now I know what I want for christmas or lebaran or birthday or anniversary or potluck events or just when you need to make me happier

Current book read: I can't believe I'm putting myself through this, but Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince by JK Rowling. - music in ear: Dreamgirls in Concert

See? By the time I left Indonesia, good things kept coming out in the country. First there is this CiWalk thingie. And then, there is this Indonesian Idol thingie. And now, this.

A loose my kind of translation of the article as follows:

Saneem: ITB-made Shampoo
by Budi

It's been more than a month now that I'm using a shampoo called "Saneem". If you haven't heard of it ever, don't sweat. Saneem is an ITB*-made shampoo which apparently hasn't been distributed much.

The label states "Natural shampoo. To overcome dandruff and hair loss." [Zakky's note: because of two years living in Germany I'm not sure which is the correct one. Hairloss or hair loss.] Saneem is produced from seeds and leaves of Azadirachta Indica [sic] [Zakky's note: should't it be Azadirachta indica?] extract (nimba in Indonesian). Is it possible that "saneem" is actually an acronym of "sampo nimba"?

I don't know yet about hairloss, but I can say that this shampoo is the most effective anti-dandruff shampoo I have ever used! I have tried gajillion other shampoo, from those advertised on TV to ones that are sold in hair salons (expensive ones!). After using Saneem, dandruff is drastically gone! Before it was visible on my often-to-use black jacket. After using Saneem, dandruff is still there, but it isn't visible now [Zakky's note: I didn't really get the logic of this sentence even in Indonesian. Maybe the shampoo works to color the dandruff to black? Or giving them the ability of mimicry? Hmmm.. Logical explanation is there are still some dandruff on the head, but now they are so little so that they don't fall on the guy's jacket. Saneem adds stickiness? note to self: Stop it!].

In the middle of the confusion of how to use biodiversity resources in Indonesia, KPP Ilmu Hayati (umm.. KPP Life Science) [Zakky's note: After a discussion with NDC, we settle on Life Science instead of Biology to translate Ilmu Hayati] is able to produce a very good product. Now, it is up to how to spread the word because this product really helps people with dandruff. [Zakky's note: meeee! meee! me wantey! *raising index finger*]

Source: Yayasan Sumber Daya Hayati, Bandung. Or contact KPP Ilmu Hayati, LPPM ITB.
Translated from: Saneem: sampo buatan ITB by Budi

First things first:

1. As good as it may sound, I do believe that natural products are actually somewhat better than synthetic ones. But talking about grooming, it's all up to whether the product really fits you or not. It may fit the writer, but perhaps, just perhaps, it won't work for me. But no harm done for trying it out, actually.

2. There are some already nature-based shampoo or other haircare (again, haircare or hair care?) in Indonesia. Commonly, they smell terrible because no smell controlling agents were added to the process in order to ensure the naturality. This sometimes put people off of actually using it. And remember, everytime we choose a grooming product, one of the first things we do is smelling it. The second thing to do is saying. "Hmmm.." or "Smells good". It's like a reflex. The smell fact wasn't discussed, but I got a strong feeling that the smell is not that troublesome.

3. Dandruff is easy to treat actually. Wash hair regularly. If possible daily. The problem is, I look sucked with fresh washed hair. It is like space hair. My hair is outta this world. That is why I need a good product to control my dandruff, so that I won't have bad hair day in my entire life.

4. Your scalp is different with the other part of the skin. So having a dandruff doesn't mean that we have dandruff on our other hairy parts. I'm gonna stop it right there.

5. Having dandruff doesn't mean that you are dirty. You're not that lucky, mate. It takes a lot more to be dirty. It just means that you have problem on your scalp, just like some people having problems on their skin. It does mean that probably you haven't washed your hair for like two days, though. And for some people it's just gross.

6. Don't alienate people with dandruff. It's not contagious. It depends on talent.

7. Zakky is like bla bla bla bla bla. Bla bla bla bla bla bla. So, bla bla bla. Well, it's bla bla bla. That's what happened if you talk to him. I heard that few survived.

Updated: *ITB is an acronym from Institut Teknologi Bandung (Bandung Institute of Technology) the university where I achieved my bachelor degree from.