Nut Job

I love Indian food. So does Andy. We both enjoy cooking, and we're constantly trying to perfect some Indian recipes. We have a pretty decent stock of Indian spices, but one thing we've really wanted to add to our collection is whole nutmeg. Ground nutmeg is great, but grinding it straight from the nut brings out more flavors. Plus, it just seems like a cool thing to do. Especially since my kitchen idol, Alton Brown, seems to go out of his way to point out how great it is to use the whole nut in just about every single episode of Good Eats. If Alton Brown does it, I want to do it.
Andy and I recently visited our local Indian market to stock up on ingredients for some recipes to try. We were wandering the narrow aisles (all four of them), perusing the spices and taking in the aromas of cardamom and curry, when I came across several packets of whole nutmeg. I grabbed one and brought it to our cart, proudly showing off my find to Andy. He scrunched his face and pointed out that they looked odd. They did, indeed, look odd, but only in a slightly shriveled, not as fresh as they could be, way. I threw them in our cart and we proceeded to the check-out line.
The checker proceeded to ring up our various items - rice, turmeric, garam masala, etc. When he arrived at our bag of nutmeg, he held it in front of him, looking slightly confused, and asked us, "What is your purpose for this?"
Andy was taken aback at such an odd question regarding such a ubiquitous spice, so he responded rather curtly, "it's nutmeg? You know, for cooking?" The man looked at us, looked at the bag of nutmeg, and let out what I can only describe as a guffaw. "This is not nutmeg! This is special treatment for your hair!"

As the checker continued to snicker, along with the customers in line behind us, I'm sure both of our faces turned as red as the tomatoes in the produce section. We couldn't get out of there fast enough.
My ego may be bruised, but I have a plan. Next time I visit the market, I plan on filling my basket with this mysterious product. If asked about my "purpose" for buying said product, I'll nonchalantly hand over my debit card and let the checker know my hair is in desperate need of some special treatment.