Sally Beauty Supply

We have a pet chinchilla, Chewy. He bathes himself by rolling in a container of a finely powered volcanic ash - a dust bath. The special dust I buy at the pet store sports a vanilla scent. The chinchilla's lush grey fur is beautiful, and my notes say this rodent has 60 hairs sprouting from a single hair follicle - you have to touch it to believe its softness.

Chinchillas were nearly hunted to extinction in the Andes mountains in south America by the end of the 1800s. A miner from California helped to find and trap a few surviving animals that eventually led to the pet and fur trade there is today all over the world.

Sometimes, it's all about the hair, or the nails. I was looking for a way to help some girls add a streak of their basketball team color to their hair, and I wasn't having any luck finding the temporary product in the purple I needed. Then, at Sally's Beauty Supply in the corner of the 'L' at Northcrest Shopping Center, I found the perfect 1" wide clip-in extensions. These were only $3 each, so I also chose some 'Colts blue' hair clip-ins. The extensions are synthetic and are long, meant to be cut to the length of the person's hair.

The store has all the shades of nail polish and beauty supplies that one would expect - I think the essential hair tool of the moment is a good flat iron, but that's a topic unto itself. What I couldn't resist picking up here was a large bottle of nail oil for $6.

We all need our products for pampering, be it aloe lotion, pedicure supplies or whatever - one of my favorite treats is a soothing nail oil to help with dry cuticles and irritated skin. Take the brush attached to the cap and sweep a little across the nail bed - a drop goes a long way - the evening primrose and sweet almond oil work a bit of aromatherapy. Massage it in around the skin by the fingernails and toenails. A little massaged in across the back of the hands and feet is good too.

There is make-up here, hair treatments, and my register receipt announces that beauty questions can be answered online at www.SallyBeauty.com. The basketball team will be on the road Saturday at Hamilton, a beautiful lake town to the north. Adios!