Silkience

29 Replies

I have a fairly boring story. At least it’s long!

When I was in high school, a brand of shampoo/conditioner that appealed mightily to me was Silkience. I liked their pretty bottles, which were white with pastel accents of pink, yellow, blue, or green, depending on the formula. I liked their ads, especially one with a cute little fluffy chick standing near a woman’s long shiny blonde hair, and a slogan something like “All chicks want silky soft hair”—I had that one up on my wall, along with a bunch of other ads I liked. (Teenagers: they will market TO THEMSELVES, FOR FREE.) I imagined the shampoo and conditioner DID make my spiral perm silkier, and also helped heal the damage done to my bangs by the daily gelling and blow-drying and curling and hair-spraying.

Anyway, I don’t know why I suddenly thought of Silkience, but I did, and I wondered if it were still available. I knew I hadn’t seen it at Target, but that doesn’t mean anything: I don’t see Prell at Target either, but THAT’S still for sale. I started by checking Amazon, and INDEED! Well, except the bottles look completely, completely different in every way:

(image from Amazon.com)

(image from Amazon.com)

The price wasn’t great, but $15 for two bottles would not be out of the question for a little journey back to high school hair. But once I knew the product still existed SOMEwhere, I could look into it further: plenty of things are available on Amazon, but can also be available at some drug store you never shop at but drive past twice a day. I can buy Prell on Amazon for $8, or I can buy it at the grocery store for $3. Plus, half the reviews on the two-for-$15 product were by people who said it was AWFUL and NOT the Silkience of the 1980s. (I love that there is a whole CLAN of us looking for the Silkience of the 1980s.)

I found the Silkience product line claimed by Evergreen Brands, a site with cheesy auto-play music on their home page. Happily, they show the bottles looking more as I remember them:

(image from evergreenbrands.net)

(image from evergreenbrands.net)

The bottles of my youth did not have pictures of girls on them, and the colors were more pastel, but that is a LOT more the right MOOD than those purple versions above.

AND THEN I FOUND THE VERY AD I USED TO HAVE HANGING ON MY WALL:

(image from evergreenbrands.net)

(image from evergreenbrands.net)

You can see why I was so loyal.

The next step was the Where to Buy page, which revealed that Silkience is now available at…dollar and outlet stores. Well! I am QUITE GLAD I did not spend $15 for two bottles of what may be available for $2!

Today Paul wanted to go to the hardware store, and there are two dollar/outlet stores near there, so I made a deal that I’d go with him if he’d go with me, and I found it! They only had one kind, and only conditioner, but I found it! And this kind of store has changing stock, and there are more such stores I can investigate, so things are looking up!

shampoo1

And also! Look what else!

shampoo2

Salon Selectives! Dep! It was like my high school drug store shelf come back to life! I would have spent more time trying to figure out my BEST Salon Selectives combination, but Paul by this time was feeling as if three times up and down the shampoo aisle was as much as anyone should be asked to bear, so I will have to go back another day.

29 thoughts on “Silkience”

  1. Badger Reader

    I remember all of these. My (beloved) spiral perm was treated to Head and Shoulders shampoo and PermaSoft conditioner (I think it was officially called a creme rinse but maybe that is just what my mom called it.) Oh how I loved my permed hair! I think I used a glaze instead of gel – VaVoom or something like that. I can’t wait to see a follow-up report on what the Silkience is like today.

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  3. dayman

    This story is not boring. T his story is AMAZING. I absolutely remember that ad vividly AND Salon Selectives was my number one choice for all my hair hygiene needs, thanks to its apple scent.

    also because I believed it would take my frizzy, dry, not-straight-but-not-wavy-either hair and turn it into something fabulous. Twenty five years later, I have accepted this is not possible.

    also: I used to cut out ads I liked and tape them all over my Chandlers.

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  4. sooboo

    I loved this entry! I used Agree shampoo and Dep! If I smelled Dep today it would take me right back to feelings of middle school humiliation. There’s a liquor store near my house that sells really old shampoos and deodorants in the original packages. I have no idea where they got them or if they are to old to use but I love seeing the packaging. I had Swatch and Esprit ads on my walls.

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  7. Sarah

    So I’ve never used this but I’m intrigued on the pronunciation! I’m imagine the word a portmanteau of silk and science? But Joe in the world do your say THAT?

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    2. Donna

      I am looking for this shampoo silkience self adjusting shampoo pink bottle. Is it at the dollar tree store now ? And if so what does it look like ?

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  8. Lawyerish

    I remember the whispery voice on the commercial: “SILKIENCE.” I definitely used it, too, but I don’t recall what it smelled like. I DO remember what Agree and Flex used to smell like, and I suspect I am about to go down a rabbit hole trying to find out whether those still exist. I tried to find Agree a few years ago and came up empty-handed, but the Internet is always changing so maybe now it knows where I can find it.

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  11. Martha

    The teenagers market to themselves for free comment made me laugh. My sisters and I had those ‘think different’ ads from APple with Jane Goodall, Nelson Mandela, Jim Henson, etc. Years later….I became a Mac person. Advertising WORKS!

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  13. Nicole

    Salon Selectives! If there was Aussie Sprunch Spray that would sum up my youth nicely. I remember that exact ad, with the chick. What was up with us putting magazine advertisements on our walls? I did that too and so did all my friends.

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  14. Jenny

    I had Benetton ads up, I remember that. And the think different ad with Jim Henson.

    I remember the smell of Salon Selectives! And Prell, too. Whew, high school memories.

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  15. Maureen

    This is funny, I was just thinking of Prell shampoo the other day, wondering if I could buy it somewhere. I think the smell of Prell, and the original Herbal Essences (I think it was green?) would take me right back to my teenage years. I have test sniffed bottles of HE in the store, but I don’t think it smells the same as the original. I feel nostalgic just thinking of these products.

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    1. Swistle Post author

      I used to be able to find Prell at my grocery store (which is also the kind of store where you can still buy bluing) and also at Walmart, but now only at Walmart. I feel the urge to CLEAR THE SHELF every time I go, in case they stop having it at Walmart too!

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  18. Gina

    I have been looking for Silkience mainly because I remember the WONDERFUL scent! When you found it again, did it smell the same as it did in the 80s?

    Reply ↓

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