My Issue with Pantene's Hair Products

Thursday, August 20, 2009




Let me preface this post by stating that I have absolutely nothing against the Pantene brand in and of itself. I love their advertisements, and the brand definitely puts itself out there for the purpose of raising awareness for different causes, which I think is an excellent move. On a personal level however, I don't care for Pantene, based on my own experience with their products. Furthermore, I have a personal tick against any company that promotes beauty products for women of color and the products do not deliver what they promise. If you type in "pantene" and "women of color," you will indubitably find complaint after complaint in numerous forums across the internet, created over the course of several years (in fact, when I type in "pantene" and "women of color," the first hit that appears in google is an actual site entitled "Warning About Pantene Shampoo and Conditioner for Women of Color"). Interestingly enough, my experience with the Pantene Relaxed and Natural Shampoo as well as Pantene Beautiful Lengths shampoo was not at all far from the experiences of other women - the shampoo pretty much weakened my hair and directly contributed to some really annoying breakage. The second main ingredient in the Pantene Relaxed and Natural Shampoo happens to be petroleum, which just coats the hair with grease, rather than adding any strength to the hair strand. The main ingredients in the Pantene Beautiful Lengths Shampoo seem to be quite normal for any shampoo, but there is something else in their list of ingredients that had the exact same breakage impact on my hair. Yet, when I switch to my other hair products that I always tend to use (usually dominican products), my hair goes back to normal and the breakage stops. Go figure. A vast majority of other women in the forums online seem to have the same experience.


My issues with Pantene's shampoos on relaxed hair lend themselves to one basic overall tip for any company that wants to promote their brand to women of color:

Please do not produce or advertise products that do not work for your consumers. If you notice numerous websites and forums dedicated to consumers' distaste for your products, that should be an indicator that you should change the chemical composition or overall strategy with production if you want to maximize profits. And if you don't change the product, don't be surprised when sales decline - word travels fast, and women tend not to visit the same beauty product twice if it messes with their hair after the first use.

Enough said. :)



4 comments:

Well, I do not use Pantene products any longer, but I must say that about 6-7 yeras ago I did use their products, which were excellent at the time as it made my hair silky and soft. However, as with many companies nowadays, they changed their formula and changed the packaging (probably to use cheaper ingredients) and I just got fed and stopped buying their products.

MochaSwissMrs said...

Same thing happened to me when I tried to hop on the Pantene Relaxed & Natural Wagon-All it did was break my hair off-And I mean all of my hair. So I was forced to cut it off. It has been nearly 5 years since then and I have since cut all of my hair off again-this time due to experiment with braids-so I'm now natural and stress free styled. By the way-I'm digging your blogspot and I thank you for following me also. God Bless!

Sam Fudge said...

I agree that the Pantene Relaxed and Natural line was a disappointment. I found the shampoo very drying and conditioner did not help to replenish the moisture to my hair. I also tried the Pantene Relaxed and Natural Styling Lotion and I did not like it at all, because it was very oily. It just made my hair greasy and it ultimately began to shed... A LOT. Although, I will say that the regular old Pantene Classic Clean shampoo and conditioner work better for me. I believe they changed the formula of the shampoo because it's starting to dry my hair out a bit, but the conditioner still works very well for me. So I'll just stick to the products that actually work.

Anonymous said...

Wow, I thought about trying Pantene R&N before but I'm glad I didn't! I used Optimum oil therapy for a while which worked okay, but the Palmer's Olive Oil shampoo & conditioner leaves my hair really soft and manageable.

 
 
 
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