During my trip to New York City, my loving husband gave me his cold. My cousin and his girlfriend took us to Times Square on Friday night and I got a serious chill — it was cold as backside — compounding my misery. I began hacking, which brought on hiccuping and a general feeling of illness.

I say all of this to say: my hair/scalp were a hot, dirty mess, but there was no way I was going to stick my congested head and laryngitis-ridden throat under a running tap. So I could either deal with my disgusting scalp or I could try out this Organic Root Stimulator Herbal Cleanse Dry Shampoo that The Relaxed Chick swapped with me a few weeks ago.

I was sitting at home, voiceless and miserable, literally scratching my head and wishing I could give it a good scrub. So, I decided to do the second best thing: I got out the dry shampoo, read the directions and begin to use it. Here are the ingredients:

water, alcohol, aloe vera, tetrahydroxypropyl ethylenediamine, wheat amino acids, FD&C Blue #1 (CI42090), kola nut extract, nettle extract, lavender oil, basil oil

The directions said to be generous, so I was. I emptied about half of the bottle onto my scalp and massaged it in with my fingers. First thing: the smell is strong — eye-watering strong… and it lingers… for a while. Second thing: it burns… like fire… it brought back memories of getting my hair relaxed. Because I had been scratching, it was like fire. I assume it was the alcohol, but it sure felt like sodium hydroxide up in my scalp. Thankfully, the burning stopped after about five minutes.

So what’s the verdict? My scalp is clean. Probably not as clean as it would have been if I washed it with shampoo, but I will be able to hold out until I’m well enough to wash my hair with water and air dry it. Two thumbs up!