Sham-Wha?

You may recall that, several years ago, products containing pseudoephedrine started being yanked from drugstore shelves and put behind glass because they were being stolen—or in some cases purchased—for illicit purposes (namely, to make meth). Lately, similar measures have been taken in downtown Seattle to control the disappearance of Head & Shoulders dandruff shampoo.

We're not kidding. A clerk at the Rite Aid on Third Avenue says that store (near the courthouse) is experiencing such rampant and repeated "shrinkage," as retailers call it, in their Head & Shoulders inventory that they now require patrons to ask for the product at the photo counter. Two-dimensional Head & Shoulders cutouts now occupy the shelf space previously devoted to the product.

Cheryl Slavinsky, a spokesperson for Rite Aid, says it is not uncommon for a rash of thefts to afflict particular health and beauty aids, even ones that can't be converted into mind-altering narcotics. Though she says it's usually "high-end" products that are targeted.

This particular outbreak of scalp-enhancing thievery appears to be relatively isolated. Slavinsky declined to provide details, but says she doesn't think it's happening in other parts of the country or of the Northwest. But she says the store must have been experiencing a fairly high level of theft to resort to the cutout measure.