And you trust what L'oreal has to say ?

I can't comment about L'Oreal Professionals specifically, but I've seen the "only guaranteed in salons" blurb on many other bottles. I guess if the only places outside salons you found these products were at dollar discount stores, or being sold out the back of a van, I'd believe their diversion story. But think about it: you can find all of those salon brands at Target, Walmart, and all the other big box stores. That means they're shipping out MILLIONS of units that end up outside salons. Either the salon brands didn't notice when their sales went up by a few orders of magnitude, or they're intentionally selling to non-salon vendors. Also, I doubt the big boxes could get away with selling "unauthorized" salon products across the country for very long without getting caught. From the salon brands perspective, though, issuing a diversion statement is a great tactic. They can appease their small salon vendors while still making big bucks off the national retailers. Customers who purchase from a salon feel like they're getting an added benefit for that premium price tag and will continue to shell out extra. Meanwhile, even at a discount, they still make profit off the big box stores because of the sheer volume of sales. Also, if you bought outside of a salon and have a problem with their product, they may even be able to claim that their not liable since it didn't come from a salon! (I'm not sure if that last part makes any legal sense, just speculating.)