Taking Care of Dry Hair

I got a great haircut just before the new year in New York. It's layered, falls slightly below my shoulders and has little side-swept bangs to boot. It's basically just three inches shorter than how I last had my hair, but losing the extra weight really gave my curls new life -- even now, six weeks later.

But an ongoing problem is how dry my hair and scalp are. I don't know if it's the shower water, or the weather, or products, or my diet, or damage from coloring treatments (though I haven't done that in a year). I rarely heat treatments on my hair but I use mousse or gel several times a week. Since I'm not a morning person I usually shower at night and throw my hair into a ponytail for work.

Oh, and split ends drive me CRAZY!

So I've been trying two inexpensive, out-of-shower treatments for the past few weeks: Jojoba oil and styling cream. I can't definitively prove their effectiveness since I don't have a scientific study or something behind me, but personally, I've found them beneficial. I plan to keep using them, since they certainly haven't visibly hurt my hair.

Jojoba oil is the liquid wax produced from the seed of the jojoba plant, which is native to parts of Arizona, southern California and northwestern Mexico. I chose it after reading that it is similar to sebum, the oily matter naturally present on human skin. It's purported to moisturize the scalp and help restore moisture and shine to hair. It doesn't have a strong scent and can be combined with essential oils.

I've been rubbing a nickle-sized drop into my hair occasionally before showering, particularly concentrating on my scalp and the ends of my hair. The oil I have is a combination of jojoba oil, castor oil, sunflower oil, lanolin, olive oil, BHA and fragrance. A little bit goes a long way, mind you. I picked mine up at a local beauty supply store.

For my styling cream, I've been using this Sedal (spanish-language Sunsilk) product I bought last year in Mexico to use in place of styling products while on vacation. This crema para peinar is intended to protect against the effects of summer, like heat and sun.


It seems like somewhere between a leave-in conditioner and styling product to me. Frankly, I bought it because the bottle was so cute! The main ingredients include cetearyl alcohol, cetrimonium chloride, glycerin and dimethiconol -- as far as I can see, a combination of emulsifying waxes, which contribute to locking in moisture by keeping water and oil from separating, and silicones, which feel soft to the touch.

So there's my science for the day. And since I've got jojoba oil in my hair I think it's time for the shower! Happy Valentine's day everyone!

Good For My Skin and My Peace of Mind

I've been cutting down on my impulse buys lately. But after trying The Body Shop body butter sample that Maayari sent me a few weeks ago, I felt compelled to get a bigger tub of that stuff ASAP.

I haven't cared for my skin the way I should since getting sick (read: cared for it at all) and that, combined with the bitter cold spell sweeping the nation, has resulted in me being dry and itchy all over. I tried the Mango body butter sample Maayari sent me by running a comparison test: post-shower, I put the body butter on one leg and on the other, a Bath and Body Works lotion that I've been relatively content with in the past.

There was no contest. The next day both my legs were softer than they'd been before application, but the body butter side was as smooth as when I put it on. It stayed that way through the afternoon (and when you want to touch your leg to feel its softness while at the office, well, I think that's a sign that a product is working).

The body butter is thicker than regular body lotion. It comes in a tub and you use your fingertips to scoop a little bit out, which will go a long way. I make sure my hands are clean enough that I feel comfortable rubbing anything onto my body before I put my fingers in the tub, so the hygiene aspect doesn't bother me too much of using the exposed tub versus lotion from a pump/tube. And it's thick enough that unless it melts, I don't think you'd have a problem with the content spilling all over.

A day or two after the comparison test I picked up body butter in Vanilla Spice. Normally the 6.7 oz tub costs $20, but this seasonal merchandise was on sale for $7. (Mmm smells good.)

So far I find it lives up to its tagline of being "indulgent, spicy and festive all-over creamy moisturisation." That's probably because its main ingredients include soy, sesame and babbasu oil and cocoa and shea butter.

In addition to nurturing my skin, I like the fact that The Body Shop has a social conscience. For example, the company is against animal testing. (There's some controversy over this, especially in light of the company being bought by L'Oreal, which does animal testing...but The Body Shop founder left all her money to charity when she died in April so I'd like to see some good and think that the company sale wasn't out of sheer greed.) Anyway, in the case of items like cosmetics, I'd rather buy products with minimal animal testing because these items are superfluous to my life. It's not always easy to get around testing all components of a product without animal testing, but science is making leaps and bounds on that front.

Another cause The Body Shop supports is community trade. This issue came on my radar after writing about fair trade a few months ago, and though I don't know first-hand whether The Body Shop lives up to all its goals (since I'm not auditing the company's actions), I think creating awareness of and setting goals for community trade is important. The mission of community trade is to work with laborers in underdeveloped locales to stimulate economic growth, provide livable and stable incomes for the workers, and promote environmental sustainability.

Even though my budget is tight as a young professional, I'm starting to think more and more about how I can do a little part to support causes I believe in with minor alterations to my life and my wallet.

The Soap That Made My Legs Soft Again

Earlier this week I had an exfoliation emergency, if you will.

Despite being prone to dry skin, I almost never exfoliate my body. Combine this with a cold/dry home, cold/dry weather and a stagnant/dry office, and you have quite a recipe to let scaly skin get out of control.

Well, a few days ago I had enough. My legs itched...all over...and felt horribly rough. It was time for action.

I futilely searched CVS for body scrub (crossed my fingers for Alba Sugar Cane Hawaiian Body Polish after reading good reviews on Makeup Alley) but alas, there was nothing. Maybe one bottle, but nothing worth a second glance! So at 11 p.m. I went to Safeway supermarket and purchased Burt's Bees Citrus Spice Exfoliating Shower Soap on a whim.

Don't be fooled by how smooth the bar feels when you initially open the package. Once you start rubbing it on your skin it is definitely abrasive enough to get the job done. It was a bit too rough for some parts of my skin, but it almost felt rough in that good sort of way...like a little pain for a lot of gain, I hoped.

Though the bar isn't the most attractive color, the scent is nice. Spicy and citrusy - just as it advertises - but not overpowering. To me it's a unisex scent (I just suggested it to a male friend with super dry skin without a second thought). It lingered subtly on my skin post-shower.

My skin felt smooth when I hopped out. I slathered myself in body lotion and went to bed.

Well oh boy, when I woke up in the morning I remembered what my legs felt like when they were soft, because they were soft again! That's been the case since I used the soap - no more itchy and flaking.

I'm sure the lotion had a lot to do with iproving my legs too, but I've used lotion on several occasions in the recent past and never had results like this before exfoliating, even after a regular shower.

I will definitely be using this soap again.

Burt's Bees Citrus Spice Exfoliating Shower Soap retails for between $2.50 to 5. I read some info that says it might be discontinued - surprising, since it was abundant in my local supermarket, but who knows - in which case you might want to try getting this fast.