When you're seperated from your hair arsenal.

[Mairéad]

I’m currently “stuck” somewhere without my arsenal of hair care products. I don’t know what the h*ll I was thinking because I knew I was going to be at my location during a wash day. Don’t know, maybe I thought it wouldn’t hurt to stretch for another day.

Well, it wasn’t going to hurt until my ends started to dry out, which is a signal that I need to CO. Since I didn’t have any of my CO gear with me I thought I’d just hold over and deep treat that night. But, I didn’t have any coconut oil. No problem, I was cooking and had some EVOO. Coconut oil always soaks all the way into my hair no matter how much I use, but oh no, this EVOO would not go in. So I woke up, not to my glorious coconut hair, but to –this—stringy hair. The oil obviously hadn’t soaked in an awful lot. It smelled bad. My hair was just--stuck--to my face.

No problem. I thought I would just run over to our campus minimart since they have Sauve, and I could CO with that. It was more than past time to wash and I could get the rest of this EVOO out. *facepalm* IT’S LABOR DAY. No campus mini mart.

Finally, in a moment of desperation I used my DBF’s 2-in-1 Head and Shoulders mumbo jumbo. Full of sulfates and cones in one horrific step, stuff my head has never been particularly fond of.

So—much—of this foaming nonsense. I didn’t even know what to do with this stuff. I mean, it’s shampoo so I’m thinking, “on my scalp only” but then I’m like, “But, It’s also cone-y conditioner! So, my ends too!.” Gah, I have to put the shampoo on my ends to get the conditioner part and it has to be on my roots to get the shampoo part. Awful! Then there was this business, “How long do I leave it on? Because, it's conditioner, right? So, for a few minutes? But, it’s shampoo, so rinse it off now!

God, what an awful experience.

So, final verdict? The olive oil is out of my hair. That’s good. My hair isn’t ruined or anything dramatic sounding. It’s still very soft and ridiculously shiny, but it’s strangely dry. It’s a little flat, a frizz bomb, and my waves are nowhere to be seen. Basically, I sure wouldn't want to use that product again or I imagine my symptoms would get wose.

Have you ever been in a situation where you were separated from your normal products and really needed them? What did you do?

[archel]

Ugh, this is me at the BF's house. Which means slowly I have started amassing duplicates of all my "good stuff" over at his place. Sigh!

[Mairéad]

I have everything but hair stuff at my DBF's. I have stuff for my face, a pair of pajamas, and my own toothbrush. I think next time I'm going to bring over the almost empty bottles to have while I'm here and start the new ones at my own place.

Men and their 2-in-1 and their even more awful 3-in-1s. If they made a shave, wash, shampoo that was also a toothpaste they'd buy it.

[torrilin]

My hair isn't particularly fussy. In your situation I would have ignored the dry ends, done a water only style wash (so plenty of finger pad scrubbing, like with a CO wash, but no product used), and then combed my hair out as best as I could after. It wouldn't have looked fabulous, but my hair pretty much never looks great short. When I have short hair, I usually have a side comb or two stashed in my purse for dealing with the evil of bangs, and that would have solved most of the ick.

Dry ends don't mean a lot. Yeah, you don't want to encourage them... but between pixie and waist... they're gonna happen.

The other easy solution is makeup. I've got a round face, kind of bee stung lips, pale skin and dark hair... I look like I walked right out of a '20s silent film. Just like a '20s film star looks natural in red lipstick... same here. Most of us will have a good feature that is nice to highlight. Maybe it's big eyes or nice brows or a fantastic smile, the what doesn't particularly matter. Work with your best feature and highlight it. Other people pretty much never notice our flaws and imperfections as much as we do. They *do* notice tho when we make an effort to emphasize a strong point.

[archel]

Oh tell me about it! I am not using Axe to shower with, sorry! And yes I have started bringing sample sizes off all my skin and hair care over there, I just filled up a little bottle with some Argan oil. Hell I bought a flat iron yesterday that came with a bonus 1/2 inch mini one - it is SO cute and it's totally living at the BF's house :)

[squintinschool]

I rearm myself. :p I was in Montreal for 10 days, and ended up going on a shopping expedition for CO-compatible conditioner. And then for the following 3 days that I was camping up north I just did WO in the very soft lake water. I've actually stretched my CO-washing for 12 days now, and I'm too tired to properly wash my hair today, so I'll be throwing it up in a bun for work tomorrow, and washing it when I get home.

