Since I'm not Catholic, this blog serves as my confession booth. Here's the deal: Several months ago, I was reading the Miss Manners column (which makes me sound old, I realize) and a reader asked: Should we be taking home the little bottles of shampoo/conditioner, lotions and soaps from hotels? MM was clear as pie about this: "No way. It's unbelievably tacky." I was silently mortified. After years of business travel to swanky hotels, it became habit to take the half-used toiletries home with me. (The Best Westerns and Motel 6's of the world were not included in this.) Consider that I have not purchased my own shampoo, conditioner or soap since 2005 and you get a sense of the problem.
Years go by and lo! I've got giant ziploc bags full of stuff. A few times, I even donated a bunch of them to homeless shelters but mostly, I'd use them myself, much to the horror of my hairdresser. Turns out that "Random hotel shampoo!" is not the right answer to the question, "What hair products do you use?" Nope. Not at all.
So, with the day job gone and my corporate travel grounded for good, my stash is getting low. I'm down to the remnants and each one sparks a memory in me - a specific city, an event, a meeting - all in the past. It won't be long now but eventually, I'll wash this job right outta my hair.
10 comments:
I must admit that I, too, take the little bottles. But I've never taken the plush robes.
Well, I am much like my grandmother in that I have a crazy supply of shampoos and conditioners that I stop using for who-knows-what reason. So, when you are in the market for hair stuff, come over to my house and I'll fill up a box for you.
Heidi - yeah, if you take the plush robes, you'll get a giant charge on your bill so keep that policy.
HDW: You're on. I had a roomie like that. She would just get bored with a certain brand and then hand it over to me. Bizarre.
I think it's ECO-FRIENDLY to take them, otherwise they just get wasted. Plus, that means you buy less NEW stuff and use what you HAVE --knowwhatImean? :)
And speaking of roomies, I once had a roommate who had boxes and boxes of lotions and shampoos (of all sizes) and such and she never used them, just carted them around form place to place. She was a bit of a hoarder.
That's so bourgeois of Miss Manners! If nothing else, you can refill the little containers with higher quality product and use them when you travel.
Yeah, Miss Manners flunked on this one.
Hotels expect you to take them. Plus, they cannot re-use the half-empties, which means they get thrown away regardless.
I'm totally with you on the memories those little tubes and bottles evoke.
Just this past weekend I used the containers I brought home from my stay at the Ritz Carlton with HDW. It was over a year ago but all of a sudden it seemed like yesterday that we were swooning over the cowboy-hatted valets.
Oh yeah. Sigh.
Where was I? Oh yeah. Shampoo. Lotion. Hair Conditioner.
That guy was seriously hot and totally distracting.
Yum.
Gosh, I love the support here. I should have confessed sooner.
Screw Miss Manners!
I'm getting a t-shirt that says that, I swear.
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