from FAROUK :

Good Afternoon,

I don't know if you have ever heard of counterfeit products, but that is exactly what you are seeing at Sams Club and on the internet. The products being sold in these places as Farouk Systems Products are merely fake products, just like fake name brand purses or knock off name brand jewelry. ALL of our products are intended for professional use only, and are therefore only sold in Professional Salons. Any and all products purchased through any other outlet, including the internet, are not guaranteed by Farouk Systems, as stated in the owner's manual. If you have any further questions regarding counterfeit products, please feel free to contact me anytime.

Happy New Year!

Jessica Croes

Customer Service Assist. Mgr.

Farouk Systems Group

250 Pennbright Dr

Houston TX 77090

Ph 281-876-2000 ext. 3194

If you have purchased a CHI from anyone other than a salon, demand your money back. If you purchased a CHI off from ebay and they are not an actual licensed brick and mortar salon that provided you with a receipt from that salon and bar code that can be tracked to that salon, report the seller to Farouk.

I hope I've helped you avoid making a discouraging decision!!!

Hello Gorgeous Salon