At the risk of turning this site into a sort of "Consumer Reports for Weird Products" I have to tell you about the hair stuff I picked up at Big Lots. Actually, if you know what Big Lots is ( Brand Names! Closeout Prices! This stuff will not sell anywhere else in the Known Universe!) then you know I shouldn't have been buying anything for my hair in there

But, sure as "curiosity killed the cat" - "satisfaction brought him back" I HAD to try Hask Pure Shine Stay Red. This is a leave in conditioner. I've used leave in conditioners from Hask before with great results. This product says it is a "revitalizing glosser for auburn and red hair"...

Looking on the back - because I read EVERYTHING, sometimes twice - I noticed that it says it " Enhances and brightens...ruby highlights and shine...re-moisturizes lifeless hair" and "Will not alter hair color...contains sunscreen to protect from the damaging effects of the sun"

Okay. Sounds perfect. That's why my hair gets those blond streaks in it - from being outside. I get Natural Highlights really naturally. Only, for some reason, on me they never look natural. I must be the only woman in the world to have naturally dark blond / copper colored hair that bleaches to the exact shade of "bottle blond" the minute the sun hits it and develops in streaks that look like they were applied by a beauty school drop out on crack. Add to that that one side of my hair grows at a significantly quicker rate than the other side ( a phenom confirmed as unusual, but not unheard of by my hairdresser at the Croppe Shop) and I am narrowed down to two "looks". One is sedate rapidly-getting-old-lady-with-bun. The other is Bride of Frankenstein.

So, I'm all set to put this stuff on my hair when, reading further I notice that it says "Caution: may stain. Avoid contact with clothing, towels and other porous materials"

Okay. I have a question. What the hell is your hair if not a "porous material"? After all that's how hair coloring works. If your hair wasn't porous you'd just be stuck with whatever was growing out of the top of your head regardless of what it looked like.

Now, I'm at least as intellegent as a pair of socks. You would think that a warning bell in my head would go off. **Ding Ding Ding!! This product says that it does two different things at the same time!! You may not want to put that on your hair!"

And, indeed, I did think that...about the conflicting information. But, remember that curiousity thing? I had to know!

This is a long way of saying that, if you see my on the street and I look like an aging punk rocker with BRIGHT RED streaks running through my bun....or down the back of my neck since it rained today please don't assume I've lost my mind.

Strangely the satisfaction of knowing what it does is really not worth all the weird looks in the grocery store. Sigh.