devora
"Cholesterol Might Be Bad for Your Body, But It's Pretty Good for Your Hair"
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A hair conditioning cream.
< read all 1 reviewsCholesterol Might Be Bad for Your Body, But It's Pretty Good for Your Hair
-
Jul 30, 2009
- by devora
- posted in Culture of Cute
Rating:
Last week, as I was shopping at Tarjay, a tub of Queen Helene hair cholesterol jumped out at me from the "Ethnic Hair Care" section. I mean, it was kind of hard to miss. Amongst the lush green, lavender, pink, etc, hair product packagings with fancy graphic design logos and beautiful hair models, Queen Helene's archaic looking jar was definitely there in spades. Its tub is like the beauty equivalent of say, a Maggi or Tabasco sauce bottle if you will. Truly old school and absolutely no-frills.
+4
What's so significant about Queen Helene's hair cholesterol to me? I'm a big Augusten Burroughs fan, and in particular, a huge fan of his memoir Running with Scissors, and for some reason, he mentions Queen Helene hair cholesterol in his memoir A LOT. I was always a bit curious about it, but figured it probably wasn't in production anymore since I had never heard of it before and his book is set in the 80's. So finding it at Target totally caught me by surprise. As I examined the tub in the aisle of Target, I thought to myself, "Hmmm, found in the 'Ethnic Hair Care' section, seemingly highly recommended by a gay ex-wannabe hairdresser, and it only costs $2.49... Okay, I'm sold".
I followed the directions on the tub, which were shampoo, cover hair in hair cholesterol, put on shower cap, and wrap in hot towel. It suggested leaving it on for 15-30 minutes, but if you get enthralled in something, as I did (I watched Law & Order, Lunched, and eBayed!), it never hurts to leave it on for longer. After an hour, I rinsed and didn't shampoo as the directions instructed me not to do, and then dried it. My hair was... Okay. Definitely no miracle cream. I didn't understand why Augusten Burrough wrote about it so much, and why it was still around in 2009 if these were the results. Was I just using it wrong?
I had to consult my trusty ladies at MakeupAlley, and they had a thing or two to say about this product. The best sounding suggestion that I received was to add olive oil to it. So I decided to try the hair cholesterol once more. I debated between stirring olive oil into the tub, and applying olive oil directly to the ends of my hair and then covering it with the hair cholesterol. I decided on the latter because I figured the cream would lock in the olive oil. I went through the same routine again with this change, and when I dried my hair, it was silky smooth!
I give Queen Helene's Hair Cholesterol a +3 on its own and a +5 when used with olive oil, so I'm just going to average it out to a +4.
Random story: After my second try with Queen Helene's hair cholesterol, I just had to share with my mommy this hair product that I discovered that makes my hair all shiny and managable, "It's this stuff called Queen Helene's hair cholesterol and I use it with olive oil". My mom was like, "Queen Helene? I used to use that stuff by the gallon tubs back when I was a hairdresser in the early 80's". Then she went under her bathroom sink and pulled out this literally gallon tub of Queen Helene hair cholesterol, straight from the 80's (she never throws anything away!). Her tub looked EXACTLY like my tub, except on steroids. Too weird, too weird.
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woopak_the_thrill
January 21, 2010
interesting! A friend of mine gave me 'hair food' or something (since I have long hair) and it was pretty good. Love your review's title Lady D!
devora
January 21, 2010
LOL, "hair food"! Will Sir Woopak being doing a "hair food" review? :P
woopak_the_thrill
January 21, 2010
Not sure how to do one about these products. LOL! I think my bros will make fun of me if I did he-heh.
devora
January 21, 2010
Eh, they might give you a little grief, but then again, you did just create a Valentine's Day list ;P
woopak_the_thrill
January 21, 2010
uh-oh. I got caught! ;-P
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Sharrie
November 02, 2009
My dear, it's the olive oil that does the trick ;-) If you simply and routinely apply olive oil after each shampoo and leave it overnight, your hair will be smooth and shiny. The same goes for virgin coconut oil. Now, another killer product you have to buy and try is L'Oreal Night Serum with Royal Jelly. I bought that while in Bangkok for only US$5! It's more expensive in Hongkong and Singapore but I figure it shouldn't be more than 10 bucks in the U.S. Try it, you will not regret this one!
devora
November 03, 2009
Ooooh, I've never heard of virgin coconut oil before, but I definitely know where I can get some L'Oreal products in the States! Thanks for the heads up, Sharrie! :)
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Bhaddad
August 05, 2009
Thats very funny, yeah I used to wear a nice MiddleEastern Fro. Yeah they have a gel but I you can't find it on the shelves anymore. Special order type deal if I remember correctly. If I find some pics I will post them you will probably all fall over laughing but what better contribution to Lunch can I make???
devora
August 05, 2009
Haha, it wouldn't happen to be this, would it? Notice how that picture is hosted on afrohairsecrets.dk :P
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Bhaddad
August 05, 2009
Nice...I used to us Queen Helene's Cholesterol Gel when I used to wear a head of thick curls, worked great. Hard to believe because of the picture but it is true. Good for thick curly hair, use it on my little girls hair. Never used the cholesterol conditioner only the Gel though.
devora
August 05, 2009
Whoooa, I didn't realize that there was a cholesterol gel to go along with this conditioner. And you used to have thick curls? That must've been awesome! :P
laflacad
December 01, 2009
its been discontinued (the cholesterol gel - not te cholesterol alone). I just found out today and ordered most of the remaining inventory off of several places. Best thing for curly hair! laflacad.blogspot.com
Bhaddad
December 01, 2009
Agreed we use it on my daughters hair to get it under control....to bad they are just dumping that line.
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shinjiblue
July 31, 2009
So you didn't shampoo after the olive oil either? This product oddly intrigues me ...
devora
July 31, 2009
Nope, no shampoo, just very, very thoroughly rinsed! The key part is that I only put the olive oil at the very ends of my hair. Otherwise, I would've ended up with a very uncomfortable, oily scalp!
shinjiblue
July 31, 2009
If I ever see it I might have to give this a try. Thanks for the tip!
jyaanga
July 31, 2009
Have you tried olive oil by itself? One of my friends swears by it. She said she gets so many compliments after her olive oil hair treatments. She puts olive oil on and goes into hot sauna for 20 min. I think she does shampoo her hair afterwards.
devora
July 31, 2009
Hmmm, I've yet to ever try olive oil on its own, but the girl from MakeupAlley who recommended blending olive oil and hair cholesterol together swears by it so much that she always has a bottle underneath her bathroom sink. Maybe I'll give it a try one of these days. I've tried many other hair masks, like avocado and even mayonnaise and they were gross. Would definitely rather stick with olive oil!
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About the reviewer
devora (devora)
Ranked #2
Ranked #2
When I'm not Lunching, I'm a jeweler, and an all around, self-proclaimed web geek. My passions include social media, the interweb, technology, writing, yoga, fitness, photography, jewelry, fashion, … more
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Queen Helene's Cholesterol Hair Conditioning Cream an alcohol-free deep-conditioning treatment that was created to save dry, damaged, chemically-treated and over-processed hair.
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Beauty, Beauty Products, Hair Products, Hair Conditioner, Queen Helene Cholesterol Hair Conditioning Cream, Queen Helene
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