Americans spend nearly $40 billion a year on beauty products, but how exactly does the beauty industry get you to open up your wallet? The author of Can You Get Hooked on Lip Balm?, Perry Romanowski, is sharing some insider info to help you make smarter choices and maybe save a bit of cash during your next trip to the drug store!

Shampoo:

• Deep cleansing. "These shampoos will just clean your hair and get rid of everything in your hair. If you have greasy, limp hair, you’re going to want to use a deep cleansing one. These also go by the name of volumizing, extra body," Perry says, while offering a trick for getting the best value from your purchase. "Generally the same ingredients go into all of these ... Look at the back, if you see that the first five ingredients are the same then you should buy the one that’s less expensive!"

• Moisturizing. "If you’re the type that has dry, flyaway hair then you’re going to want to use a moisturizing shampoo version," he says, while adding these are great for those with curly hair. "You’ll have lots of goodies in there like conditioning ingredients which will make your hair feel soft, look shiny and smooth."

• Baby shampoo. "A lot of people don’t know this, but you - as an adult - could use a baby shampoo. Now the way we create baby shampoo is for people more sensitive to chemicals, and if you have a problem with that ... you should try a baby shampoo, because it will clean your hair."

• Dandruff shampoo. "These are medicated but they’re over the counter drugs," Perry explains. "You should look for the drug facts on the back of any of your anti-dandruff products."

Body Lotions: "The difference between, say, a hand lotion and a body lotion - there is not really a big difference! It’s more of a marketing story. So if you have a hand lotion, you could use it as a body lotion or visa versa. What you don’t want to do is use those lotions on your face, because when we create formulas for the face, what we do is we use ingredients that are non-comedogenic so you won’t have a breakout," he says. "One of the biggest myths is that there is a correlation between cost and performance. There really is no correlation between cost and performance, and if you’re spending $400 on a lotion, it’s probably not working better than something that costs you $40 or $20."

Natural, organic products. "Everything’s gone organic! You might wonder, are these products better or safer for you? And the truth is, all of that in the cosmetic industry is almost completely marketing fluff," he says. Still, Perry notes they are good products and work well for some. "They do appeal to some people - and in fact if your doctor has told you that you should use organic or you have some allergies, you might want to certainly still use those."