Punki

A thousand thank yous to those of you who offered to pick up beauty products for me in Europe. If anyone does accomplish this heroic feat, I assure you that I will immediately reimburse you for the costs and put you on my good karma/spare upgrade list forever. Of course, in lalala's case I could meet her at a local pub and buy her a drink--heck I would even spring for dinner if she were able to cram in two sets of products.

Tomorrow night I will bring home the camera and take a picture of the shampoo, conditioner and hairspray, and post them here.

FlyerTalk is really an amazing resource.

900at

Thanks for the tip. We've been talking about a weekend run to London and that might be the added incentive we need <G>.

Buster

Ok, I found 2 stores online that carry Timotei at least:

www.lifeslittleluxuries.co.uk and
www.britsuperstore.co.uk

I've never ordered from either place, so I have no idea how reputable they are. Unfortunately, neither carries Elvital. They do carry Elvive - Punki, is it possible that it has a different name in the UK?

900at

Thanks for the followup. I'm going to enjoy shopping this afternoon much more than working!

UrbaneGent

Okay, brace yourself because I think I might have your answer!!!!

When I was in Frankfurt I bought these incredible patches for back pain and it is not available in the United States...I got the receipt and called the pharmacy in Germany myself....THEY SHIPPED IT TO ME!!!! AND they have this service available ALL THE TIME!!!! Can you just cry or what?!?! (laughing)

You have to send them an email...here's the info:

METROPOLITAN PHARMACY
(at Frankfurt Main)
e-mail: [email protected]

TEL: +49.69.69.58.07-0
FAX: +49.69.69.58.07-16

HOMEPAGE:www.METpharmacy.de

Good luck - if you have a chance, please send me a private message and let me know if this worked out for you -

Yours,
UG

UrbaneGent

Two more things:

Finding something in another part of the world and then wanting more is something that happens to me ALL the time...so there are a couple of things I have done to chase it down, rather than fly over there...

www.westons.com - based in the UK, they have had some really hard-to-find items I've found in Singapore, Columbo, etc.

Next is I have in the past sent an e-mail to the conceirge of the hotel I stayed to help me get something I can't seem to get on my own...and this has proven to be a HUGE help...from Bali to St. Petersburg, Russia. So this is always a thought as well.

Again, good luck,

George

Punki

I arrived home from LAS earlly this morning to find that my sweet grand-nephew had brought me two shampoos, a conditioner and two hair sprays.

That should hold me for a few weeks.

Jenbel

Certainly the packaging looks the same for the German stuff as the stuff we have in the UK under Elvive... it's very annoying, i have a bottle out in the car in my gym bag, but i don't bring my bag into the office, or we could have got that ingredient check done - I'd be interested to know what the differences are.

Ok, here are the ingredients from L'oreal Elvive nutrileum (the orange one):
Water. sodium laureth sulphate, coco-betaine, laureth-5 carboxylic acid, trimethysilylamodimethicone, cocamide mipa, sodium chloride, CI19140/yellow 5, ci14700/red 4, sodium methylparaben, dmdm hydantoin, sodium hydroxide, ppg-5-ceteth-20, peg-60 hydrogenated castor oil, polyquaternium-10, camelina sativa/camelina sativa seed oil, limonene, linalool,benzyl salicylate, alpha-isomethyl ionone, geraniol, butylphenyl methylpropional, citronellol, bht, laureth-2, hexyl cinnamyl, amyl cinnamyl, fragrance.

Punki

Yes, in English the stuff I use is called "Elvive Caring Conditioner" and "Elivive Caring Shampoo", they are the "color correct" red ones. Now that I have an English version from LHR, I will compare the ingredients to those you list.

It would sure be convenient to just order them and have them shipped, but, of course, flying to Paris for shampoo and conditioner is a lot more romantic.

Punki

Thank you Buster and Jenbel, and everyone else who has been contributing ideas. I just woke up in the middle of the night (I strained a muscle in my back today and it hurts) and, to entertain myself, ordered 4 bottles each of the Shampoo and Conditioner from www.britsuperstore.com

They didn't appear to have my wonderful Loreal Elnett Satin Hair Spray, so that will be my next internet quest.

It is only when I use these products that I really feel like I have good hair. It not only looks, clean, shiny and curly, but pretty much stays that way for several days. When I use other products, I wake up with serious "bed head". I swear by this stuff.

Marvin

I don't work for L'Oreal, but as a chemist for a competitor. With minor adjustment for local markets (packaging/colour/perfume being the most siginificant ones in cosmetics) I am almost certain the title brands are just the local designators for the same product. Having tried all the European variants El'vital/'vive/'seve (and having the dreadful habit of always reading all labels / ingredients) I'm sure these are the same.

Lalala is right on the button when she says Vive looks similar - the graphics on the bottles are one give-away ("radiating square" device). The colours of the "variant" green/red/blue/orange for colour protection / volume / etc. are also normally conserved across the ranges.

Summary: Elvital in Germany, Elvive in the UK, Elseve in France and Vive in the USA.

But as physical perception (especially perfume / and tactile considerations) count for a lot in the cosmetics business -it is quite possible that Elvital "feels" and thus works much better for you than Vive.

Punki

The U.S. Vive is definitely not the same product as the English Elvive, German Elvital, etc., nor does it contain the same ingredients.

Loreal was quite forthright with the information that the European products, Elvive, Elvital, etc., contain ingredients not approved by the US FDA. If they were even similar, I would not go to all of this trouble and expense, but, alas, my hair knows the difference.

I am going to start trying some other European products and see if I can discover any other, heretofore unearthed, miraculous secrets.

Jenbel

I was thinking about this - it could be those ingredients which do not carry FDA approval have never been put up for FDA approval. There is stuff (in my field, not actual cosmetics) which can be used in the US, but not in Europe because the market is considered too small to make it economic to go through the rigourous process of getting approval. It's a pretty expensive process, and if there are equivalent ingredients which are already approved, why bother?

Punki

My box with 4 large shampoos and 4 large conditioners arrived from the UK.

Thanks for the tip. Now I just need to find a place where I can order the Loreal Ellnett hairspray.

lmermaid

I've also picked up Elvital on several trips to Europe. FYI, it's also available in Mexico (where it's called something close to that) if that helps any....