Um...my experience in Henna hunting
This was the reason why I shop online...if it's not the right product when it arrives at my house, I can take it to the office and the mail folks will send it back to where ever for me...
I went to 4 stores (luckily they were w/in 10 blocks of one another) and each was progressively funnier than the next
Store #1. They had Hesh Alma, yes 1.99 and Dabur Vatika Oil, yes 300ml for 4.96 and free scalp massager brush.
Great prices, but no Jamila Henna (which was the point of my journey) and no Zarqua (sp?) Indigo.
Oh, they did have Henna and Indigo, but since the writing on the box was not English I thought I would pass
.
Did I add I had to find a westernized customer to ask the owner if they carried the products
erplexed
Store #2. They carried Hesh Alma and nothing else. Inspite of the fact that the store was called "India Emporium". I knew this was going to be great..."Emporium" just sounds like big and full of stuff. Uh, no.
Store #3. From 97th to 119th. As I said they were all within blocks of one another. One strip mall to the next.
This store carried more clothing than anything else. Also, I got the strange feeling that Friday evening is grocery shopping evening instead of Saturday mornings...or maybe that's just me that grocery shops on Saturday mornings
Anyway they were buying up every vegetable, packages of bean like pellets, etc and the store had nothing hair related.
Store #4. Little further away..119th to 145th. I got a strange feeling before I even set out for this one that they would not have anything as well. I guess I was picturing the location in my mind and I knew is was going to be between SteinMart and a bank and I couldn't picture it having traffic.
Arrived and as with the other stores the customers were busy buying groceries that I did not recognize just as they did not recognize me
After I get up to the register, I show my piece of paper (as I've shown to the others) of my pictures of Henna, Indigo and Alma (man did I feel like a foreigner on vacation
) grandma showed granddaughter who pulls down a bottle off the shelf that looks NOTHING like anything in my picture and says "this is Henna (spoke very good english)" and I say "
a friend of mine said I need to get the kind in the picture."
She gave me the most insight that I'd received all evening...she said "we don't use these brands...we use "Zkuosils(sp? and can't pronounce) from home".
I gathered the reason why they carried so many boxes of all foreign named brands is because that's what they know and most likely what works best for their hair.
Soooo, I'm back home and ordered from mehndiskinart...at least they had a mini sale on Zarqa and Jamilla
erplexed
Even though the first store carried the Dabur and Alma, I don't think I'll go back just for those items even though they were cheaper.
Well that's my story annnnnnd why I order online.
