A few months back, I was jonesin’ one of my local CVS stores, and happened across some clearanced hair dye. I took this as a sign that it was an epic hair day, so I picked up the dye and a jar of hair goop what was also on sale: Pantene Restore Beautiful Lengths Replenishing Mask. I had been wanting to do a good hair mask for the past month, so hey, why not?
This hair mask normally retails for $6.29 at CVS, but I do believe it was three dollars less at the time when I bought it. The front label touts that the product “resists breakage for longer hair”. This claim is echoed on the back label, where it reads: “Helps restore moisture and prevent breakage, so you can grow hair longer”.
Once I cracked the jar open and got a good look at the product, I was disappointed. This did not have the thickness of a heavy mask. It didn’t even have the thickness of your average “three minute miracle” conditioner. It looked and felt like your average, run of the mill conditioner. But hey, it smelled nice.
My hair certainly felt softer, and smelled awesome after using this product. I was feeling good about my purchase until I noticed something: Its primary claim was not being met. At all. I still had the same amount of breakage-frizz, and my split ends actually seemed to be getting worse. Replenishing mask, my ass. If you’re so replenishing, why is my hair the same as it was before?
Well… remember what I said about its disappointing consistency? Turn the bottle around again, and you’ll see a footnote for the “makes hair grow longer” claim:
Mask vs. non-conditiong shampoo
What is this I don’t even. Do you see this? Do you see what this jar is telling you? It’s saying that using this product will get you better results than not using a conditioning product at all. At first glance, it claims to be a replenishing mask that prevents breakage. But one you get to the fine print, they claim that it will only perform better than shampoo alone. Which makes me consider this as nothing more than regular conditioner, packaged in a bloody freakin’ jar to look “different”.
Well. At least I can reuse the jar. And it did smell nice. But am I buying this again? Absolutely not. Not only does it not do what it claims to do, it isn’t at all what it claims to be. I’d much rather give my support to companies who don’t resort to lies in order to sell their product.
















