Product Junkyism- Is It A Hereditary Trait?

By Dr. Phoenyx Austin

My mom came to visit me recently. And in usual fashion, she decided that she would raid all my rooms, closets and cabinets to “re-organize.” It’s just what my mom does. She loves to clean and buy home supplies when she visits. And while it can get frustrating convincing my mother that I don’t need any more bath towels, I’ve just learned to love and appreciate her visits- even if her “cleaning” results in me not being able to find anything after she leaves.

And during this visit, my mom decided to “organize” a large bin where I keep all my hair stuff. I call it my “hair bin.” In it are tons of hair products, some used, but mostly new stuff like extra bottles of conditioner, leave-ins, and packages of shea butter that I sometimes buy on impulse and sometimes keep in case of an apocalyptic emergency where I happen to survive only to discover that there’s nowhere to buy hair product.

Now for some reason my mom was determined to get my hair bin in order. And as I watched her dig through the large bin and attempt to toss out some products, I exclaimed, “Hey I need that!” and “Hey, I need that too!”

She just shook her head and laughed. “Why do you have all these things for your hair? You don’t need all this stuff.” She then added, “You’re like one of those people on Dr. Phil. What do you call them again?”

“A product junkie,” I replied.

She nodded laughing. *But on second thought, maybe what she meant to call me was a hoarder.
Anyhow, in the end I allowed my mom to throw away a few bottles of almost finished product. And all was well. She seemed pleased with her reorganizing and I still had my sanity.
Now later that day, my mom and I decided to make a quick run to Target. And while walking past the skin care isle, something caught her attention and she quickly made a bee-line for the shelf.

“Oh, I’ve been wanting to try this!” My mom exclaimed as she threw a bottle of skin care product in her shopping cart.

But that wasn’t the end.

She looked around the shelf, and grabbed 2 extra bottles and a jar of product.

“Ooooo, have you tried this?!” My mom was now holding another jar of product in my face.
I looked at her, looked down into the cart, looked up again and winked, “Hmmm mommy, I wonder where I get it from!”

At first my mom looked confused. But then she looked down at her shopping cart and laughed.
I giggled and she gave me a hug.

In the end she ended up keeping 3 skin care products to buy. And as we made our way out of the isle, she looked at me, smiled and asked, “You need any bath towels?”