my addiction, let me show you it

[elionwyr]

So I joke about being a squirrel and it's mostly about how fast I talk (..and maybe it's about how self-conscious I am about my body shape), but the thing that's not readily obvious is that I do cache things.

It can be as simple as caching sugars and plastic utensils in a hospital room just in case the person I'm visiting needs those things later. (yes, this has happened) (no she didn't actually need anything I had considerately hidden in her bedside stand tray thingala) (no I wasn't trying to be funny, I was helping, dammit)

But usually it's about..um..soap and conditioner. The former because when I find a soap with a scent I enjoy - and anyone who's spent much time shopping with me knows I have a vaguely insane need to sniff varied soaps and detergents and air fresheners, always hoping they won't be horrible and nearly always being very very disappointed instead - and especially if it's on clearance, I'll buy a few of them.

You may be surprised to learn that it doesn't take very many of these kinds of purchases before you realize you don't need to buy any more soap for the next 3 to 5 years.

Add in the compulsion so many of us have to bring home trial sized soaps from hotel rooms and you may never need to buy soap again. Ever.

So I mostly succeed in not buying soap, no matter how tempting it is. And I've jettisoned nearly all of the hotel soap, because the descriptions on the packages make them sound a LOT more fun than they actually are. That or maybe I really just have no idea what bergamot should smell like. (Don't judge me.) (No, actually, you should absolutely judge me for being seduced by the beguiling scent of bergamot.) (But if YOU would like to buy me soap, let me know. I have a small list of soaps I am coveting.)

My biggest problem, though, is with hair conditioners. My hair is a fickle beast and it tends to want/need a lot of conditioning. And I've had a..shall we say uneven work history since moving to this accursed side of Pennsylvania. And I obsess about things like oh crap what if I'm unemployed and I can't afford hair conditioner?

(I should also add that a bottle of shampoo will last me 3x as long - or more - as a bottle of conditioner. So the fear of running out of shampoo is pretty much non-existent.)

I also generally shop in the clearance bins or the discount stores, so in general I don't buy the same type of shampoo and conditioner. Although to be fair, I've been mostly using Lush shampoos, and their conditioners don't thrill me (though hope springs eternal), so I sorta have to mix and match as I go.

Anyway. I had enough conditioner for one more hair washing and it was bothering me. A lot. So I decided I'd go to Big Lots and allow myself ONE BOTTLE OF CONDITIONER. That's all I needed. Just one.

...Came home with three separate types of conditioner.

*facepalm*

Ok, so I spent under $8 for all three - because I *rock* at this game - but that's not the point.

The point is that I need a damned adult. And a therapist who can convince me that this is not, in fact, the era of the Great Depression; there are about a dozen drug stores within 2 miles of my home and they ALL carry conditioner; and conditioner is not in fact a precious commodity that might become completely unavailable tomorrow.

Next time, dammit. Next time I'll only buy one bottle.

Comments

[adelheid-p.livejournal.com]

I'm totally the opposite. In fact, I've stopped using commercial conditioner and use the apple cider vinegar and water because commercial conditioners were just making my hair way to oily or building up or something. And then I'm only using the diluted apple cider vinegar about once a week or less. But even when I was using commercial conditioner, I'd use it about once a week in the winter and less in the summer. I also sometimes use a spray/leave in conditioner/detangler.

[elionwyr.livejournal.com]

I am irrationally afraid to try the apple cider vinegar, exactly because I know my hair needs more conditioning. I can go about 3 days before I need to wash my hair, so oil is a vague sort of issue, but not enough to keep my hair happy.

There was one solid conditioner I actually liked, and I've forgotten now what happened to it. The feeling of using it was wicked weird and I ended up using a leave-in as well because I wasn't convinced the solid was going to be enough.

The creme that Chagrin Valley suggests one uses as a conditioner was not such a good idea. But I may have used too much of it. Anyway, ended up being very greasy and I was less than happy until I could get home and wash it all out.

[adelheid-p.livejournal.com]

Well, you can try the apple cider vinegar and then use conditioner if you don't like what it does. I don't see a problem with trying it. It's not permanent and does rinse out.

[elionwyr.livejournal.com]

Good point.

[azurelunatic]

Oh, and that's another thing -- I'm not allowed to stock up on something new unless I *know* I'm going to like it. So I don't then have 3 times as much of something I turn out not to like as I actually need.

Though this does sometimes result in me doing it anyway and then using it all in cranky penance, or getting something that I'm dubious why I needed it and then realizing (two hours or two weeks later) that oh! it was for ___! and then presenting it to them, much to their delight. (I got two of one of Seanan's books fairly recently, because I knew that it was for *somebody*, though I had no idea who when I was getting it signed. Several hours later, the "who" clicked, and I was very happy with myself that I'd had the foresight.)

