I’m one of those people who grew up using Pantene products. As soon as I was old enough to shampoo my own hair, I started using them in combination with a few other beauty supply staples. I remember when they first came out with their Relaxed & Natural collection, I was a big fan of that as well.
Well, Pantene recently launched its new & improved collection separating the two hair types to cater to their specific needs. So now there’s the Truly Relaxed collection and the Truly Natural collection. As I grew out my relaxer a few years ago, I agreed to review the Truly Natural collection from Pantene. Here are my thoughts:
For the review, Pantene sent me 4 of the 5 products in the lineup: the Clarifying Shampoo, Deep Conditioner, Defining Curls Styling Custard, and the Shine Serum.
The first product I tried out was the Truly Natural Deep Conditioner. I’ve explained this in my Natural Hair posts before, but I actually condition and detangle my hair first and then shampoo. I find that this reduces hair breakage for me and keeps my hair from tangling.
The first thing I noticed about the Deep Conditioner is that it was very thick. Perfect for my dried out strands. It also smells really great.
Above is a snapshot of my hair before applying the conditioner. My curls were super dried out and shrunken, and badly in need of detangling.
I dampened my hair with lukewarm water and applied the Deep Conditioner. It really softened up my curls and it melted into my hair really nicely.
After applying a handful of the conditioner, I started to detangle my strands. It’s important when you’re doing a pre-poo treatment like this to apply your water & conditioner before you attempt to detangle. The curls need lubrication!
After finger detangling my hair in sections, it felt amazing. It was totally moisturized and tangle-free. I then twisted my hair in section in preparation for rinsing and shampoo.
After letting the conditioner sit for about 5-10 minutes, I rinsed it out with my hair still twisted in sections. I then went on to apply the Truly Natural Clarifying Shampoo.
One thing you should know about this shampoo is a) it is not sulfate-free (which for clarifying purposes is not really a bad thing) and 2) it is best for use on hair that has product build-up, not as a weekly maintenance conditioning shampoo.
This truly is a clarifying shampoo meaning that it can leave curly hair with that “squeaky clean” feeling after a few washes. For this particular wash day, I was preparing to straighten my hair so that’s exactly what I wanted – squeaky clean hair. The cleaner your hair before straightening, the more body it will have and the longer your press will last.
After using the Deep Conditioner and Clarifying Shampoo, I then proceeded to moisturize my hair and blow-dry it. I applied a bit of the Shine Serum with Argan Oil while my hair was damp to give the hair a light sheen. My hair had tons of volume after blow-drying it did have a nice sheen to it.
Next up, I had a stylist help me install some extensions (full post on my straightening and extensions install process to come) and press my hair – first time in almost a year!
Above is my finished look after everything. I’m used to having such big and voluminous hair, but it’s cool to switch it up to something sleek every now and then. The best time for me to do this is during the winter (less humidity!) Because I was doing a straight look this time around, I didn’t get a chance to try out the Defining Curls Styling Custard but I plan to try this out once I wash my hair and get my curls back. Overall the collection is really great. My favorite product in the line is the Deep Conditioner because it made detangling so easy for me and it left my curls really soft.
For more information on the collection, be sure to become a fan of Pantene on Facebook and also check out Pantene on YouTube for quick hair tutorials and information.
Would you give this collection a try? Have you tried it? Feel free to share your thoughts!
Disclosure: This post was sponsored by Pantene through their partnership with POPSUGAR Select. While I was compensated to write a post about Pantene Truly Natural, all opinions expressed herein are my own and not those of the company.
I was a faithful Pantene user as well. I worked at Family Dollar in 2003 and my manager (a white male) marked everthing down to .50 in the Pantene naturals first line. I stocked up!