WAVY HAIR

On Gabriel anyway. Heretofore he has always had straight hair because I either took him to the groomer or shampooed him and blow dried him myself. But I decided that if shampoo wasn't good for me it probably is not good for him either. And he hates being groomed -- the wetting and the drying. So at least I am eliminating one half of the torture.

By eliminating the shampoo, I have eliminated half the wet time also. Just rinse with warm water, apply conditioner, another short rinse and then a towel dry for as long as he will allow -- which isn't long. He wants to be out and about shaking the wetness away, rubbing his head on the rug to dry it, and then he goes and sits on the back of the couch in the sunshine.

The snarls that he gets in his long tail hairs are not as bad now because I have been getting at them right away with more hair conditioner. He also gets snarls in the fine hair on his underside and he HATES when I pull on those but with the hair conditioner I can work them out with my fingertips.

It is amazing what one article in the news paper can do to change habits. I am speaking, of course, on the Devacurl article about curly hair and hair products that was in the paper over a week ago. I just took off on the ideas. I read many articles every morning on a variety of topics - gardening, cooking, home design, new products and new ways of doing things. This article is the first in a longa, longa time that left an impression and encouraged further study and action.

Well, this is my 100th blog posting. I hope it won't get more boring than this.

LEMONS

Okay, so this picture itself is pretty much of a lemon but I was in a rush this morning and hurriedly snapped it before taking it downstairs and tossing it into the compost on my way to work. Actually the lemon is left over from last evening's shower. The juice went into a cup with a little bit of hair conditioner and after thoroughly rinsing my hair under the warm shower water, I used this mixture as a scalp cleanser. Then I rubbed the open half of the lemon on my face as a cleanser. That felt so good that I just scrubbed myself all over with the lemon.

I've been reading again. In my past life, my then husband would jestingly threaten to take away my library card -- we had library cards then, no computers. Periodically, I would suddenly get an interest in some whacky thing and do multitudinous reading on the subject. I have became fairly knowledgeable on goat husbandry, solar heating, breadmaking (which I actually did), and lots of other stuff -- too much to list right now. I have now added 'Googling' to my resources.

The latest reading is curly/wavy hair. And I haven't really done all that much reading. I fell onto this subject through an article in our local newspaper about a hair stylist that specialized in cutting, styling, and teaching the care of curly hair. It mentioned a 'devacurl' demo. I Googled 'devacurl' and found that this was a hair product - plural, There was such a variety of hair products available that I was over my head in offerings.

At the library that same evening, I took out two books on curly hair. There is still something very special about books -- oops, that's another blog post. Anyway, the book Curly Girl by Lorrain Massey with Deborah Chiel is the one that makes sense to me. I do a lot of reading and research, throw out what makes no sense, is too expensive, or just doesn't fit my way of thinking or life style. Usually there isn't much left. I learn a lot through the process though.

So: nix on shampoo, blow dryers, hair spray. That all works for me. My hair had become stiff with hair spray, dry from shampoo and hair dryer and just plain blah. So week one into the new regime and there is actually a little body and a little wave, maybe even some half curls. Of course, my hair is very short and needs to grow out a bit and the top layer is too long for the lower layer so I have a bit of an adjustment period ahead. But, hey, why not?

THE GREAT SHAMPOO SCAM

The last bottle of shampoo was in the shower when the brand went on sale again at my super market. Same brand, same flavor, BUT -- "30% MORE," in big red letters on a yellow swatch just above the brand name White Rain. Yes, the volume was 30% more. The price was still the same sale price as the previous (30% less) bottle had been. So, what a bargain I got, right?


WRONG! When I opened up the new, "30% more," bottle and tipped the shampoo into my hand, I discovered that the 30% more was obviously -- water. Instead of plopping onto my palm in a nicely mounded glob it went running out between my fingers, onto the shower floor, and down the drain. So now I have to use, you guessed it -- 30% more to get the same lather as I did with the original.


I feel duped. I am a frugal person, very careful with how I spend my money. And I really don't like being cheated or taken advantage of. And, of course, in this instance, there is no recourse. Well, there is an 800 number to call. Perhaps I'll try that tomorrow. I'll let them know that I haven't been fooled, that I've got their number, and that I don't like it. But will I be heard? We like our grievances to be heard. We want the satisfaction of knowing that our concerns are taken seriously. Actually we want reprisal, vengeance, compensation, and apology.


What I really want is to be treated with honesty and integrity. I guess that is just too much to ask for in today's world.