[swetiepeti]

I travel with a set of three ounce bottles, two small half ounce jars, and one one ounce bottle.
For a weeks trip the little jars are filled with coconut oil, the three ounces have conditioner in them, except for one with a premixed SMT, and the one ounce bottle has a jojoba/argan oil mix. If I was going on a long trip, I'd pack a straight bottle of conditioner and use a three ounce bottle a week for SMT's. The oils generally last much longer than the trip, especially if I'm at a place where I'm not spending my days at the pool

[PraiseCheeses]

I have everything but hair stuff at my DBF's. I have stuff for my face, a pair of pajamas, and my own toothbrush. I think next time I'm going to bring over the almost empty bottles to have while I'm here and start the new ones at my own place.

Men and their 2-in-1 and their even more awful 3-in-1s. If they made a shave, wash, shampoo that was also a toothpaste they'd buy it.

Oh, but they do:

http://www.drbronner.com/DBMS/OLPE08/PeppermintLiquidSoap.htm :D

You can also wash your dishes, laundry, and car. My brothers love this stuff! :p

[Mairéad]

Haha, I've tried Dr. Bronner's for many things. I'm the opposite. I thought it was pretty horrible for most things.

[Ligeia_13]

Men and their 2-in-1 and their even more awful 3-in-1s. If they made a shave, wash, shampoo that was also a toothpaste they'd buy it.

What on earth is a 3-in-1? :confused:

[Mairéad]

What on earth is a 3-in-1? :confused:

Several men's products are marketed as a body wash, a shampoo, and a shave cream.

[Ligeia_13]

Sounds handy :D

[Foxy_Booker]

I was camping and didn't realize my conditioner bottle was empty so my hair was so incredibly naughty because I NEED conditioner. I wouldn't have washed my hair but there was sand in it from the beach and it needed it. It was horrible and so hard to comb out I ripped out half my head.

[chou]

Ah, I'm so sorry to hear about your stressful hair day! The running around, the greasiness, the anxiety--I have definitely been there. This same thing happened to me earlier this summer. I showed up in an unfamiliar area with no means of transportation to do archaeology and I had left my shampoo and conditioner at home... I wasn't going to bring my oils or deep treatments or aloe or anything because I was kind of "roughing it." Ideally I would have been roughing it with my natural and floral smelling sls- and cone-free shampoo and conditioner, but still. Thankfully my hair was still short enough at this point not to get tangly at all. I rinsed out with just water with for a few days until I could get a ride to Walmart, at which point my hair was both greasy and crunchy. I actually tried to look for natural hair care products there, which was naive. I ended up with Head and Shoulders because I figured it would have the least offensive smell of anything else there. A month and a half later of product abuse, super hard water, and damage from the elements my hair was a frizzy, bushy, breakage-y (but admittedly very soft--thank you cones!) mess. Blegh. It gave me the motivation to return to babying my hair, though.
Praisecheeses--speaking of Dr. Bronners and men, I once tried to wash my hair in my boyfriend's old dorm room with that stuff because he had LITERALLY NOTHING ELSE in the bathroom and used it for everything. Except as toothpaste, lol

[dRummie]

Fortunately, when my parents stay in hotels, they always bring back those little shampoos and conditioners. If I need to go somewhere, I fill those up. Going to bring one filled with my low-poo to DBF's house next weekend, in fact. As for conditioner, I just bought a second bottle for his place. It's big, but I go through conditioner like crazy.

But if I happen to be stuck without something, I'll just use what's available. May not be ideal, but once in a blue moon won't destroy my hair.

[Mairéad]

I was camping and didn't realize my conditioner bottle was empty so my hair was so incredibly naughty because I NEED conditioner. I wouldn't have washed my hair but there was sand in it from the beach and it needed it. It was horrible and so hard to comb out I ripped out half my head.

