MANILA, Philippines - This is how much of a beauty whore I am. I am trying out a product that has a question mark on it instead of a brand name. Okay. It did help — a lot — that it’s made by Procter & Gamble. Otherwise I would have looked up the ingredients listed in Thai on freetranslation.com — or asked my neighbor if she would first use it on her cocker spaniel.
Asked to take part in the P&G Mystery Shampoo challenge, I’m supposed to try out the Question Mark Shampoo and Conditioner (seriously, that’s what they call it) for 14 days.
The first day was pretty much a revelation: maybe I finally found the shampoo that can give me the wash-and-wear-hair that I’ve always wanted, but never really got with other shampoos. My hair is inherently fine and obstinately straight. If I don’t use any volumizing products, I end up with a girlish fly-away. This time, however, my hair actually seemed like it had been blow-dried.
The next few days were just as promising. Except for that time I had to travel — stale cabin air is really demeaning to hair — and I stepped out of the plane with locks as limp as two-day-old noodles.
I’m a week into using both the shampoo and the conditioner. So far, so good. So far, no falling hair strands or unexplained itching.
More updates next week.