[elionwyr.livejournal.com]

Heh! I luck out in that contrary74 almost always has a collection of body washes and shampoos and such for me that she's bought, tried, and didn't like. I would never have purchased the bottle of Booth's body wash I've fallen in love with had she not started up this practice.

But yeah, since I usually buy on clearance, I stock up because I know the supply is finite..

[azurelunatic]

I very much miss the soap I found on clearance, tried, liked, got as much as I could of, and then haven't been able to find again. Alas.

[elionwyr.livejournal.com]

There was one by Bath & Bodyworks that I still mourn...they had a lavender and rose shampoo and bodywash that was fabulous. *sigh*

[azurelunatic]

So it turns out that the scent of Bath & Bodyworks soap that I got once as a bitty protoLunatic that I remembered as "orange and mint" was in fact satsuma. I smelled it going past the shop last year, made a U-turn, followed my nose, and jumped up and down with giddy glee (and got an extra prize for being so happy and also all glittery in honor of Halloween).

[elionwyr.livejournal.com]

Score!

[celtic_maenad]

I can't help it. This just makes me love you more. <3

[elionwyr.livejournal.com]

Aww..! *pounce-hug*

[glinda-w.livejournal.com]

If you've got spare, filled trial size/hotel freebie shampoos, conditioners, soaps, body washes, anything like that, please consider donating them to a women's shelter? Believe me, they are very much appreciated!

(This from the woman with... hm, down to four separate lavender scents for body washes, and two for bubble bath. There are also two ginger body washes, and Yardley Oatmeal ditto. And I'm in love with the new Yardley lemon verbena soap.

I try to only have what fits around the tub, on the ledges, and under part of the bathroom sink. Only one spare per item (shampoo, conditioner, whatever), other than soaps, of which I have a small basket or two. And lavender soaps in my lingerie drawers and in with my sheets.

OK, OK. Fellow addict here.

[elionwyr.livejournal.com]

Hola, fellow addict! :)

Oh, I hadn't thought of soaps-as-sachets. Good one! (I use fabric softener sheets, especially for things in storage.)

And d'oh! I should have thought of shelters. I will do so in the future, for when I lose control of my mania.

I have...a shoebox sized box that I'm trying to keep all of this kind of stuff in, for control as well as for..well, shame. (Do I *need* 4 kinds of leave-in condition. NO I DO NOT. but but but..)

[azurelunatic]

There's probably no need for more than a 6-month supply of conditioner at any one time, no.

(I totally hear you. I grew up in suburban Alaska in the 80s and 90s, where things often depend on the whim of whoever's doing the shipping. Lack of enough food to last 3 weeks at -40 with a broken car would be potentially life-threatening, not just the sort of inconvenience where one saunters down to the store and gets another bag of rice. Nearest bus line was ~2 hours of walking away.)

[elionwyr.livejournal.com]

That's a bit of it..I was living in a very isolated part of this accursed area for several years. But. I need to stoooop.

[azurelunatic]

*nods*

I probably have way too much lip balm right now. Sadly, that's one of the things I keep washing, on account of not checking my pockets absolutely every time, so I go through it faster than I ought to.

[elionwyr.livejournal.com]

Oh, poop! You too?

[azurelunatic]

Basically I'm not allowed to continue stocking up until I go through enough of what I have that I'm in actual danger of running out! Though I have been wearing more than usual in an attempt to run out faster. I have finally determined that my Favorite Ever is Burt's Bees, the pepperminty sort.

I do have a lot of soap, but I use that fairly fast.

The trouble is when something is necessary but easily lost. Like hairbrushes.

[elionwyr.livejournal.com]

Or bras.

(There are four things I lose several times a week...my hairbrush, my bra, my keys, my phone.)

[azurelunatic]

I have sufficient bras that if I lose one (which I will), there is another that I can put on. Unless I haven't done the laundry lately. But there is usually one. Even if it is one of the horrible backup bras that I keep because being without a bra for Going Out is not really practical for someone of my rack size. (Icon illustrates.)

There is a hairbrush that lives in the pen cup on top of my computer. There is one that lives on the rail above the shower door. There is one that lives in a ziploc baggie with some other necessary toiletry stuff in my Out & About bag. There are a few others that migrate between various places.

I figured out that one of my keys to not getting overloaded on shampoo is that I allow (even in running-a-tight-ship mode) one full backup for every currently in-use type of thing -- I am allowed to have an in-use conditioner and a backup conditioner, and when the bottle runs empty, I swap it out and on the next shopping trip, buy one replacement, so there's a nearly-full bottle and a full bottle. I use both dandruff shampoo and not-dandruff shampoo, so there's an in-use bottle of each, and since I haven't gone shopping since I last ran out of dandruff shampoo, there's currently no backup bottle, but the current bottle is almost full; there's an in-use bottle of regular shampoo and a backup; that one, last time I ran out, I bought three, so I won't have to buy another one for a while. But I don't have 4 more hidden anywhere, so I'm good there.

