Hair

Store Hair Tools with Care

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Store hair tools, including irons, with care to prolong their lifespan!

Embarrassingly, I had a heated hair tool become problematic recently. I had my Hot Tools iron stored with a bunch of tools in a drawer. I hadn’t used it in a while, but needed to be presentable for some Mandatory Fun at work. Since my hair was dry, the Airwrap wouldn’t be a good fit. Thus, I reached for a reliable tool to do some quick low-effort wrangling of my hair.

What I found, though, was that the handle of the iron was odd: the texture wasn’t the same. It was inconsistent and, inexplicably, tacky or sticky. This wasn’t because of product build up, though – we’re talking the handle, not the barrel.

Weird, but Maybe It’s Fine?

…or, maybe not. I tried to clean it; no dice. I ventured and gave using it a shot anyhow, because nothing was unsafe from an electrical or heat perspective. This was a mistake, though: strands of my hair stuck to the handle as I curled. I ended up pulling out a few strands as a result. Ow.

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Lab Finds Benzene in More Dry Shampoo

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Early last week, I wrote an informative and scathing piece on carcinogens in dry shampoo. The news on the matter was focused on brands under Unilever’s umbrella, but unfortunately independent analytical lab Valisure found benzene in more dry shampoo.

How Many?

Not in a few. 70% of the latest round of tests, featuring 150 batches from 30+ brands across multiple parent companies, came back with high levels of exposure. Here are just some of the affected brands:

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Recall: Carcinogens in Dry Shampoo

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We had a post go live today, but I sat down this afternoon and wrote a whole entire ‘nother because this is NONSENSE. First, sunscreen. Now, there’s a multi-brand recall due to carcinogens in dry shampoo. It’s the same we’ve been seeing in sunscreen: benzene.

The amount of things being recalled for benzene in the last few years is too damn high. Carcinogens weren’t even really top-of-mind for me when I stopped buying dry shampoo a while back (which I JUST shared before this news hit), but there’s a hell of a good reason!

The Affected Brands

Per the release, which you can read on FDA.gov, this recall applies to products under Unilever’s sprawling umbrella. If you use any of these,

  • Dove
  • TRESemme
  • Nexxus
  • Suave
  • Tigi

You need to check the UPC and lot codes, which you can do here, to see if you need to take further action. Please note that just because you bought it recently doesn’t necessarily mean it was manufactured super recently! CHECK.

If it isn’t one of these, you may be in the clear – but I’ll come back to this.

Reimbursement

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Why I Quit Buying Dry Shampoo

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Somehow, I forgot to mention in this post that I quit buying dry shampoo. That doesn’t mean I wash my hair every day – which is both time consuming and often times too much for our hair and scalp.

Why I Quit Buying Dry Shampoo

I’ve used several dry shampoo products in the past that I’ve enjoyed. Unfortunately, my favorites were discontinued or changed to be a totally different product with the same name (such is my shitty superpower).

After trying a couple others that either met my low-or-no fragrance requirement but not my effectiveness requirement, or were effective in absorbing oil but choked me with fragrance (looking at you, special edition Grapefruit Mimosa Drybar Detox!), I was fed up.

Unfortunately, dry shampoo is one of those things that I can’t just push myself to use up if it is overly fragrant; it’ll make me sick smelling it all day.

What I Do Instead

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Checking In: Billie Razors

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Billie Razors

Several years ago, I switched from Gillette razor products to Billie Razors. But it’s time to revisit!

Do I Still Use Billie Razors?

I do! Now that I’ve concluded my laser treatment, though, I go through blades extremely slowly. When I say extremely slowly, I mean I haven’t had blades shipped to me since April 2021 I was already going through them slowly back then and had several on hand. That April 2021 shipment gave me four more and I’ve just been working off that stockpile.

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Kirkland Signature Shampoo and Conditioner

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Busy. Tired of spending money to try to find a good product. Tired in general. Got better things to do than troubleshoot why your hair is acting like an unhinged psychopath? Does this sound like you?

I could pitch you some expensive, fancy, salon or prestige product and you could spend an arm and a leg on it…

…or you could just chill and get Costco’s liter-sized Kirkland Signature Shampoo and Conditioner.

While I’m a content Costco customer, don’t worry – I’m not a sample-rabid zombie. I just appreciate a good value – and Kirkland Signature Shampoo and Conditioner is certainly that.

Since my hair loss disaster (I’m all better!), I switched primarily to the wholesaler’s in house product. I didn’t do extensive product testing or sampling; I just picked it up in my usual groceries because my time is currently at a premium.

Why?

First, Quality

The formulas of Kirkland Signature Shampoo and Conditioner are salon-tier, and that is not just marketing hype. We’re talking a sulfate-free conditioner (its main surfactant is used by Ethique bars). It is gentle on my balayage, doesn’t dry my hair out, make it brittle, make it flat, etc.

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