Moving to LA there were many things I wasn't prepared for, like no one walking...ANYWHERE, being shamed by valet for not having a car wash, seeing Thom Yorke in the grocery store, or my street being shut down for days due to filming a commercial for the Super Bowl. I was also unprepared for the hard water situation that wreaked havoc on my skin and transformed my hair into a lifeless, grizzly heap.
My first year in LA I noticed a weird, white residue that had taken up residence on my scalp. I know what you're thinking, isn't that just dandruff? Perhaps, but after seeing zero results from Head & Shoulders and rancid, medicinal shampoos, I concluded that I either had some gnarly strain of dandruff unresponsive to standard treatment, or this was not dandruff.
Up to this point, I had yet to endure the pleasure of dandruff, but from everything I'd read, I wasn't experiencing the typical itchy, dry scalp symptoms that disappeared the moment I left LA. So, I went to the experts, no, not a dermatologist, that involves time and appointments and insurance and answers that I probably don't want to hear! No, I went to Sephora, where they provide beautifully packaged, mini marked-up miracles, that offer instant gratification, until you return home and realize you bought something just about as useful as nipples on a man.
According to a Sephora rep, I was going through the dreaded, "six-month adjustment period". Six months? That's quite a long time. She said, I could wait it out or purchase a $150 water filtration contraption that connects to the shower head, of which I did buy, and then promptly returned because it was useless!
After some digging, I came across Malibu C Hard Water Wellness Collection ($32) for scalp residue (yum) but found a cheaper version made by Sally Hansen, called Ion Hard Water Shampoo ($6.79). I saw results immediately with the Sally Hansen shampoo, but any time I did not use this, even once, the residue reappeared. I wondered if over time my hair might become immune and return to its flakey ways, but it did not. I highly recommend this to anyone in the depths of dandruff despair. Stay tuned for my review of Kristen Ess's scalp scrub and micellar shampoo for Target.
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