Same here. My hair NEEDS conditioner. I rarely CO because my hair is getting greasy. I CO because my hair is starting to dry out. Of course I deep treat with coconut oil the night before. And my hair soaks it up so it barely becomes greasy from heavy oiling.

[julliams]

Going to Canada always does this to me (I'm Australian). With the climate being the total opposite and dry as opposed to humid, my hair doesn't know itself and it often takes me weeks to get it right. Then it's time to go home.

I'm off to Switzerland in a couple of weeks and am wondering what I should take with me. Hmmm - now for my next thread...

[MinderMutsig]

If I'm staying somewhere overnight, I'm bringing my wash stuff and 1 leave-in/cream/treatment/oil kind of thing even when I don't plan on washing my hair there. (usually a hair butter or something) If I'm staying somewhere more than once a month, I'm putting stuff there to use so I don't have to bring it every time.

Back when I was young and wild and often had unplanned sleepovers I used to keep a miniature shampoo and conditioner in my purse wrapped in an extra pair of undies, some testers for facecream and toothpaste and a fold-up toothbrush. It doesn't take up much space and you'll always be prepared in a pinch.

It has been my #1 reason for carrying a purse for years in my early 20's. There was my overnight kit, a multitool, some pads/tampons and since I was carrying the thing anyway: my phone and wallet. You could drop me in the woods and I could build my own hut and come out the next day all primped and polished like nothing happened. I was a weird kid.

[pixiedust]

DBF has a shower full of 2-in-1s; he also has a drawer full of tiny bottles of all natural organic hair products. cause and effect ;)

[Chromis]

I just have a shampoo bar permanently slipped into a pocket in my luggage. It helps that my chosen method is very easy to transport! Really though, I often just don't wash my hair much on vacation. I wear it up anyhow and my scalp doesn't show much for the first week.

[Carolyn]

I haven't had an unplanned sleepovers since my college days. Now when I pack for an overnight I always have hair care products in my bag even if I'm not planning on washing my hair. You never know what might happen and it's always best to be prepared for things. I might not have everything I want for washing and care but I have most things. I'm not planning on ever camping out in the woods. If there were an emergency overnight or two, I'd just get to a WM or grocery store and purchase a few things to get me by.

[Mairéad]

After a trip to Wal-Mart today I'm finally going to finish my "stash of Mairéad friendly products" at my DBF's. I even just ordered a new jar of coconut oil (finally!) and I'm going to leave the last hunk of my old jar to be used at his place. It will be nice to finally have a supply of all my lotions and potions so I don't have to worry about bringing over such things.

[tigereye]

Normally I would just not wash my hair. I normally only wash my hair once weekly, and even then, it's primarily because my ends get dry. If I stick my hair into a braided bun, with the ends tucked under, I can leave it in for ages, so if I go a while, its okay. If my scalp ever gets around to being greasy, the oil will protect the ends, which are tucked under the bun, and next to the scalp. And if it gets a little messy, who cares? Messy buns are all the rage now, right?

[Signe]

I agree with tigereye...why not just put it up and ignore it instead of washing with products that you don't like?

[Lianna]

I'd wash my hair with any shampoo (I use sulfates normally), and any oil from the kitchen would be fine (not coconut, but I wouldn't have that in my kitchen). I'm just not picky, and I like that.

I can't just not wash it, I wash everyday.

[Mairéad]

I agree with tigereye...why not just put it up and ignore it instead of washing with products that you don't like?

My hair is too short to be put up. Otherwise, I would be perfectly fine with that.

[Dragon]

If I was at some ones place and had to do an emergency wash for whatever reason, Because of allergies I would just use an egg as shampoo (mix a whole egg in a cup) if they have any and use whatever oil they have for conditioner. If they have a shampoo and conditioner I know I wouldn’t have a reaction to, I would just use that plus some oil. If it wasn’t an emergency, I would just add a little oil to the ends and just leave it. A plastic bag and a rubber band to help tie the bag with makes a good emergency shower cap.