Your Personal 3-Minute Meditation to Happy Hair

My hair's been abused in all senses - blow-dry, style, and even the tugging of my hair from ponytails and scraggly buns (take note, hair when wet) with elastics can cause a lot of damage. Although the hot shower feels so good on my sore muscles after a yoga class, I know my hair, if it could talk would scream and beat me senseless. I think the hair gods heard the plea of my tresses because I got a sample of Pantene's newest product, the 3 Minute Miracle Conditioner as I was heading out. I love getting these goodies giving me this good karmic energy. I tucked it in my bag and drove to the studio.

In yin yoga world, 3 minutes is the approximate time we give our bodies to hold our poses for our connective tissues to open. The three minutes here in Pantene 3-Minute Miracle, we give our hair the TLC it needs from its daily damage and abuse. It's like an extended meditation in the shower to pretty and healthy hair. With 80% more key conditioning ingredients versus regular Pantene conditioner, this product is supposed to improve my hair health and smoothen my hair and repair up to like 3 months worth of hair damage my hair has.

Yes and all it takes is three minutes. This is great when I don't have the time (or funds) to actually sit down for an hour at the hair salon to get a hair treatment. My hair being super duper long and thick kinda costs a lot to get treated. I can get this done at the shower. It's like three minutes of meditation to healthy, happy hair. 

The formula in comparison with other conditioners is a bit thicker, but I'm just glad that it doesn't have that strong, heady smell or chemical-like smell. In fact, it has the same category of signature fresh-fruit clean scent Pantene shampoos and conditioners have. I do, however, have to use more than dime or pea-size amount to get all areas of my hair covered and I give my hair that massage to boost circulation. I leave it for 3 minutes (or a bit more, depending on my feelings) using my phone as a timer and rinse (not hot water, I know my lesson). 

My verdict: My hair is much better to manage to comb with a wide-tooth comb and less tangled when I run my fingers through it when it's dry, I'm giving a yay to the scent for not being too strong or overwhelming. I just have to remember to not use this when i'm styling my hair because since my hair's super slippery and silky, the curls may not hold. I can, however, use this after a photoshoot or event where my hair needs to be heat-styled and sprayed to hold. Without blow-drying my hair, it looks more human hair than barbed wire and since my wavy hair is prone to frizz, this actually minimizes the frizz it naturally has. 

This is already available in the market by the way. An 180-mL bottle costs Php159.00 while if you would be a regular user or have longer and thicker hair, you may want to avail of the 340-mL tube for Php259.00. 

Bouncy Hair with Pantene Nature Care

oh yeah, it rhymes. woord! 

I love my hair and its unruliness. Back then, I used to like wrestle with a blowdryer and an iron to weigh my hair to flat straightness when it's effortless to everyone. Ten years later, I've accepted that it's what it is - long, thick, and wavy and effortlessly that way. I love how it easily curls and I don't need to comb it to get that out-of-bed look. Since I love my hair so much, I take good care of it, the low-maintenance way, that is to keep it clean all the time.

I thank Pantene for sending me over some goodies over the weekend from their latest line, Nature Care, which I'm really excited to try (as soon as I finish the big bottle of Pantene that I bought, the one that has a pump dispenser. See? Told you I love the brand). Thank you Pantene, and my brushes thank you too! Just like our skin, there are different types of shampoos created  for different people, since we all have different hair types and needs. For example, if hair is fine and limp and needs a bit of oomph, bring it back to life with Fullness and Life

"Fullness and life is designed for the Filipina who can't get enough of beautiful hair with volume. Even with volume, she still wants hair that is manageable or no 'buhaghag' ."

Big, beautiful hair, how can we go wrong? I love my big hair. I think it looks great when I do headflips and it's a staple in magazine covers and Victoria's Secret runway shows.  This big hair means big hair with awesomeness, and not hair all over the place that looks matted and dry making me reminiscent of the crazy cat lady in The Simpsons (I know, I am a crazy cat lady but my hair doesn't have to say it). Pantene Nature Care Fullness and Life Shampoo cleanses hair while giving it some nourisihing complex. Just like the name "Nature Care", it takes inspiration from mother nature with elements like avocado oil, grapeseed extract, and bamboo. To prevent frizz, especially for curly girls like me,  the conditioner will make it look prettier and more manageable.

For those who want a little tamer side of life, Smoothness and Life will make hair smooth and sleek without looking dry, flat, and dull, as that sometimes happens when I fry my hair too much. It's the hair ad look without looking flat and dull as it nourishes the hair with Cassia complex, aloe vera, calendula, and ginger. Sleek hair doesn't have to look weighed down and heavy.

