What shampoo do you use

The best part of a haircut is getting your hair washed. If you want to fight me you can disagree.

I love the smell of an unfamiliar shampoo, the strange angle your neck is at - I love the way the stylist asks if the water is too hot, and you say “no it’s great” even though you can feel your scalp burning off.

At my last haircut, the stylist washed my hair, and then said she was going to wash it twice.

“It’s not that I didn’t wash it well the first time.” she said.

“I washed it very well.”

That made the second wash feel a little less indulgent, along with the fact that she started asking questions like “Have you washed your hair before?” She asked what shampoo I use and I told her the truth, I don’t remember what kind of shampoo I use.

“Well whatever it is,” she said “switch to something else.”

I bought a new shampoo later, an expensive one. I remember the brand but I only tell it to hairdressers.

I used to think that “You clean up nice” was an insult, a nod to the fact that on a regular day the person definitely didn’t look nice.

I’m speaking at the Carnegie Museum of Natural History in Pittsburgh the week after next, March 30th at 6pm. The event is free with museum admission, and it will be hilarious and there will be a drawing portion. (I’ll also have an expert guest with me, Carnegie mammalogist Dr John Wible. We were introduced for this event and now he’s my favorite person in Pittsburgh after Boaz - next week we’re going to the collections archive to get a few things ready for the talk and he says he’ll show me a tapir skull.)

I hope you’ll come on March 30th! And I hope you’ll say hi after and tell me that I clean up nice.

Please comment and tell me what shampoo you use, I’m legitimately curious, and if the water during a haircut has ever actually been the right temperature.