Some hair stuff

I have very dry hair. Dry, and it usually tends to be kind of flyaway - humidity affects it badly, dry air affects it badly. I almost never wear it "down" (not in a ponytail) for longer than an hour or two, because it is relatively uncontrollable.

(I don't like using most "product" in my hair, because a lot of the sprays/gels/stuff seem to make the dryness worse, and also make me feel like I have to wash my hair more frequently. In the summer, I can usually get away with washing it every other day, in the winter, when it's dryer, sometimes less frequently than that. But if I use gel or something, I feel like I have to wash it every day).

I keep trying new shampoos, hoping I'll find the "miracle" one that makes my hair behave nicely. (I suspect a lot of women do this). I usually have to use some kind of moisturizing shampoo. And I've found that pricey shampoos (well, for some values of "pricey" - I'm not going to spend $30 on a bottle of shampoo or conditioner) don't seem to work any better than many of the national brands do. (I currently use either the "stronger hair" Herbal Essence or the "moisturizing" Herbal Essence).

Over the weekend, at Target, I saw a little bottle of what was called "penetrating oil" - it's kind of like a pomade you put on barely-still-damp hair. I figured, "This might just be like another hair gel that you will hate the feel and smell of" but it was cheap enough so I decided to try it.

Well, okay. No miracles, but my hair is a little less flyaway, and it doesn't feel so dry. The penetrating oil is "argan oil," which seems to be a new hot thing. (What's an argan? It's a kind of tree. I looked it up. It's in the Sapotaceae, the same family that shea (another "miracle" oil in a lot of beauty products) is in. And interesting to me - apparently Argania is very closely related to Sideroxylon lanuguinosum, also known as chittamwood, which is a common shrub/tree thing around here. (Hm. I wonder if the Zombie Apocalypse comes, if I can extract hair oil from the seeds of chittamwood?)

My only concern now - is this stuff being harvested sustainably? Is this going to be a source of income for Moroccan farmers, or is it going to screw up their land worse? The brand I bought talks about not testing on animals but I can't remember if they mentioned sustainability, as well. (Well, Discovery News had a little story on it: Argan oil brings wealth but also goats. So I guess you win some, you lose some: the farmers get some economic security and apparently their daughters get better education, but they also buy more goats that damage the trees....)

Huh, also argan oil is apparently edible. I would not have thought that from something in the Sapotaceae....I thought a certain amount of the stuff in there was poisonous.