Tuesday, October 17, 2006

Always Remain Focused

Last Monday morning, I stumbled blearily out of bed towards the shower, grabbing my new bottles of L'Oreal Vive Pro shampoo and conditioner as I went.

Now in the shower, I pick up the first bottle, labeled "conditioner." Okay, fine. So I pick up the next bottle..."conditioner." Huh? And, since I can sometimes be a royal idiot in the mornings, I pick up both bottles and look at them together. Yup, that's right, I bought two bottles of conditioner. My mind races back to the day before...

I'm standing in Social Safeway (a grocery store in Georgetown which earned a reputation for being the cruis-iest supermarket in DC due to the high concentration of young singles looking for love and grub in the frozen foods aisles) and trying to decide on a new brand of shampoo. L'Oreal Vive Pro was recently named as a "Best of" in Allure magazine and has lots of pretty colored bottles.

So I am trying to decide if I want the one for "color treated hair" or the one for "highlighted hair" (pretty Sophie's Choice, huh?) when my cell phone rings.

"Ummm, so are you at Safeway?" my boyfriend asks.

I tell him yes, in my best "making HUGE hair care decisions here!!" voice.

"Sooooo, could you pick up some chips?" he asks.

In the background I hear the sounds of a football game and a boy's voice.

"Chhhhiiiiippppsssss!!!!"

"Okay....." I say into the receiver.

"Pssst, pssst, tell her to get salsa too." "Saaaallllllsssssaaaaa!!!!!"

"Ummmm...could you get some salsa too?" my boyfriend asks.

"Chhhhhiiipppppssss and saaaalllllsaaa!!!"

"Yeah, and uh, when do you think you can be back? Like, soon?" asks my boyfriend.

At this point, the finer distictions between color treatment and highlighting were moot. I shoved the bottles in my cart and took off at warp speed to the snack aisle, hoping only to get home before the boys resorted to eating my strawberry body scrub.

And that is how I ended up standing in my morning shower with a ton of conditioner and zero shampoo.

I rectified the situation later that day, deciding that my hair was "highlighted."

As for the product, I have to say that I don't love it. The conditioner especially is very thin and watery and does not coat my hair and I have been noticing tangles in my hair post-shower. And I never get tangles.

I also notice that my hair is very heavy at the scalp, whcih I don't like becuase it makes me feel like I forgot to wash the conditioner out of my hair.

Which is totally a possibility.

However, I am going to keep up the search for a better shampoo/conditioning duo. And turn off my phone the next time I go shopping.

13 comments:

Alison Santighian said...

HUGE smile. I can see it, and am fairly certain it would happen to me that way, too. Can't tell you the number of times I've realized I've poured out body wash to put in my hair...

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Samantha said...

If you have blonde hair or blonde highlights, I find the Pantene for Silver/White/Grey hair works as it keeps the red and orange (the brassiness) lights from creeping in. Keeps the hair a nice white/ash blonde.

Or the John Frieda line.

But my all time favorite is Green Apple Suave, even though it's rough on my hair. I love the crispy clean scent.

Anonymous said...

a marie claire reader stopping by to say hello. you are too funny. i can totally picture myself with two bottles of conditioner too. just another excuse to go shopping again.

BabsieD said...

I tried Vive too--I was told by a L'oreal person that the conditioner is the exact same formula as Kerastase (which they also make). And as a sucker for both all things expensive and all things touted as secret bargains, I rushed out and...yuck. Knots galore.

Pantene is the only way to go. After years of falling for the hard sell at salons and trying every new thing that comes out, I've given up.

And congrats on Marie-Claire, by the way! So nice to blogknow a bona fide literary celeb!!!

Anonymous said...

Marie Claire reader... checking out your blog. Your story is too funny and I think it has happened to many of us at one point in time.

Anonymous said...

CPB- Try Sunsilk. I've been using the yellow (for volume) and it is great. No knots, no buildup, good lift, no split ends. I'm trying to wean myself off of Kerastase.

Big Sky Girl

Anonymous said...

I'm sorry the L'Oreal didn't work out...I use their "sheer volume" (or something to that effect) and I really like it. Pantene is also great, and so is Aveda. But, I don't have highlights so I don't know what works best for color-treated hair.

Ziomal said...

Very nice! I like it. zorlac skateboards

Anonymous said...

Marie Claire reader as well...
NOTHING beats alterna cavier shampoo and conditioner-great for color treated hair and also anti-aging...I'm not 30 yet, but I am all about prevention!

Anonymous said...

I have this shampoo and conditioner too, it is crap. My husband was disgusted at the my hair near my scalp this morning. It looks so greasy and it feels like I put gel in it or something.... AND I SHAMPOOED TWICE THIS MORNING because I thought yesterday it was a tad greasy looking. I will be going back to the store to do an exchange. I might expect this from a cheaper brand like Suave or something but NOT from Loreal.

Anonymous said...

I wasn't a fan of that stuff either, when I tried it. You're right - very watery, and I felt like I needed a pitchfork to get out the tangles.

A coworker of mine has turned me on recently to a new shampoo - Back to Basics Raspberry Almond. It smells delish in the shower in the morning. It's a salon brand, but cheap as far as salon brands go (I've found some at Safeway that cost the same).