Down with Hollywood Hair!

I've always been a fan of Dove products. Seeing that white beauty bar featuring one-quarter moisturizing cream takes me back to my childhood, when my mother used it. Dove's beauty bar is the only drugstore-brand bar cleanser that my skin can tolerate. But Dove has come a long way (baby) since I was a child (and I'm not telling you how long ago that was). Their line has expanded to include facial cleansers, moisturizers, deodorants, body care products, and haircare products. In addition to the beauty bar, I also use their facial moisturizers, deodorants, and liquid hand soap. But I had never tried their hair care products, so when Dove sent me samples of their new shampoo and conditioner to review, I was more than happy to try them.

Dove has reformulated their haircare line to cleanse your hair without stripping it of its much-needed natural oils. They recently introduced Dove Cool Moisture (TM) shampoo and conditioner with a touch of cucumber and green tea fragrance. They feature Dove's Weightless Moisturizers (R), which the company describes as "a unique combination of low-molecular weight ingredients" to help condition hair.

I'm just as impressed with Dove's haircare products as I am with their skincare and body products. The shampoo and conditioner are rich and creamy, and left my hair just as clean, soft, and healthy-looking as more expensive haircare products I've tried. And I love how effective yet affordable Dove products are. Dove Cool Moisture Shampoo and Conditioner each retails for about $4.00, and can be found in drugstores nationwide. I'm so finished with being talked into buying expensive shampoos and conditioners from my salon every time I get my hair done. I'm sticking with Dove.

As much as I love Dove's products, what I love most about them is the risk they take in departing from the usual beauty industry advertising standards. Dove's innovative Campaign for Real Beauty (you've all seen the commercials) celebrates women of all shapes, sizes, ethnicities, and ages, and encourages women to reject the unachievable standards of beauty that most of the beauty industry perpetuates and instead embrace their natural beauty.

Right now you can go to doveloveyourhair.com to check out their video exposing the "secrets" behind the seemingly effortless Hollywood Hair, as well as one Hollywood star's backlash against Hollywood Hair. "Heroes" star Ali Larter took up the gauntlet and challenged Hollywood Hair by going real on the Red Carpet, using nothing but Dove haircare products, and styling her own hair, for the Emmy Awards. And while you're there, enter Dove's Love Your Hair Ad Contest. Create your own Dove hair care ad and enter for a chance to win a trip to New York City and be featured in a Dove commercial. When it comes to haircare, if Ali Larter can keep it real, we all can.

Sweet Dreams Are Made of This

I had the strangest dream last night. I dreamt that I was on my lunch break from a temp job. I had to go to the bank, and afterwards I was walking down Newbury Street, only it didn't look like Newbury Street, the way sometimes places, or people, don't look like what or who they are supposed to be in dreams, but you know it's supposed to be that place or person anyway. While I was on Newbury Street, Stacy London of t.v.'s "What Not To Wear" approached me. She told me WNTW had finally gotten around to me, two years after I nominated myself for the show when they came to the Boston area as part of their nation-wide mall audition tour (I actually did nominate myself when they came to Boston). Only I wasn't selected for the $5000, week in New York shopping spree. They selected me for a one-day mini-makeover to make me resemble a celebrity. Now I know WNTW doesn't do celebrity-inspired mini-makeovers, but the Style Networks's "Style Her Famous" does. It's sad when reality television makeover shows merge together in my dreams. Maybe I've been spending too much time on this beauty blog. Or maybe it was the cheese quesadilla I had for dinner last night.

When Stacy London and I got to the salon where my makeover would take place, Stacy and the stylist asked me what celebrity I'd like to resemble. "Jennifer Aniston," I thought to myself, but I asked Stacy what she would suggest, in case she had a better idea of which celebrity style would suit me. To my surprise she replied "Jennifer Aniston." "I was thinking Jennifer Aniston!" I exclaimed. Then she and the stylist explained that my Jennifer Aniston hairstyle would be very high-maintenance, with the cut, color, flat ironing, etc., and asked if I would be okay with that. I started to tell them that my hair was very important to me and if they did something too drastic I wouldn't be happy, but then I stopped myself. I was afraid that they would choose someone else if I wasn't on board with the makeover, and I didn't want to sacrifice the free designer outfit I would also receive as part of the makeover. But before the makeover could begin, I had to call my temp job and tell them I wasn't coming back to the office that day because I was selected for a reality t.v. makeover. And here's where the problems began.

I had to leave the salon to find a payphone. And for some reason, I just wasn't able to make the call. First, I didn't know the office's phone number off-hand, and I had to dig in my pockets to find the scrap of paper with the phone number on it. Then the phone wouldn't take my quarter, I couldn't read my own handwriting to read the phone number on the piece of paper, then I couldn't dial the number right, and then, inexplicably, there were suddenly twenty people waiting in line behind me to use the phone, which rattled me even more. After several false starts, I finally called the office to tell them I wasn't coming in.

I never did find out how I looked after my makeover. I woke up as soon as I hung up the pay phone. But I think I know why I had that dream. I do really like Jennifer Aniston's style, and if I was really chosen for a celebrity-inspired makeover, I would probably choose her. After all, she does have great hair. And I recently saw an ad on another blog for Sudzz FX Cashmere Shampoo, with a picture of Ms. Aniston returning from her salon with a shopping bag containing this product. So now I am seriously contemplating paying $41 for an 8-ounce bottle of shampoo. That's how easily prone to suggestion I am, that my dreams could lead to an expensive impulse purchase. SudzzFX haircare products are available at Hairflix.

Hair Today, Gone Tomorrow?

It's alarming how much hair ends up around the drain of my shower every time I wash my hair. So alarming is it that I am constantly checking my head for bald spots. Thankfully, there are none, which leads me to conclude that the hair loss is a result of breakage, no doubt due to my habit of pulling my hair back in a ponytail every day after I come home from work. So I decided to try the hair-strengthening products from Garnier Fructis to help with the situation.

I purchased Garnier Fructis' Length and Strength Fortifying Shampoo and Conditioner ($3.99 each). Featuring Garnier's "Anti-Breakage Conditioning System" for split ends, fragile, or hard-to-grow long hair, the shampoo and conditioner contain Garnier's "active fruit concentrate," including extracts of apple fruit and lemon peel. I've been using it for about a week, and already my hair feels stronger when I pull it back into a ponytail (because old habits are hard to break, even if my hair isn't).

I follow the Length and Strength Fortifying Shampoo and Conditioner with Garnier's Sleek and Shine Leave-In Conditioning Cream ($3.99) for frizzy, dry, or unmanageable hair. It features avocado and apricot kernel oils for moisture, and can be used on wet or dry hair. When I use it, my hair looks smoother and sleeker, almost as if I'd used a flat iron.

Garnier Fructis haircare products can be found at drugstores, as well as online at www.drugstore.com and www.garnierfructis.com.