Well look at Pantene. Steppin it's game up...

I'm pretty sure I remember when Pantene got big in the late 1980s. They've been around forever, but I remember buying Pantene with the gold cap thinking I was all hot shiz. The two-in-one shampoo/conditioner. Anyone else? And it has that smell that is just...Pantene. And then it just wasn't working that great, and I moved on to better shampoos...Well. Ladies, Pantene has stepped their game up.

Photo courtesy of www.pantene.com

First of all, it has won one of Allure's Breakthrough innovations for 2010...specifically, the Pantene Pro-V Fine Hair Solutions Flat to Volume Shampoo and Medium-Thick Hair Solutions Frizzy to Smooth Shampoo. Winning a breakthrough award is kinda maja, because the Allure editors started with 150 submissions, cut that to 63 contenders, and ended with 12. Only 12. And it has to be something new, something novel. No other shampoos made the cut, and Allure is not one to shy away from the expensive stuff. So, pretty good start...especially for a drug store brand!

Here's how it works. The peeps at Pantene figured out that hair really can be separated into 4 groups: fine, medium/thick, curly, and color/chemical treated. So all the products are designed and separated into these 4 groups, with the intent of working on this hair TYPE. They also have a "restore healthy lengths" and "Original" line, but I don't know much about that. I guess other shampoo companies do this, but it's not as obvious. Most bottles don't say "Fine hair" or "Thick hair" specifically. I think that they should, and why it's 2010 and this is JUST now occurring to beauty product developers, I don't know.

Now. I have not tried the shampoo...YET. I plan to, especially after the Allure shout out. My Brocato shampoo is awesome..but it's $20+ a bottle (I KNOOOOWWW...) This stuff is $7. So much better on my wallet.

I HAVE tried the Medium to Thick Straighten and Smooth Creme, and I really, really like it. It makes my hair straight as a board, and it STAYS that way. I have naturally wavy hair, so if all I do is blow dry it just looks straight. If I flat-iron it does NOT frizz, even in humidity, and it stays basically two days. If my bangs didn't get so grease-tastic I could go without washing. A little goes a long way, so you don't need to overdo it or your hair could feel kinda weighed down. They have a smooth/straight creme for fine hair, so as the bottle says, don't use it if your hair isn't medium/thick. It's only $5.99. Seriously, I spend over $6 on a glass of wine at a restaurant...this is nothing compared to most product costs.

Photo courtesy of www.walgreens.com

There really are a bunch of new, interesting products from Pantene I want to try. There are other styling products I think would work great with my hair...and thanks to the new labeling I don't really have to wonder "Does this work for my hair type?" Cause it's WRITTEN ON THE BOTTLE. Everything is so inexpensive as well, which makes me feel better about tossing it if it doesn't work out. I never try the high end stuff cause I hate to waste the money. But I'll be testing a good bit of this line.

Pantene has some neato stuff on their site to help you out. First, there is a little tutorial to help you pick what works best for you (since I have both colored AND medium hair, it may be hard to choose) HERE. They also have reviews and vids from other women HERE. Test it out, it's pretty fun to run through!

Pantene, who knew??

(sidebar: I SERIOUSLY need to figure out how to get into R&D in the beauty world. It's like my dream job. DREAM.JOB.
sidebar 2: That pic of me with my godson that some of you were so sweet about and RAVED about my hair? Yeah. I used this cream, twisted my bangs to the side, and then curled the ends with a 1" curling iron. Easy.)