So today’s post is about hair. I have not had mine cut in about a year. One of the things I can thank my maternal Irish ancestors for is that at my advanced age (35! Can you believe it!?!) I still have all my hair and it and my nails grow like wildfire. You can see in the photo- the left was taken last April and the right today, Monday. It is actually one of the reasons that I stopped coloring my hair. Well, that, and the fact that the ex, who was a colorist and I broke up and he moved out of town, therefor cutting me off from free dye jobs. Now, getting free color work was great, in that it was free. It was less great in that my hair was an ongoing experiment. I was every shade between Platinum and Jet, and while the latter was wonderfully dramatic with my light eyes and skin, I did get visible roots by the time I got to the car. Now that it’s really grey, I am just calling it blond and calling it a day. This was also the last time it was long- at the time shoulder length or more. After we broke up and I gave up on dying it I chopped it all off and went back to my usual JFK nice boy hair for years, until the pandemic when things started closing down. As a matter of fact I still have the long hank of ash-blond hair that was cut off, pinned to a voodoo doll I got at a store downtown (pinned so it will bring good fortune and money. Hasn’t worked yet. Guess I would have used virgin hair..)
2022 versus 2023
A friend got a freebie that she thought I might enjoy- a GOOP product. A Himalayan salt scrub detox shampoo. Now, I always have to rein in my tendency to overthink things and read things into gestures that were perhaps not there. Once a good friend gave me as a birthday gift some tooth whitener and a natural aphrodisiac tea. This was years ago and after a few cocktails when the superego was on vacation but unfortunately the vocabulary was not I did have to enquire if she thought that the state of my smile was so disgusting that it needed immediate attention in the form of infomercial bleach and that the only way that I would trap and retain a paramour was drugs. That went well. So I will try not to think that my hair was visibly in need of detox, even if the rest of me might be.
I admit that I am kind of a hair hopper, since I no longer have 30 volume applied as if it were Tenax (does that still exist?) and I no longer have to rely on the tender ministrations of JF Lazartigue’s excellent and pricey shea butter hair masque to keep my then-abused hair in shape. I usually wait until a sale and buy some giant bottle of Kiehl’s shampoo and then just put a bit of shea butter hair gunk in it to keep it down and go. Now that it’s longer I actually do have to run a dryer through it before going to work, but that’s about as much time as I am willing to spend on it.
So how was GOOP’s goop? Frankly pretty harsh. It brought up a lot of suds, which I am told isn’t the best thing as it’s supposed to mean that it’s stripping your hair. I mean LOTS of suds. Almost comical amounts- like this scene where little Bobby from “The Brady Bunch” attempts to do laundry.
I also found the sea salt to be really abrasive- rinsing my hair out made my scalp actually sting. My hair was left as parched as a California hillside in August. Luckily amongst my various samples of hair and face goop there was some argan oil stuff that took care of the combustible portion of the program. I will give GOOP the old college try again. On the whole though, I am glad it was a freebie for both my friend and myself. If I’d paid $55 to Sephora I’d be asking for a refund.
So what do use in your hair? Favorite shampoo? Conditioner? Styling stuff? Also, do I mow, or no. I’m ½ way thinking that I will just keep going with it until I am really sick of it. I get people who think it’s gorgeous and others think I look better with it short. What say you? Leave a comment.
GOOP’s G Tox Himalayan Salt Scalp Scrub Shampoo is available at Sephora for $55 for 200ML or $15 for a 25ML mini. Mine was a gift of a complementary jar from a friend (who may never gift me anything else after reading this,,) Photos are Pexels and my iPhone
HA! What hair?
Yours? Do with it what you will. It looks so good any way you wear it. So thick and lustrous.
Well jel.
Portia xx
Oh you kid! You turn my head!
Pert shampoo here! It works, hair looks good… so why change a good thing. Dying my greys just never really looked right and the roots were a super pain in the neck. I like the way my grey looks – it works with my skin tone. I’ve always wanted platinum hair but there was absolutely no way I was going to deal with the maintenance, so going grey is a good way to get the same look. Also, I’m voting for keeping it long – long, healthy grey hair is always stunning!
Pert is always good!
You have to go to a really talented colorist for it to look right and that costs money, and yeah, maintenance. Life’s too short! I’m not on camera after all so who cares?
A bunch of my friends came to the same conclusion during lock-down and they all look so much better, feel better and have that much more disposable income to spend on really vital things. Like perfume.
You are fortunate to have such great hair Tom. And therefore, you can wear short or long. I’m all about easy and fuss-free hair, do what suits you best re the length. I keep my hair just long enough to pull back in pony tail because it is easy. I have very fine hair and therefore, requires much styling to look presentable otherwise. Hair products I like are from Aveda.
I was just talking to a friend about Aveda. I used to use their pomades back in the day because they smelled so great (and worked really well) so of course they changed the formula. I may have to circle back to the products though and see how they are. What seemed pricey in the 90’s seems practically free now..
