Who came up with this useless product?

[Nika]

I could go a couple of days without a shower, but I can't go that long without washing my hair.  It is disgustingly oily.  I shower one morning, and it its oily 24 hours later.  I remember going out once without having showered and my friend stopped me, pulled me aside and said "Kay, what did you put in your hair?"  Or as a teen, when I hadn't taken a shower by noon, and I would later announce I was going to do so father would tell me that "It's about time!"  He was also the first to point out when my hair was oily.

From what I have read, your scalp is supposed to calm down and stop producing so much oil after you stop using regular shampoo and stop washing everyday.

But... But... how do you survive the transitional period??? 

I think I would have to become a hermit.

[Arrynne]

Lowspark, you beat me to it - the classic SNL commercial advertising a razor with 3 blades. It was seen as hysterically ridiculous. SNL also predicted the IPad - but a completely different sort of pad, if you get my drift.

I find many kitchen gadgets useless - a good knife will do most things. Other dumb things - paper cup dispensers for household bathrooms - waste much? , 'lip stencils' - just fill in with lipstick for a perfect look! (Except that, surely, everyone's lips are different?) Most items on infomercials - the Snuggy and the Slanket.  Really? 

I agree with you on most things, but I love my Slanket.  It's super warm and wonderful when you're not feeling good.  The Snuggie is nowhere near as cozy. 

How about "Head-On!" headache reliever?  "Apply directly to the forehead!!"

[Iris]

My mum and I started to put together a list of useless products recently (over a couple of glasses of wine!).

For Christmas, my brother gave her - wait for it - a ruler which lights up when you press down on it? Her response on opening his gift - "Just what I need when I have to draw a straight line in the dark!"

And to me he gave - this is even better - a pepper grinder which lights up when you use it!!! You never know when I might just be about to spice up my pasta and the electricity goes down!

(My Dad and husband received less useful gifts - but this is bro's speciality and I can't wait to see what he comes up with next year...)

I had one of those push button pepper grinders that has a little 'torch' on the end that lights up while you are grinding. The torch made me laugh when I first got it (which is a use in itself  ) but it actually comes in pretty handy when eating outside, which we do regularly over summer.

Then my brother and SIL kindly gave me 'better' ones to replace the cheap ones that I'd bought. I passed the cheap ones on to my mother. The 'better' ones fall apart all the time because of their funky shape and eventually became too much trouble to use. The ones I gave mum are still going strong 

[Elfmama]

It's not the uselessness of the infomercial gadgetry, it's the dumb ads themselves.  It's toooooo haaaarrrrd to boil water, or cut with scissors, or dump the cooked spaghetti into a colander to strain it.  No, you have to have our special gadget -- and we'll give you, ABSOLUTELY FREE, last month's wonderful gadget that is cluttering up our warehouse because  we couldn't unload them onto enough suckers customers.

[Dindrane]

Based on a lot of reading I've done over a relatively long period of time, plus my own very recent experience...modern-day shampoo.

Seriously, if everything I've read about sodium lauryl sulfate is even half true, who decided it would be a good idea to put that stuff in all of our shampoo (and soap)?  It isn't necessary for getting one's hair clean (all it really does is suds up and strip necessary oils), and it can be seriously damaging.  I don't need to use an ingredient intended for dish soap on anything but dishes!

http://www.snopes.com/inboxer/household/shampoo.asp

Chances are, quite a bit of what you've read isn't true.  Which is not to say that SLS is a fantastic thing that everyone should use daily, but it's not actually dangerous unless you use a ridiculously huge amount of it or you have a specific sensitivity to it (like most products).
<snip>

That stuff I apparently read and promptly forgot about, because I was highly skeptical.  I was mostly referring to the idea that SLS is extra good at stripping oils, and most people don't need that kind of oil-stripping power applied to their hair with any sort of regularity.

I almost always tune right out when random people on the internet say that things are carcinogenic.  There are a lot of reasons why something can be not good to use without it having to cause cancer, and "carcinogenic" is a claim that can be difficult to prove, anyway.  It loses effectiveness simply because it gets tossed around so often.

[MrsVandy]

Based on a lot of reading I've done over a relatively long period of time, plus my own very recent experience...modern-day shampoo.

Seriously, if everything I've read about sodium lauryl sulfate is even half true, who decided it would be a good idea to put that stuff in all of our shampoo (and soap)?  It isn't necessary for getting one's hair clean (all it really does is suds up and strip necessary oils), and it can be seriously damaging.  I don't need to use an ingredient intended for dish soap on anything but dishes!

http://www.snopes.com/inboxer/household/shampoo.asp

Chances are, quite a bit of what you've read isn't true.  Which is not to say that SLS is a fantastic thing that everyone should use daily, but it's not actually dangerous unless you use a ridiculously huge amount of it or you have a specific sensitivity to it (like most products).
<snip>

That stuff I apparently read and promptly forgot about, because I was highly skeptical.  I was mostly referring to the idea that SLS is extra good at stripping oils, and most people don't need that kind of oil-stripping power applied to their hair with any sort of regularity.

