L'Occitane Hair Products: How I Became (Almost) Goop-Free

When normal people need to pack hair products to take on a trip, they either get those mini bottles of popular brands you find in every drugstore or they decant whatever they're using into empty 1 oz bottles you can usually buy at the same drugstore in their travel section.

These options do not work for someone whose hair is at mid-thigh length (I recently cut off a few inches), so I usually buy the smallest regular size shampoo and conditioner bottles of some decent brand like Matrix and ask myself if I'd ever be able to travel light (the answer to that is a big NO). Back in June I was facing quite a bit of travel, domestic and abroad , and upon taking inventory, realized I need to replenish my stash. I had several things to pick at the L'Occitane store, like their mini hand cream tubes and other luggage-friendly items, so I had a look at their hair care offering and realized they were a good size for me.

I chose a bottle of Aromachologie Repairing Shampoo and tube of Shea Butter Ultra Rich Conditioner. My expectations were mostly that the products wouldn't suck. I was used to applying quite a bit of hair goop according to need, so I never counted on the stuff that washes down the drain to provide my hair with much. But I was in for a very big surprise.

There's only so much I can say about any shampoo. If it's good, it cleans well without stripping the hair and the scalp. If it's bad it makes me itch. L'Occitane Aromacologie is good, effective and gentle enough, and also smells herbal and green, which always makes me happy. I dislike the synthetic fruit notes you find in most mass market hair products.

The big story here is the conditioner. The texture is thinner than I expected and my hair seemed to soak it up instantly, so much that there was very little left to rinse off. But the result was a fully hydrated mane, soft, manageable and healthy looking. I cut back drastically on the amount of leave-in conditioners and other styling products. I simply don't need much, especially on days when the weather isn't anti-hair.

Now, if it only came in family-size packaging...

L'Occitane hair products are available from their stores and online. I buy mine at my local mall.

Two Classy Ladies

The celeblogs are so full of Z-listers and distorted reality show "stars" that I'm getting bored out of my mind. So it was a pleasant surprise to see the photos from yesterday's New York City’s fifth annual Shop for Public Schools promotion (a week-long event that has hundreds of stores across the city will donate part of their proceeds to public school libraries).

Caroline Kennedy has a Jackie thing going there and I love Sarah Jessica Parker's sweater dress. It's a very feminine and flattering silhouette (this one from J. Crew is a good option. I wish they had it in a v-neck or a very deep scoop), and, of course, grey. I'm semi-obsessed with this color lately and it seems to look just as good on blondes as on non-blondes.

Photo: Faded Youth Blog

The Lost Perfume Series: Jil Sander Woman III

Launched in 1986, four years before the more popular (and just as discontinued) No. 4, Jil Sander Woman III was an elegant chypre, somewhat out of place in the age of Giorgio and Obsession. The notes: orange blossom, hyacinth, nutmeg, angelica, ylang ylang, sandalwood, patchouli, pepper, coriander, oakmoss, cedar, musk, tonka and vetiver, do not tell the entire story,but they hint of a refined air.



While No. 4 is much more femme and cleavagy, Woman III is greener. It can be equally at home in a pant suit as it is in black velvet. Some days it verges on soapy, but never really goes there, which I'm very happy about. However it was clean enough to wear in summer without overwhelming, even if chypres are more traditionally fall scents, probably because of their complexity and the richness rendered by oakmoss.

Despite the name, Jil Sander Woman III could probably be worn by men. It's well-blended and restrained enough to not be so bold and make the grand entrance of Paloma Picasso, another chypre from the same era that shares some of the notes (hyacinth, coriander, patchouli, oakmoss) but is all red lipstick and drama. I get quite a bit of peppery spice and very little, if any, of the floral heart. The drydown has enough bitter vetiver to satisfy me and give it a unisex kick.

Woman III has vanished from shelves and stores some years ago, probably because of the restrictions on oakmoss and the fact that the franchise of Jil Sander perfumes is now owned by Coty, a house that traded off its history and glory for Celine Dion, the Beckhams and Jennifer Lopez. I was extremely lucky to find a sealed bottle, still in its cellophane wrap, on eBay. It's an EDT with a great lasting power and considerable depth, which makes lust after the idea of an extrait, even if I don't even know that it was ever produced. If you search well enough, there are still some tester bottles online and the Perfumed Court has two regular new 100 ml bottles , if you're willing to part with $370.

Art: Moonlight by Pamela Sukhum from Vinings Gallery
Fashion: Jil Sander Fall 2008 Ready-to-Wear from Style.com