A buddy of mine had the same thing happen with a 25 year guy who told him to mix up his routine or he'd get stuck in a rut. He tried one different setup and it felt so off he went right back to his old way.

Wait, don't they let you browse at all? The no windows thing I get, keeps people from window shopping and walking in just to kill time. But not being able to look at stuff before you buy seems like it would backfire. Half the reason I go into a game store is to flip through boxes and find something I didn't know I wanted.

Oh man I feel this in my soul. Three months of guessing and it ends up being something that simple is so frustrating but also such a relief when it finally clicks. I did something kinda similar where I kept blaming products for flaky color and it turned out I was just being lazy about my rinse temp too. You get so focused on the chemicals and the formulas that you forget the basics can mess everything up. Glad Sarah is finally holding her red past week five, that must feel amazing after all that time scratching your head.