Vintage 1973 Johnson’s Baby Shampoo: It’s Fabulous Today Too!

We are caught up in an usually frigid cold snap here in Seattle, which always sends me scrambling to adjust my wintertime beauty routine. Freezing weather is always harsh for both skin and hair. I wrote about my wintertime skin care routine a couple weeks ago, and my skin is surviving quite nicely being slathered under Nivea Creme and/or Aquaphor. I might add that I only wash my face at night, only splashing/rinsing my face with warm water in the morning. You want to retain as much of those natural skin oils as possible!

When I went to wash my hair this morning, I was trying to decided between the myriad of shampoos that I use for different purposes. With the weather being so cold I wanted a gentle shampoo, one that would retain as much moisture as possible while actually cleansing the hair. Since I hand-wash my cashmere sweaters in baby shampoo with great success I thought, AHA, I have a big bottle of Johnson’s Baby Shampoo on hand and I’m going to try that! I have to say that I am incredibly impressed with how my hair turned out. I shampooed, rinsed, and repeated. I used no conditioner, styling gels, or any other hair product.  I blew it dry and – WOW – my hair was clean, shiny, soft, and moist.

I was actually a bit flabbergasted, since the last time I used Johnson’s Baby Shampoo was in high school in 1973. Johnson’s had a huge advertising campaign advertising their gentle shampoo, baby oil, and baby powder to teenage girls in the ’70s. I can remember trying baby shampoo then, but I had long thick oily hair and it just didn’t clean the way I wanted it to. I was a big Prell and Alberto Vo5 shampoo user – they were the big guns that actually cleaned hair REALLY well.

Fast-forward to today: I still have thick hair that is somewhat oily, but I now color my hair. Coloring renders your hair a little more delicate, so it’s good to be gentle with it. I feel like I’ve rediscovered a vintage beauty bonanza in baby shampoo! Like these ads from 1973 say, “With Johnson’s, your hair can always look its best – shining clean and baby-soft. You know Johnson’s is gentle. It can’t harm your eyes – it can’t hurt your hair!” I must say that I agree. 🙂

~Marilyn