I go in cycles -- one month I get enough shampoo for six months, the next month there's a chocolate run, after that it might be cleaning supplies -- and I have a repeating item for some of the staples on my to-do list, to check the supplies of X and make sure we're good; if we're not good, it gets added to the list; if we are good, I've *checked*, and satisfied myself that I don't actually need more.

[elionwyr.livejournal.com]

Oh, you're *good*. I need to apply some of those rules.

re: losing the phone
Usually if I can't find the phone, it's under the cat. He's very helpful that way.

[azurelunatic]

Hooray cats!

After the running-late-to-retrieve-uncle-from-airport debacle, I now have two sets of backup keys. One is in a regular pocket item that I'm not likely to be messing with at the same time as messing with my keys, so it's in more danger of being washed than being not on me. The other is with my aunt, who is a long (for me) walk and a short drive (for her) away; I know how to get in even when they're not home and I know where they're kept. If there were a third set, it would be with my brothers, who are an inconvenient bus ride + some transit shuffling or a longish walk away. I feel very lucky to have such a sufficiency of people I can trust with my keys so close.

The keys themselves have a cleverly-attached clip, which either goes at my waist, in a specific pocket, or attached to the handle of the tote bag. Home, they're on the desk or on their peg. If I put them anywhere else, there's widespread panic.

[elionwyr.livejournal.com]

My keys are on a carabiner. Originally they lived on my beltloop so that they would clank when I walked so that my ex haunt boss would hear me coming and not throw a crowbar at me for scaring him. I do generally well with keeping the keys on me thusly while I'm not at work and if I'm at work, all keys have a pocket in my bag in which to live. I don't have a good home system put into place yet.

And yes, you are friend-wealthy! Not something take lightly. :)

[azurelunatic]

I have a bell on my phone, partly as an anti-theft measure, and partly because disturbing the surface that the phone is on results in jingling, and therefore I can track it by that, whether it's "jingle pocket to confirm phone" or "god damn it, it is *somewhere* on this bed ... right?"

[ayalanya.livejournal.com]

Okay, I'll bite - where's your soap wish list? I have a major soap weakness, despite using very little of it in the shower (I have a theory that using too much soap too often makes people smell worse, much like ferrets). I've mostly managed to resist buying fabulous soaps when I look at what I already have, but I would love an excuse to buy more for sniffing, and sending stuff on to you sounds like a great reason to do this.

[elionwyr.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I don't use a ton of soap...hence my squirrelly stock pile. :)

My soapy preferences will probably surprise you since it's mostly not what I would go for in a perfume...no floral at all.

Softsoap's Milk Protein and Honey. I sniff that one as often as I can get away with. I love honey scents - it's the only foody smell I actually like smelling like - and it's kinda hard to get the 'right' version of honey. Burt's Bees has one but I've never indulged in the sniffing of it.

(If you've ever sniffed the Kama Sutra line of honey dust? That's pretty much perfect.)

I love goat milk soaps, too. Quite a lot. And sandalwood..the ridiculously cheap Bee & Flower Brand is what I know, though I'm sure there's more out there that I'd fall madly in love with. I want to say it was Olay that had a sandalwood scented soap several years back - I stocked up on that when it went on clearance and it's the biggest reason I never need to buy soap again. Though I think I'm down to 3 bars. Maybe.

[azurelunatic]

Mmmm, Bee & Flower sandalwood soap. *luxuriates*

[elionwyr.livejournal.com]

I know! Man, I've been hooked on that since I was 17.

[elionwyr.livejournal.com]

Oh, and now I'm reminded..

Bath and Body Works had a line of products that was lavender and rose - I still have a half bottle of the soap that I hoard as if it were dragon's gold. They had a hair care line in this scent that I loved more than I can say. Nothing has come close to it. Alas.

[contrary74.livejournal.com]

B&BW had a scent called sweet bay rose....I think you gave me the massage oil in that scent and they discontinued it and I LOOOOVED it madly.
*sigh*
Big lots is TEH place for toiletries though. It's ahmayzing what you will find.

[ayalanya.livejournal.com]

I did a quickie search but will definitely try harder on this one - was it anything like this?

http://www.bathandbodyworks.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2633068&cm_vc=200

[ayalanya.livejournal.com]

Oh! Or this?

http://www.amazon.com/Bath-Body-Works-Moonlight-Collection/dp/B001OS75VE/ref=pd_sim_bt_4