Review: Pantene Pro-V Aqua Light Shampoo and Conditioner

When it comes to me and haircare, "silicone" is not a four-letter-word (aka: bad word, evil word, horrible word). I know that for many of you (especially you curly-haired folks) silicone-free haircare products work best, and I completely understand that. For some, products containing silicones (especially those that are not water-soluble and don't break down when you cleanse the hair) are a big no-no because they can build up on the hair and eventually cause hair to look flat, weighed down and generally icky. I get that. I absolutely get that.

But for me personally, when it comes to haircare products, silicones work wonders. I've tried going silicone-free many times, and my hair just never looks as good as when I use haircare that does contain silicones. I do understand though, that silicones can build up on the hair, and that you do need to use a good clarifying shampoo about once a week to avoid build-up. 

For example: have you ever loved a haircare product and the way it made your hair look, only to discover that a few months into using it, the product magically stopped working? That could very well be because the silicones in the product built up on your hair and gradually made your hair look flat and lifeless. The next time this happens, try using a clarifying shampoo (I love the ones by Suave and Vo5) for a day or two, and return to using your favorite products. You might just find that they start working again.

Well that was an incredibly long intro to this review, but I just had to get that out there because when I saw the new-ish Aqua Light collection from Pantene a while back, I thought to myself: "Dare I?"

I did, and now I'd like to share my thoughts with you! I picked up both the shampoo and conditioner at Rite Aid a little over three weeks ago and have been using both ever since:

 Pantene Pro-V Aqua Light Shampoo and Conditioner

(retail: around $6 each, 12.6 oz)

For the record, I have long, naturally-wavy hair that is color-treated. My roots are oily but my ends are dry. The texture of my hair is fine, but I have a lot of it. Even though the natural curl pattern of my hair gives me loose, beachy waves without even really trying (yeah, it's the one thing when it comes to beauty that I totally lucked out on), I can get tighter ringlets with the right products.

So now that you know a bit more about my hair, let's take a closer look at these products and how they worked for me:

As you can see, the shampoo is free of silicones, dyes and parabens. But looking at the conditioner, you'll notice that the conditioner is NOT free of silicones (it is free of dyes and parabens though):

Dimethicone is a popular form of silicone which is found in many, many haircare products. While this conditioner is not silicone-free (nor does it claim to be), I suspect that it's still part of the Aqua Light collection because it has less silicones than many other conditioners on the market. 

So the promise of these products is that they'll give your hair a weightless feel. The implication is that silicones weight your hair down, and these products (silicone-free or very low in silicones as in the case of the conditioner) may be able to transform your heavy, weighed-down hair into lighter, springier hair. So did it work for me? Not so much.

My hair after using Pantene Aqua Light Shampoo and Conditioner (no styling products).

I used both this shampoo and conditioner exclusively for three weeks straight. After week one, I noticed that my hair started to feel dry and brittle. At first I thought that this product was actually drying out my hair, but then I realized that it probably was just revealing the true nature of my dry, over-processed hair without my usual mask of silicones. And sure enough, two weeks in, that seemed to be the case. My hair wasn't actually drier, it was just feeling the effects of being silicone-free (or close to it).

On the plus side, these products did make my hair feel lighter, but it didn't actually LOOK lighter (in fact, you can see it looks pretty flat in the above pictures). FYI, I don't normally heat-style my hair--I usually let it air-dry so what you see above is how my hair looks after a few hours of air-drying.

The shampoo builds to a nice lather and it's an easy shampoo to work through the hair. It's also easy to rinse. The conditioner is a light conditioner (it doesn't cut through tangles like a hot knife through butter), and I found myself having to use a LOT of it to feel like it was actually conditioning my hair in the way that I'm accustomed to having my hair feel after I step out of the shower. Even then, my hair just never felt soft enough for the entire three weeks I used these products, but that could be because I'm just used to silicones in my products.

The fragrance of both the shampoo and conditioner is quite nice. They both smell clean and fresh and they make my hair smell "clean" when I use them.

As many of you know, my holy grail shampoo and conditioner are these Dove products. In my review of those products, I showed you a picture of what my hair looks like after I use that Dove shampoo and conditioner and let it air-dry (the second picture of my hair in this post). Comparing that picture to the pictures in this post (I didn't use styling products in any of these photos), I think you'll see the dramatic difference.

The true test: in the past three weeks, my boyfriend "Mr. G" never once complimented me on my hair (he's really sweet and usually compliments me about things from time to time, especially when it comes to my hair). About three days after I went back to using my Dove products, he looked at me and said, "Wow, your hair looks amazing. What are you doing differently?"

FINAL VERDICT: The one thing I've learned after using these Pantene products is that I just can't live without my silicones, so I need to stop trying. Hair products that contain silicones just work better for me personally. But if you're already a silicone-free haircare product person, Pantene Pro-V Aqua Light shampoo and conditioner might work well for you (just know that the conditioner is not 100% silicone-free). Haircare is so incredibly subjective, and your results could dramatically vary depending on the texture and condition of your particular hair, but it might worth a shot if you're looking for an affordable way to cut down on your silicone intake. But if you're like me and depend on silicones to make your hair softer and look better, then I would say skip these.

This week (through 8/4) all three drugstore chains are running sales on Pantene, so it would be a good time to try these products if you've been curious about them. And if you do, I would LOVE if you'd come back and let us know how they worked for you. I'm hoping that some of you really enjoy these products and that they make your hair look fantastic--I just wish I could say that about my experience.