She says all of the hairstylists she goes to are adament that Pantene is bad for her hair. Then they try to sell her their own special more expensive crap.
She wants to know if Pantene really is bad for her hair.
We’ve established that:
it probably isn’t
the stylists are just saying that to extract money
most people will have the opinion that it isn’t bad; but won’t have hard evidence to support that.
So, any help from the masses? Is there any real evidence to support Pantene is “bad” for you hair (whatever “bad” means)?
Overshampooing is bad for your hair, but it’s hard to come up with any reasons why Pantene would be worse than, say, H&S or Llongeras’ Supreme Shampoo Of Poshness.
About every 5 years Consumer Reports does a thing on shampoos. Each time they come up with the same result. The only difference between the $50 bottle and the $5 bottle is the smell. They are all soap.
Unfortunately, CR’s on-line site is $26/year.
You’d have to go the a brick library to find the cite. Sorry.
Another thing about Pantene (but also about other shampoos/conditioners with a lot of silicone derivatives in them) told to me by a hair stylist once is that the residue they leave on your hair makes it damn near impossible to dye after! I was having my hair dyed, and had spent 2-3 days at my parents, where they had Pantene, so I used it, and he had to wash my hair several times with something else before he was satisfied that they were stripped down enough to get the dye to work. Obviously, the whole process wasn’t all that good for my hair! He said that if I was going to stick to store brands but still want to colour my hair, L’Oreal Vive line was probably about the best. I didn’t listen to him, though. I use Herbal Essences
I use Pantene. And I dye. No problems, and my hair is healthy and shiny. But basically, I subscribe to the “shampoo is shampoo” theory, with the exception that the really cheap brands seem to be harsher and more drying.
I don’t know what all the differences are between what’s on the website and what’s in the magazine, but FWIW the January 2004 issue of CR does not have anything about shampoo in it.
Shampoo is shampoo. Doesn’t nearly work the same way for conditioner, however.
Back in my hair-down-to-my-ass days, I hated spending the money on Nexxus Keraphix, but the difference between my hair with that in it versus something like Suave was night and day.
The best trick I ever found back then was to switch up the brand of shampoo I was using four or five times per year. It would seem like my hair would “get used” to a particular brand, and would become more and more lifeless as time went on. Switching brands always seemed to perk it back up.