Tom,
My hair is a very similar silver color to yours, only waist length and wavy. Yours looks great grown out. I avoid sulfates and silicones in my hair products since I’m trying to keep it healthy and encourage the natural curl. I use the Jessicurl line, available on her site and also on Amazon. Silver hair is more porous, drier, and can get scorched and turn yellow-y by heat tools or prolonged exposure to the sun.
I was told that mine was getting a touch yellowy so I got some of that purple shampoo. Do you think that works?
Yes, it can help a bit. Let it sit on your hair a couple minutes before you rinse it out.
Great. I’ll do that. Thx.
Your hair is gorgeous, and it’s probably healthier (along with your scalp) sans dye. Grow it as long as you want! If you follow my pattern, eventually you’ll get annoyed and hack it off again. A salt scrub sounds terrible on the scalp. I do love those silicone scalp massager / scrubber things, though, used gently. No amazing recommendations for product; I miss how wavy my hair was in the D.C. humidity. I’m always trying to add volume here, a problem you don’t have.
Yes, I think the salt is a terrible idea. At best it’s just too harsh and will cause your scalp to go into hyperdrive trying to fix the lashing you gave it.
I have one of those massagers and love it.
Volume is not my issue. The good thing is that when it’s long at some point it sits the flock down of only because of it’s own weight. (I know, I’ll just slap myself)
Your hair is beautiful, long or short. If it was my hair, I’d keep growing it until I was tired of it. Great color, too.
We are a plain old Pantene household here. My hair is wavy but will really curl if coaxed. I scrunch it with Kendra mousse and let it air dry when I can.
I wish my hair had some more curl to it, but we always wish for what we don’t have, don’t we?
I am far too lazy to spend the time on it. I can’t even sit through a 20 minute YouBoobTube instructional video without thinking “oh, just get ON with it already!”
Anything GOOP is a no from me. I’ve been using Phillip Kingsley for the last 6 years (bought a litre of shampoo & conditioner from QVC when I retired on a deep discount). I’m just about to finish them so on the look out what to use next. In the last 9 months I’ve been losing my hair, stress with mum & DH being very I’ll. so suggestions for volumisers that don’t make it look like candy floss are welcome
I am so sorry that stress is taking your hair. I have been through 2 very stressful periods that caused hair loss and what helped most was drinking Collagen/peptides every day. It took about 8 months to notice a difference but it worked for me. I used to order it from Amazon but now it’s available at grocery stores.
I had a friend who had the same issue and swears by that stuff. I know it takes a while and I have started taking it for joints, etc. Mostly preventative. Gotta be careful. Plus I hope it may help me lose a few metric tons gained during covid.
Thank you Rosarita. My hair at its best was fine in texture but I had lots of it. The curl was so tight I used leave in conditioner & a hair pick.
I’m in my 60’s & haven’t yet got much grey but I miss having my soft coils & curls.
Thank you for the collagen/peptide tip. I’ll have a shufty round to see what I can find in the UK
I read somewhere that you should get the grass-fed hydrolyzed stuff so that’s what I ordered. Haven’t been using it long so can’t comment. IDK if you can get this one in the UK but it was one of the less pricey ones here.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07BL69CD2?ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details&th=1
Thank you I’ll have a look
I try not to be too anti-GOOP just because I think she takes a lot of flack, of which only about 80% is deserved. She certainly hasn’t gotten any of my money, unless she got a piece of my rental of the two movies of hers I saw her in.
I’m anti-GOOP cos a lot of her nonsense is actually dangerous.
She’s obsessed with her ladygarden (I’m being polite) yet doesn’t know what to call the different bits!
One of my friends called it her Netherlands, which I found amusing..
I’m sure whatever it’s called the poor thing is as disapproving & po faced as its owner. Either that or it packed the rest of its female genitalia in a chic hold-all & ran screaming for the hills rather than being steamed & made to smell like a candle!
Your hair is wonderful, Tom! Do whatever makes you happy with it.
My hair, left to its own devices, is fine and curly to the point of frizzy. You would not know this by looking at me now, with a shiny, shoulder length bob – but that represents a LOT of product and work. Right now, I like Christophe Robin products & btw, they have a scalp scrub that works well (see a LOT of product above) and doesn’t sting. It sounds much nicer than your GOOP!
Thanks!
I don’t recommend the GOOP goop. Way too harsh!
Your hair is beautiful – always has been. Long, short… it’s just beautiful.
That GOOP goop sounds AWFUL!
I do a lot of co-wash (my hair is porous) and my go-tos are from Yadain Cultural Solutions – best EVAH is their Rosemary hair crap that I run a bit through on the daily – my hair seems to adore it.
Thank you my dear!
I have to look those up. As well as a co-wash..
OMG no, not salt. It stings any tiny skin break and it dries out and desiccates everything. Before refrigeration, meats and fish were preserved by salting it. Salt pulls out moisture and preserves everything for a while. Your poor hair and scalp.
I like your hair in both pictures and the grey suits you. If you did want to change up the color, go for platinum blond, like Jane Fonda did. That almost white color has its own kind of drama.
Yeah, I didn’t think salt was the best idea.
I figure I’ll get to platinum soon enough on my own. I’m done with coloring my hair.
He said. Look, next week it’ll be auburn!