More shampoo discoveries, because you can never have too many. Right?

It used to be that every time I went to get my roots touched up, my colorist would lift up odd locks of my hair and say "Your color looks pretty good. We'll touch up your roots and then give you a glaze for shine."

But she would have this faintly nauseated look on her face as she said it. As though she were looking at road kill, rather than my hair.

Well, now she says exactly the same thing, but she looks much more sincere as she delivers her lines. And why is this, Poppy? you ask.

It's because I've stopped using this

Kérastase Bain Chroma Riche, $40.00/250ml

and started using this.

Living Proof Perfect Hair Day $25.00/8 oz.

The weird thing is that my salon sells both of these shampoos. And I guess this makes sense, because my salon (hereafter referred to as "Poppy's crack den") has a rapacious appetite for my money that resembles my appetite for carbs after I completed the induction phase of the South Beach Diet. And in case you don't know what I'm talking about, let me just say that after 14 days where I wasn't allowed to take a single bite of any kind of fruit, I was allowed to eat an apple—I'll never forget that Golden Delicious apple—so I did. And almost lost control of the car I was driving. If there had been a bushel of such apples in the car with me, I would have dived in. Naked.

I can't imagine what would have happened fresh-baked cookies had been involved, instead of an apple ... I'm envisioning the Chicago Tribune running a headline like: Mostly Unknown Blogger Drives Self and Children Into Lake Michigan.

My point is, that's how my salon acts around my wallet.

So know what makes me feel really stupid? When I discover that the shampoo I've been using for years, and that I've been buying from the salon that does my color is loaded with sulfates that strip the color right out of my hair shafts.

See, here's the thing. I pretend I'm joking when I call that place a crack den. But it took a different salon, and an operator who insisted upon my using a sulfate-free shampoo (because she had just given me the Keratin treatment I was blathering about yesterday) before I discovered I'd been using the wrong kind of shampoo. For years.

Internet! Learn from my mistakes! If your hair is colored in any way, it's a good idea to avoid sulfates. Read the ingredient list. If the shampoo contains Sodium Lauryl Sulfate (the worst offender) or Sodium Laureth Sulfate (not quite as bad, but still not good) don't buy it.

And luckily, I've discovered at least one drugstore line that is sulfate-free and inexpensive, and, if you missed reading about it, you can rectify that by clicking HERE.

Mind you, I'm pretty new to this inexpensive alternative, so I'll let you know if I get any of that road kill-flavored side eye from my colorist. But say you do buy a bottle of Aveeno and hate it? At least you haven't been popping for Kolor-Killing Kérastase. For about a decade, she muttered darkly to herself.