NaBloPoMo Monday, November 25, 2013
Tell us about the last thing a person or advertisement convinced you to buy.

During my first stateside haircut in five years, my new stylist gunked up my freshly shampooed hair with four different leave-in products before she removed my plastic cape. She talked up the virtues of each in a slick, well-rehearsed QVC-type spiel as she combed, snipped, dried, and styled. I hate high pressure sales during an experience that is supposed to be relaxing, so I was ready to refuse them all on general principle.

Until she sprayed my wet locks with a product she claimed would cut my blow dry time in half. I was doubtful, though admittedly hopeful. Normally, by the time I finish blow drying my thick curly/wavy hair into some semblance of straightness, the under layers are curly and frizzy again because I’m sweating like a pig. It never seems to take as long for the stylist to dry my hair as it takes me at home, and I never leave the chair sweaty, so I wasn’t sure how I was going to accurately judge the effectiveness of the product.

However, she was still pushing all four products as I was moving toward the register, and as much out of hope for a true styling miracle potion as a desire to make her just stop talking, I muttered, none too enthusiastically, “Give me the blow dry stuff.” I returned home with a wallet $20 lighter and a determination to take the bottle back the next day if it didn’t live up to her ebullient promises.

Dang if the stuff doesn’t work. I’m not sure my blow dry time is cut precisely in half, but it is significantly reduced. To the point that I no longer need a second shower after I switch off the dryer. In fact, some days I can even skip the flat iron because I’m not so overheated that I stop concentrating on pulling the brush smoothly through each layer as I dry it. On those days, my overall styling time IS cut in half. A true miracle.

I’m due for a haircut in the next couple of weeks. I’m so impressed with this blow dry stuff that, while I’m at the salon, I’m actually considering buying a second bottle to keep in my gym bag. Because eventually I’m going to forget to pack it, and I’ll show up late for work, cranky because I’m overheated, sporting a head full of frizz and a blouse clinging wetly to my back. That’s never a good start to the day.