They laughed from one side of the country to another and across the Atlantic about the secret stash of 12 bottles of Prell hidden away in the bathroom cupboard.
The secret stash of the highly desired emerald green liquid stayed unknown to anyone until the linen closet was stripped of all its contents and out came one, two, three … 10, 11, 12 bottles of Prell Shampoo.
And that did not count the nearly full bottle of Prell in the shower.
The stash had finally come into the light. It needed to be on display.
Arranged neatly in two rows of six, the cell phone captured the image of the newly discovered stash and entered its reality into the annals of history on Facebook commentary, “Cleaning the bathroom cupboards. I found my husband’s stash. Can anyone guess his favorite shampoo?”
One hazarded a facetious, “Suave?”
“Bong.” Wrong answer.
Most Facebook friends wondered if yet another secret hoarder had been discovered.
“Sam’s Club or just a hoarder?”
“Neither. Just scared he will never find another bottle. It was not on the shelves in stores.”
Well that is mostly true. His son sent his own picture of a bottle of Prell earlier in the year to say he had found a supply in a large department store. He wondered if his dad wanted him to buy it.
“Ummm, no thanks. We’re good.”
No one knew how ‘good’ until the fall cleaning.
“Oh my word!! What a funny, funny man! He uses only less than a dime-size amount daily, too, right?” his daughter posted. A few years ago he was scared they would stop making it, so he really stocked. up! Seeing the pix, I can almost smell Prell shampoo.”
Others simply expressed astonishment at seeing the product.
“Oh, my goodness! I did not know that they still had Prell.”
“That was the shampoo I used as a girl growing up…. Lots of long hair in those days!”
“Lol, it’s my favorite, too!” another wrote.
But mostly people wanted to know, “Is he a hoarder?”
“We bought the last of the Prell when he heard it was being discontinued.
“Good Lord! No wonder his hair is always so pretty and clean!” the Fabulous one said.
“We stocked up when many stores quit stocking it,” came the reply.
Then, in the middle of the jokes about the residential hoarder, the responses began to include confessions of other’s personal stash of a beloved product.
“I have to admit that I bought enough of the old light bulbs to last the rest of my life right before they were outlawed. I don’t like the new ones at all. LOL.”
“I know the feeling. I tried but someone else around here switched all the bulbs when I wasn’t looking. Sigh.”
One of the early mockers stood up, said his first name and added, “Maybe he and I should start a support group. I did the same thing with shaving oil. Although they didn’t discontinue it, it’s often hard to find and meanwhile they switched their formula to something I don’t like nearly as well. So I’m happily using out of 8-year-old inventory and crossing my fingers on the shelf life!”
Once the hoarder knew about the the posting and saw it, he explained, “I saw Prell advertised on Amazon. I didn’t have but one or two bottles left. If I ordered a certain number of bottles of Prell I could get free shipping, so I ordered a lot to get the free shipping.” Thus, resulting in what may be a lifetime supply of Prell.
Two weeks after the postings, as the Prell hoarder crossed paths with the Fabulous one, she came over to him, gave him a hug and sniffed his hair, “I smell Prell.”
As does everyone who meets him — now that they know about his secret stash.
Joan Hershberger is a staff writer for the El Dorado News Times.