Gilda’s going shopping… My hair is thick, coarse and dry. Which product should I buy, PANTENE or HERBAL ESSENCES?
The Left Brain responds:
It’s interesting that you ask about those two products because, as you can tell if you look at the ingredient lists, they are actually the same basic formula. (They are even covered by the same patents).
Equal ingredients
Take a look at Pantene’s Ice Shine conditioner and Herbal Essences’ Hydration Conditioner. If you turn the bottles around you’ll see that the first five key ingredients are exactly the same:
Water, Stearyl Alcohol, Cyclopentasiloxane, Cetyl Alcohol, and Stearamidopropyl Dimethylamine.
Are these similarities surprising? Not at all considering that P&G (the company that makes Pantene) bought Clairol (the company that makes Herbal Essences.) Shortly after the purchase, P&G converted the Herbal Essences formulas to their Pantene base.
The Beauty Brains bottom line
This isn’t a bad thing since Pantene is an excellent conditioner. In fact, it’s probably a better deal for you because now you can get the performance of Pantene with the color and fragrance of Herbal Essences. So, either product will work fine, go with the one that smells the best to you or is least expensive.
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
If people would look at the back labels more often, and the front labels less often, we would probably all do better.
Wow, I didn’t realize that had happened. I’m afraid to use Pantene because it made my ears break out way back in the late nineties. I use Herbal Essences all the time now and hadn’t had any bad effects.