I ran out of my beloved Psssst! Dry Shampoo. No matter, my local Walgreens carries it! Or, they did, at least. I spent at least five minutes scouring my location’s tiny hair aisle for it. Not wanting to leave empty-handed and not wanting to make a special trip elsewhere, I picked up this can: Pantene Blowout Extend Dry Shampoo.
Pantene Blowout Extend Dry Shampoo
Pantene Blowout Extend Dry Shampoo is one of three of Pantene’s dry shampoo offerings. They also have one called, “Original Fresh,” in a similar can with a green band and one called, “Root Reboot,” packaged the same but with a purple band. Along with the stand-to-Pantene vitamin boasting, Pantene Blowout Extend Dry Shampoo contains tapioca as an ingredient. Why? I really couldn’t begin to tell you.
Because I do not live in a fictitious world in which people actually do get regular biweekly salon blowouts, I’m testing this against the conditions my hair normally faces. Typically, I wash my hair every other day (e.g., Mon, Wed, Fri). I don’t usually need dry shampoo on that second day, but sometimes use it anyway to stay ahead. Sometimes, I want to push it another day – so, wash hair Monday and then again on Thursday, for example. Last week was one such week.
Here’s my hair as of Wednesday, early evening. My hair air-dried prior and no products were used. You’ll see that my hair is a bit oily at the roots; it looks piece-y and flat. I brushed through it to tidy it up, but no other manipulation of my strands occurred.
I grabbed my newly-acquired can of Pantene Blowout Extend dry shampoo, gave it a good shake, aimed it at my roots, and depressed the nozzle. Nothing.
“What the hell, does it have some safety-tab like a can of compressed air?” I thought, examining dispensing mechanism. Nope. Just poor design. I tried again, jamming my finger down on the nozzle. Finally, it expressed what just seemed to be air – no product. I shook it more, tried again…just cold air.
After repeating this about four times, I finally got product to dispense – rather than dispensing like a familiar powdery substance, this came out slightly wet. I was noted that, although fragrances, it did not dispense a dense cloud of perfume for my lungs to unhappily fill with in the confines of my tiny bathroom. While dispensing, the Pantene Blowout Extend Dry Shampoo can became very cold although the can had definitely been stored at room temperature. Have you ever sprayed a can of compressed air (like what you might use to dust out a keyboard or other electronics)? It was that cold, only it was held right-side-up. Tiny white spheres that were wet to the touch formed on the shafts of my hair. They broke easily with a touch and rubbed in without protest.
I let the product sit for about a minute after I had dispersed the white droplets but before I rubbed it in all the way to distribute. When I rubbed it in, it felt heavy and stuff; although it didn’t look like powder, it did feel like it at this point. I gently brushed through with my Denman.This is what I wound up with:
The oil is less obvious and my hair as been mattified. It does, however, have an odd sheen – though the product was thoroughly rubbed in, it left a greyish cast (more evident on the right).
Though the results of Pantene Blowout Extend Dry Shampoo looked alright, the feel was unpleasant. It felt artificial and stiff to the touch, as if it was meant to have the hold of a hairspray as well as performing as a dry shampoo. When I washed it out later that night, I had to use more shampoo than normal to get it all out.
Reviews on Pantene’s website indicate that I should not expect to get much more use from my can, as the can/nozzle/propellant or some combination thereof malfunctions within a couple uses.
Given all that, Pantene Blowout Extend is not worth it and I would not recommend. Fortunately, I just stocked up on Psssst! due to a B1G1 at Ulta and a 20% off coupon.