! cocoabee: hair product

i was really excited when i heard drugstores started carrying dry shampoos and that some were by tresemme because i thought that would mean they'd be good. i tried a tresemme shampoo a few years ago and i thought it was alright but i heard positive things about their mousse and other styling products so i expected this would work really well. people in the states have had this for over but i think that we got this in canada recently.

its not that it's terrible but i was disappointing by it. you shake the bottle, hold it 8-12 inches from your hair (about the bottle's length away), leave it as is for 1-2 minutes and then brush it out. When you spray it, it comes on white and for the 1-2 minutes your hair is covered in what looks like white spray paint. I heard that you could use baby powder or corn starch as a sort of "dry shampoo" to absorb oil and give a fresher look but i thought it'd make my black hair look gray and i didn't want my head to smell like baby powder. i did try it once though and this dry shampoo sort of resembles that method, only instead of powder its little white particles (or beads/dots? i'm not sure what to call them. the bottle says its"Formula with Mineral Clay soaks up excess oil and impurities to leave hair looking refreshed.") doing the job and you just spray it on like hairspray.

they say it "Contains Citrus Extracts to neutralize odor and enhance clean feeling." but really it only smells a hint of citrus and mostly has a very strong chemical smell, that does not smell fresh or good. i'd take baby powder over this smell any day. the smell is really strong and hard to get rid of.

it doesn't do much in terms of volume, it says "Volumizes oily/straight hair that becomes limp in between shampoos, giving hair added body and bounce." but its not true. it barely adds any volume, its just makes hair look less oily. after you brush it out the white dots disappear and your hair looks a lot duller but does look fresher than before because it took away the greasy shine. if you have colored hair, they say this will help you because you wont have to wash your hair as often but it'll make your hair color look so much less vibrant

i use this occasionally to freshen up and as sparingly as possible when i do, because i really can't stand that smell, i don't think it makes up for skipping a hair wash, well at least it doesn't for me, my hair gets really oily and it would take a lot of this product to get it fully clean-looking.

bottom line: its not bad to use for a quick and easy way freshen up, but it's not great to use it for more than that, especially for us dark haired people where the white cast it leaves is the most distinct.

I've tried a whole bunch of pantene products and they've always made my hair really shiny, easy to flat iron, smooth but not flat and just overall very healthy but...
it makes my hair fall out! i first used a pantene shampoo when i was somewhere around 8 years old and my head was itchy all the time, a lot more hair fell out then usual when i combed it but at that time i though i had lice because our teachers always talked to us about it. but my parents checked and did the conditioner test and i didn't have lice. every time i start to use their shampoos after a week the same thing happens, hair looks good but my scalp itches like crazy and loads of hair falls out. once i switch shampoos, it stops. this didn't happen with their conditioners though (i'm guessing because i don't apply it on my scalp).

i used:

the moisture renewal conditioner

after looking it up, there's a lot of talk about pantene causing hair to fall out and the reason being is that their shampoo's formula's main ingredient, besides water, is Sodium Lauryl Sulfate (SLS). Most shampoos contain SLS because it acts as a de-greaser and binds to the dirt on your hair and scalp and takes it away when you rinse your hair with water. However it's harsh and its used in detergents for cleaning floors and car engines. When you rinse your hair it's impossible to wash it all out and it begins to buildup on your scalp which can cause hair-loss and irritation. The more hair you have, the less buildup there will be on your scalp which is why men usually lose more hair then women.

right now i'm using herbal essence, which also has SLS (if a shampoo doesn't have sulfates, it'll brag about it!) but it must be more diluted because i'm going bald. A lot of my friends use pantene and don't have any problems with it, i may have a more sensitive scalp or i might not be rinsing thoroughly enough but i've stopped using pantene shampoos and i've been generally avoiding their products recently. a lot of sulfate-free hair products are now in drugstores (organix, l'oreal everpure, etc) and i want to try them out!