What's great too about Pantene Nature Care is that they smell really nice and fresh, with that clean scent that lingers in the bathroom post-shower. I like clean scents and even my brushes smell nice and fresh when they're finished cleaning. I actually like Smoothness and Life with my brushes and will probably use that too with them and also my hair. Fullness and Life, if I want those big bombastic headflips or bounce and then drop to superman drop.

SRP for Pantene Nature Care shampoo and conditioner is Php 120 for the 170 mL shampoo and it's also Php 120 for the 165 mL conditioner. For once-a-week deep conditioning, the tub is awesome during rest days when there's no shoot going on or after doing a few laps in the pool.

Hair Care that Cares

As The Body Shop cares for our skin and body with its yummy bath and body lines, home care, skin care, and makeup, the care also extends to our crowning glory that is our tresses. The Rainforest Hair Care comes shampoos and conditioners that care for our hair without any sticky residue while caring for the environiment by not including chemicals that could be harsh to our ecosystem.

Call it Christmas that came early for me or a happy grocery shopping trip, but here are some of what Rainforest Care has for each and everyone of us, depending on our hair condition. Why I chose the sun as the shape to arrange the products? Uhhhmm... nothing I just feel like it.

Oily hair could be yucky and greasy. Although the obvious would be to nix out conditioner or load up on sudsers to decrease the oil, what we really need is shampoo and conditioner (yes, we still need a bit of moisturizer here) that's made for oily hair. Rainforest Balance Shampoo cleans our locks without stripping it of much-needed moisture while Rainforest Balance Conditioner lightly conditions the hair without weighing it down. Instead of harmful colourants and fragrances, natural ingredients like pracaxi oil, Community Trade aloe vera, white nettle, and seaweed are used.

On the other end of the hair woe spectrum, and most of our problems is dry hair. Since we all love to process our hair to blowouts and hair straightening and curling. Just as too much of cooking the hair leaves our hair dry as the Sahara Desert, hair needs extra moisturizing power that would bring it back to its lush state.

Rainforest Moisture is manna for the hair. This is the one I'm currently using and I love the blueberry scent. It's not itchy on the hair and I like how it makes my hair soft and silky. Here's one thing I like about it too. It doesn't interfere much with my hairstyling since even if I shampoo, my hair still holds its shape. It doesn't weigh my hair down so I still have a bit of volume in me.

The tub there is hair butter. Hair butter is like intense conditioner for the hair, the conditioner which you leave on your hair before you rinse it out with warm water. My hair loves this product. A little dollop does the trick and I really don't like to pile on too much of this on the hair because that weighs the hair down. It smells like blueberries too! The pracaxi oil, manketti nut oil and Community Trade honey and sugar are the ingredients behind this product. If you don't want too much, you could dilute the shampoo and conditioner in water as well.

Rainforest Shine (included in the photo) are for the lucky girls and boys who just need a tad of tune up on their already excellent hair condition with an oomph of shine. Keep the luck flowing with this fruity-smelling baby that contains pracaxi oil, caméline seed oil and Community Trade olive oil, sugar, and aloe vera. The thought of having olive oil as an ingredient is just love, since it reminds me of those ancient days when olive oil's so precious to the skin and hair.

If you're the type who loves to experiment with style, trends, and color, I guess you already know that care for coloured hair is much more specialized. To begin with, coloured hair is already processed with chemicals. We need shampoos and conditioners that give the hair its much needed dose of TLC without stripping or interfering with the color. A good coloring job doesn't come in cheap, right?

To preserve a coloring job well done, The Body Shop's Rainforest Radiance cleanses to remove the color residue which causes the hair to look dull and dry in due time after a color job and keeps the color looking vibrant. There's also UV filter to block UV rays, which could fade color. We all know the job of shampoo and conditioner but there's also a third spray bottle of Detangling Spray for combing and brushing ease.

The price range of The Body Shop Rainforest Hair Care products are of course a tad more expensive than those bought over the grocery due to the materials sourced of course. It's not the type that you'd use to clean brushes though and I prefer that it stick to its job of cleaning my hair. A special gift to someone who's OC and concious with hair care, you could give the full-size bottles already, especially if she's a fan of the line already. If you have a friend who would want to try it out, then starter kits in fun sizes plus a detangler comb are also available.

[disclaimer: product provided for review]