I almost always tune right out when random people on the internet say that things are carcinogenic.  There are a lot of reasons why something can be not good to use without it having to cause cancer, and "carcinogenic" is a claim that can be difficult to prove, anyway.  It loses effectiveness simply because it gets tossed around so often.

Most shampoo companies (that are not professional product) use it becasue it is a cheap cleanser. However it is kinda harsh for most poeples uses. It will strip artifical colour out of your hair as well. So its best not to use a product with it in it if you can avoid it.

[Jess13]

Who thought up those weird packets that individual Zyrtec come in? I swear I curse and fumble with those more then I do at video games.

This is why I bought the giant bottle...no stupid individual annoying packages to fumble with to take my meds.

[gmatoy]

Well, years ago, my DM gave us an electric indoor grill for Christmas. I thought it was a stupid gift and put it away. Then I thought that I should at least try it before giving it away. We LOVE it and have even bought a replacement one when the ceramic base broke on the first one. (My DM loves to tease me about not thinking it was a good gift. And I only told her that after we had used it and loved it forever.)

[Adelaide]

I'd like to complain about the new "eco friendly" sinks and dryers that are popping up everywhere. You know, the sinks with motion detectors/automated handles that you push once so they dispense a measured amount of water? I don't know who came up with those, but I need more than 4 seconds to actually wash my hands. In some cases I have to pull back and convince the machine that I'm a different person so it will give me more water.  And while the idea of paperless hand dryers is a good idea, there's usually only 2 in a bathroom, and they aren't efficient enough (the Dyson Airblades in Europe are awesome, the dryers in America are not) to dry my hands. And I can't spend a large amount of time drying my hands, because there's a queue forming up behind me. Argh.

[JolieFille]

And who was the genius at Apple who decided that I only need a tiny USB cable to charge my phone with? Outlets are at a premium and I need to have my phone by my bed as an alarm. I mean could they spare an extra foot or so for the phones? Every other phone cord I've had has been of a comfortable length.

POD! I mean, have you ever tried to answer your phone when it's charging? You end up on the floor and/or contorted just so you won't pull it out of the socket!

lol Actually it's usually the phone that does that comical slingshot action and ends up under my bed. Then I have to go digging for it. And I had to get an extension cord just to charge my iPad. Otherwise it wouldn't be long enough to sit on a table. The cord for my old cell phone reached halfway across the room. I miss that cord.

[Bijou]

Why don't the other word game/puzzle books follow the example of Variety puzzles and use a spiral binding so the magazine can lie flat?  After using the spiral bound magazine, I hate those other ones!

[siamesecat2965]

It's not the uselessness of the infomercial gadgetry, it's the dumb ads themselves.  It's toooooo haaaarrrrd to boil water, or cut with scissors, or dump the cooked spaghetti into a colander to strain it.  No, you have to have our special gadget -- and we'll give you, ABSOLUTELY FREE, last month's wonderful gadget that is cluttering up our warehouse because  we couldn't unload them onto enough suckers customers.

YES!  And the horrible, sad, frustrated faces the actors make too.  Really?  Is it taht hard to do something without this fancy schmancy gadget?  I think not. But apparetnly lots of people fall for it since some of them sell very well.

[sempronialou]

My mom's washing machine (a top loader) is one of those new fangled things with buttons and such.  The annoying thing is that the lid locks as soon as it starts filling with water.  So if you find a lost sock somewhere or a shirt you meant to wash, you can't just lift the lift the lid to throw them in.  You have to press the stop button so you can open the lid.  Then the water all drains out if you're not quick enough to close it and restart it again.  It's the dumbest safety feature I've ever seen. 

[siamesecat2965]

My mom's washing machine (a top loader) is one of those new fangled things with buttons and such.  The annoying thing is that the lid locks as soon as it starts filling with water.  So if you find a lost sock somewhere or a shirt you meant to wash, you can't just lift the lift the lid to throw them in.  You have to press the stop button so you can open the lid.  Then the water all drains out if you're not quick enough to close it and restart it again.  It's the dumbest safety feature I've ever seen.

Heh.  My friend who I dogsit for has one of those.  So I have to go over before they leave so she can show me how to use it, but she says she does the same thing, since she hates her soap just being dumped in; she likes it to go in with the water and mix first.

[Browyn]

I'd like to complain about the new "eco friendly" sinks and dryers that are popping up everywhere. You know, the sinks with motion detectors/automated handles that you push once so they dispense a measured amount of water? I don't know who came up with those, but I need more than 4 seconds to actually wash my hands. In some cases I have to pull back and convince the machine that I'm a different person so it will give me more water.  And while the idea of paperless hand dryers is a good idea, there's usually only 2 in a bathroom, and they aren't efficient enough (the Dyson Airblades in Europe are awesome, the dryers in America are not) to dry my hands. And I can't spend a large amount of time drying my hands, because there's a queue forming up behind me. Argh.

I'm in America (North east) and I have seen the dyson airblades in lots of places, and a couple of other brands of high power air dryers.