I suppose it’s fitting that this first blog post is about my hair — the first of many, no doubt, given the extent to which the mop on my head has dominated my life.  When I was young, I had waist-length strawberry blonde hair and French-braiding became my mother’s hobby.  In high school, hairdressers sighed and broke out extra boxes of bobby pins when I came in for formal event updos.  In college and after, though, I started losing quite a bit of hair and cutting it a bit shorter.  I can’t lie — the reduced blowdry time has been a godsend.  But thinning hair comes with many, many drawbacks — about one of which I opine below.

Winter is coming!

The dramatic reduction in phone calls volume from my overlords in Washington, D.C. indicates that the District sleeps at home this morning under a blanket of snow.  Or a light dusting — this is D.C. we’re talking about, where a few flakes cause an all-out riot at the Social Safeway.  Here in FabuStan (the remote locale where I currently make my home), the weather has only just now taken a turn for the wintry, but in temperature only — not a cloud in sight.  My hair a turn for the static-y.  What heat and humidity are to ladies with thick, curly tresses, chill and dryness are to those of us with fine, delicate ones.

Plenty of people (including my blogging icon, Belle from Capitol Hill Style) recommend Static Guard as a solution, generally sprayed on a hairbrush.  That particular fix has always left me a little cold, not only because I find it odd to apply a laundry product to my hair, but also because a few passes of a knit scarf or wool coat and my hair is right back where it was — standing straight out from my head or fused at random to my sweater.  I’ve found that a few products help not reduce the static quotient and provide a few bonus benefits, too.

Spray.  One of them is Oribe’s Maximista Thickening Spray which is pricey, but adds great volume and texture (and bonus static cling protection) without making my hair tacky or clumpy.  It also happens to come in a perfect, 6.8 ounce size, which makes it PouchPerfect ™ — meaning I can get it in the U.S. government mail bag on which all of my hopes and dreams depend about once every three weeks.

Mousse.  I’ve never been a huge fan of mousses, but Redken’s Guts 10 Volume Mousse does the trick when I’m in the mood for Big Texas Hair (linked here in a PouchPerfect 10.6 ounce size).  I’ve been interested to try Redken’s Aerate 08 Cream-Mousse, which promises to be less weighty than I fear.

Glossing.  The last bastion against static is a dab of Bumble and bumble Brilliantine.  I rub a pea-size amount in my palms, smooth them lightly over my hair, and rake my fingers through the ends a couple of times to finish up.  The size is, fortunately, also PouchPerfect.

An impending trip to the U.S. also has me contemplating what kinds of bargain-sized beauty liquids I can stuff in my suitcase for the trip back.  Large-size beauty products are a lifesaver for those of us who spend significant time overseas, but restrictions on our mail often mean we have to stock up on infrequent trips to the U.S. or Europe.  While I am happy to pay a lot for a high-quality styling product, I tend to balk at expensive shampoos and conditioners and lived most of my life happily scrubbing away with Pantene (which I still think made my hair feel cleanest and healthiest).  But after a few overseas jaunts in places with hard, calcified water that wreaked havoc on my hair, a few friends have advised that a phosphate-free option might be a better choice.  Oribe makes great phosphate-free products, but at a price; their liter-size bottles bring down the cost per unit (like this 1000ml bottle of their Signature Shampoo), but the sticker is still sticker-shocking.  Rahua is another oft-recommended brand, but they don’t do any better on price.

Anyone have a suggestion for a phosphate-free shampoo and conditioner that won’t take too big a chunk out of my travel budget?