Empties!

Enough time has now passed that I have a couple of products I have completely used up -- and since it takes me a while to use things up, this means over 6 months since my last blog post. I want to make this a more regular thing again, and I really have no excuses. Let's do this.

My empties are all shower-related, but I am nearing the end of a few skin care products that hopefully I will remember to write about in another post.

Organix Weightless Hydration Coconut Water Shampoo. I bought this because I wanted to buy Organix's Coconut Milk shampoo after using it at a family member's house and loving it, but they didn't have it at the drugstore so I thought I'd try this one instead. It's good. It's not as moisturizing as the Coconut Milk one, which I have recently purchased. I like that Organix has so many different "flavors" of shampoo and that they are, actually, organic, and affordable at the drugstore. I always buy hair products at the drugstore since the higher-end products I have tried do not justify the higher price to me. I've tried Aveda, Bumble & Bumble, Paul Mitchell, Alterna, and others. My hair also seems to develop buildup easily from shampoos, so I usually keep two shampoos in my shower at a time and alternate them and this seems to help. This is easier to do when the bottles are under $10 as opposed to $20 or even $30.

Aveeno Positively Nourishing Hydrating Body Wash. I don't usually get my body wash/shower gel from the drugstore, but I was out, and for once was not in the mood to carefully research which one to try and go out of my way to get it. Most Aveeno products are a safe bet for me allergy-wise, and it seemed like a fairly new product. I liked all of the scents when I smelled them in CVS, so I randomly chose this "hydrating" one which had a fruity fig scent. This is a solid body wash -- not hydrating enough that you can skip moisturizer afterwards, but not stripping and not irritating, and I used it pretty much every day in the shower. I've actually already repurchased this but in a different scent to switch things up.

L'Occitane Essential Oil Shower Gel. It appears that this product has been discontinued, as L'Occitane tends to do. In any case I don't think I would have repurchased not -- not because it didn't do the job, but because it didn't wow me at a higher price point. It had a unisex minty, herbal scent and lathered nicely.

L'Occitane Almond Shower Oil. I am seriously shocked that I have not blogged about this before. I just went through all of my past blog posts to double check because I was that sure that I had. I've been using this on and off for years and often ending up coming back to it. I love the delicious almond scent of this oil and the other products in the L'Occitane almond line. It's very moisturizing on its own, but I like to pair it with the Almond Milk Concentrate when I get out of the shower. This does not produce much of a lather, so if you like the intense lather that comes from sulfates in most body washes you won't find that here. I do sometimes feel like I'm not getting as thoroughly "clean" as I could be when I use this, which is why I now prefer to use a regular body wash like the Aveeno one, and use the Almond Shower Oil exclusively for shaving. YouTuber Essie Button actually gave me this idea, and it does work SO well as a shaving oil. It also makes the product last longer, as it's on the pricier side.

L'Occitane Shea Butter Ultra Rich Body Scrub. This was a great scrub that lasted FOREVER. I only used it once every few weeks most of the time, and because it's so rich, a little goes a long way. It's not like most other scrubs I used in that it has a creamy base instead of an abrasive one, so it leans more toward the moisturizing side as opposed to exfoliating. It does have "finely ground nutshells," though, as its exfoliator, so when you use the right amount of pressure it does the job. I got this as a gift but I would definitely purchase it, although I would probably try the Almond scrub first to see how it compares.

Cleansing Wipes - Yes to Cucumbers, Burt's Bees Pink Grapefruit, Neutrogena Makeup Removing, Neutrogena Pink Grapefruit. I lumped these all together in one category, but I actually only use the Neutrogena Makeup Removing wipes on my face and the rest on my body after working out if I don't have time to shower. The Neutrogena Makeup Removing wipes are surprisingly the only ones that I can use on my face to remove my makeup that do not irritate my skin. The rest - even the Yes to Cucumbers - make my face beet red. I know this doesn't make any sense because the Neutrogena ones are heavily fragranced (which I don't love) and not specifically for sensitive skin, but, that's my skin for ya. Side note -- I also tried the CVS brand sensitive skin wipes at some point and had to return them because my skin hated them the most. For my body, the Burt's Bees Pink Grapefruit are probably my favorite, although they all do the job. The Neutrogena Pink Grapefruit ones are very similar in scent but the Burt's Bees scent is slightly less artificial. The Yes to ones have a crisp, clean scent. 

And, finally, I would just like to take a moment to rant about how much I hate Eos Lip Balm. In my opinion, this is the WORST lip balm of all time. The spherical shape intrigued me, but this thing got dirty. I actually think it was growing some kind of mold at some point. I started wiping it off with a tissue before every time I used it which was annoying and time-consuming. It also didn't moisturize half as well as other drugstore lip balms, like the Burt's Bees ones. 

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Sunday Night Hair Woes

I'm very curious how long it takes most women (or well-coiffed men with long hair) to use up an entire bottle of conditioner. I have only used up a bottle of conditioner to the very last drop once in my life, and it took almost two years. It never made sense to me why they sell conditioner in the same size bottles as shampoo, since you use less than half the amount of conditioner than shampoo every time you wash your hair (at least I do?). The only plausible reason I can fathom is, as likely is the case, the greed of cosmetics companies. Because of convincing marketing campaigns, most women think that shampoo and conditioner have to go together, and you can't use one without the other (I say most women because my husband says he has never used conditioner and stubbornly refuses to try mine).  Shampoo companies tout, "Use together for best results" in the marketing copy on the back of shampoo & conditioner bottles (I read every single word on any beauty product I buy, in case that was ever unclear). Why spend $22.99 on some Bumble & Bumble shampoo when you can drop another $20 for the "best" experience? After all, if you just buy one, your hair will undoubtedly be inferior. 

Which brings me to my latest hair conditioner purchase: Aveda Be Curly. A new hair stylist suggested this to me after a recent hair trim, saying something about it being a "protein" moisturizing conditioner, and since my hair seemed a little dry she thought it would help. (She wasn't at all pushing products and actually only suggested this after I asked, which as a side note is a very refreshing experience at a spa or salon and I wrote her a glowing online review later.) I've been using the conditioner for about two weeks every time I shampoo (which is usually every other day) and it does seem to make my hair softer and less "dry" feeling. I had been using Lush's American Cream, which was the weakest excuse for a conditioner I've ever tried, but on the plus side it smelled nice. Be Curly also smells nice, in a clean, mild grass-like kind of way.

I also don't have just one, but TWO bottles of shampoo in my shower currently. And that's not all -- I have two more bottles waiting patiently in line in my bathroom closet just waiting for their chance in the spotlight. (Do you see now why I started this blog?) In my shower is Lush's Cynthia Sylvia Stout Shampoo and L'Occitane's Aromachologie Soothing Shampoo. I am underwhelmed by both, but determined to not be wasteful and use them up. The Lush shampoo I think might be partially responsible for my dryness (but it is cool that it's made with beer), and the L'Occitane one doesn't lather AT ALL, which is frustrating, since I feel like I always miss spots. A couple of times after drying my hair, I've noticed that the underside of my hair, closest to my scalp towards the back, is greasy, like it was never shampooed. Has anyone else had this problem? The only method I've found to ensure it doesn't happen is to flip my head over and put some shampoo directly on the back of my scalp, lather it and then rinse it thoroughly. I suppose this would only be a problem for people with long hair, but it drives me crazy. Sigh. First world problems. 

I've clearly been ranting about shampoo for long enough. If you've made it this far and could let me know if I'm not the only person who has a beef with conditioner and misses spots when they shampoo their hair, my sanity will thank you.