Okay, I spent 1.5 hours with the cornmeal under the shower cap.

A longtime (40 yrs) friend called and I told her what I was doing. There was a long silence.

"I don't think it was recommended for people. That's what they use on Old English Sheepdogs to fluff the coat and make it stand out for shows."

Oh. Maybe that was where I heard it. Anyway, on to the evaluation.

This was the semi-finely ground cornmeal, not as fine as flour, not as gritty as other cornmeal I've seen. I worked about a cup or so of it around my scalp, and then applied the plastic shower cap.

After 90 minutes, I took off the shower cap while hanging over the shower stall and worked out as much as I could by massaging it with my fingers and fluffing my hair. Then I took my bristle hairbrush and brushed while hanging my head down. When it felt like most of the crumbs were gone, I brushed my hair naturally.

Results: it was better than I had anticipated, but not really great (like shampooed hair). My hair is longish, gray, very fine and was flattened and somewhat greasy to start, and after I worked it over with the brush, it had fluffed up and looked like I had more hair (so I guess it does work on Old English Sheepdogs). I couldn't feel any more grit on my scalp, but I had the feeling that I was still shedding some corn dust.

I didn't have anyone to check the odor (or lack thereof). I guess it wasn't bad if you were desperate. If you have dark hair, it might not look as good, or might take a lot more brushing to get rid of the dusty look.

It was messy, so I would recommend doing it outdoors.

But since I had to take a shower anyway, I washed my hair the regular way.

Score: probably about 6 out of 10 for my hair, YMMV.

In the olden days, most women only washed their hair once a month or so. But they did brush it a lot, which probably distributed the oil the entire length of the hair shaft, instead of allowing it to collect and sit near the scalp.

Sue