Monday, January 4, 2010

Seeking Engine De-greaser...

I presume that not many people are in this same boat.

I presume that because if there were heaps of people in this same boat, the supermarkets would still stock the particular item I need.

And they don't.

I stand in front of the wall of hair care products, reading all the labels of all the products for all the brands looking for something that deals with oily hair. There hasn't been anything in a supermarket since Revlon stopped making (or at least selling into the supermarkets) Flex for oily hair in the late 1990s. For a while I did find a Pears product for normal hair that sort of filled the gap, but they don't seem to exist anymore either.

Obviously no-one has normal hair anymore, because I could get colour longevity, frizz reduction, perm protection, hydrating, rejuvenating, split-end inhibiting, body enhancing, long hair strengthening, super moisturising, every-day use type of products. 'Everyday' or 'frequent' use is pretty pointless for my hair, because I don't want to have to shower at lunchtime just to wash my hair so that it doesn't have that greasy sheen for the afternoon. And I'm happy to wash my hair every couple of days, if I can get away with it.

I've discovered lately that if I hairspray to within an inch of its life, I don't seem to get greasy so quickly (or at least it doesn't look greasy).

I don't put conditioner anywhere near my head, but confine it to the ends only.

I put the shampoo into dry hair as recommended by a previous hairdresser in the hope that the shampoo gets a better 'grip' on the grease before I wet everything.

And I'm still left wanting to slip down to the local Supercheap Auto and buy something that will actually get my hair clean enough that I only have to wash a couple of times a week.

More dangerous, of course, is the bottle of dishwashing detergent under the sink. They wash race horses in dishwashing detergent. It says it's 'easy on your hands' so how bad could it be?

I sometimes think phoning my hairdresser in Yeppoon and buying some more Redken super grease removing shampoo, even if it does cost about 5 times what I would normally pay for shampoo.

And at this point I remind myself that greasy hair and face has got to be good for me as I age. I've never needed all the moisturising stuff that people spend so much money on. Surely the grease has to pay off in fewer wrinkles?

... please?

But of course the chances of it working out for me?

... Approximately None!

9 comments:

Swift Jan said...

Yeah shampoo for oily hair does seem to be only available in the pricey range of things unfortunately... Could you try a shampoo for Fine hair? I can recommend a good shampoo, that is if you want to pay $40+ per bottle :/

Long dark hair, blue eyes said...

My friend tried washing her hair with baking soda - apparently it was ok.

Givinya De Elba said...

Well you do look youthful and wrinkle-free, I'll say that! And also your hair looks grease-free to the rest of us :) The greasy feeling you notice must be frustrating though.

Femina said...

I have an oily scalp and ridiculously dry ends, because my hair is unusually fine (my previous hairdresser used to compare my hair with "normal hair") and it's also very curly. Using 'fine hair' shampoo usually works for me, but there's also the fact that I don't brush my hair, ever. I run a wide-toothed comb through it when it's wet and sometimes through the underneath when it's dry but no comb or brush goes near my scalp so I assume that helps reduce the oil production somehow. Not sure if you could get away with that with your hair? I also don't use any 'products' on it except sorbolene on the ends.

When I was a teenager and had oily scalp problems I used to comb a bit of talc through my hair...

Long dark hair, blue eyes said...

If you do decide to buy expensive shampoo, I would recommend strawberrynet.com. I buy all my cosmetics from this site and I noticed the other day they have haircare too. http://au.strawberrynet.com/haircare/

Aleta said...

Well, amen to this post!!! I have greasy hair too, especially in the hot, humid summer months in New Orleans. UGGHHH!!! And you're right, hair spray will work a little to help the look. And I don't put conditioner near my head either, just on the ends.... but I never heard of shampoo on dry hair - that's a new one!

Allegro ma non troppo said...

When I read the title of your post, I thought, "She should try 'Start Ya Bastard'", which is for engines, of course.

Now I'm imagining you muttering something similar as you wash your hair... "Wash Ya Bastard"?

A Joyful Chaos said...

There are people that actually use dish washing detergent to wash their hair. I tried it once but wouldn't recommend it. The mess of tangles I had to deal with afterwards was horrendous. (They weren't oily though.)

Long dark hair, blue eyes said...

Guess what? While in Priceline yesterday I happened to notice a new Garnier shampoo/conditioner that was for oily root/dry tips. I think it was called "citrus blast". Sadly I note the closest Priceline to W is Toowoomba, but maybe other shops have it?