The Self-Care Mom

This is a sponsored post. I received compensation in the form of products from L’Oreal Paris and Pantene to facilitate my review. Amazon and Target have the products listed below. I’ve included affiliate links to both in case you’d like to purchase any of them.

Haircare has been on my mind since before I moved to South Florida with my little family. For years, I made my way to the salon and even had two go-to hairstylists in my hometown who knew how to care for my locks.

Moving to a new state meant starting over, and meeting new people. We all know what happens when you meet someone new. You either like them or you don’t.

Related: Curls, Curls, Curls Ebook

There are few people in my trust circle, and my hairstylists were among them. My hair isn’t the easiest to tame. Thick, curly and frizzy sounds like an oxymoron when it comes to hair — and yet that’s what I’ve been blessed with.

Pantene? A Girl Can Dream

Every Pantene commercial shows long, luxurious hair, but it really depends on your hair type.

Pantene has always been my mom’s go-to brand. For years I watched her buy bottles of their shampoo and conditioners to wash her hair at home and head to the salon for a blowout.

For me, it was different. Pantene didn’t leave my hair looking anything like the way I saw them on ads, nor the way it would work on my mom’s waves.

My mom would buy styling creams and deep oil conditioners to do my hair at home. She would straighten my hair with a curling iron or a regular iron — whatever would get the job done.

At some point, my mom realized she could either struggle with my hair and keep paying for all the at-home products she could find, or cough up the money and send me to the salon with her.

I recently tried the Pantene Daily Moisture Renewal With Moisture-Silk Complex to see if this new line from Pantene would help tame my locks.

After a shampoo session, I knew it wasn’t going to work. I’ve been trying different products on my hair long enough to know when a shampoo won’t do anything for my hair. That was the case with the Pantene Daily Moisture Renewal With Moisture-Silk Complex Hydrating Shampoo.

I didn’t give up hope after using the Pantene Daily Moisture Renewal With Moisture-Silk Complex Hydrating Shampoo, so I went with the Pantene Daily Moisture Renewal With Moisture-Silk Complex Hydrating Conditioner to see if maybe this would help soften my hair.

Nothing. 

I also received the Pantene Pro-V Stylers Mousse, 5 Maximum Hold. It only keeps my hair styled when it’s tied back. If I leave my hair loose, then the Pantene Pro-V Stylers Mousse, 5 Maximum Hold doesn’t keep its hold.

L’Oreal Loves Me

There was one thing my mom used on her hair that made a difference in mine while I was growing up. It was the L’Oreal Excellence Creme Protective Treatment Conditioner that comes in her preferred at-home hair dye solution and she would recommend I use it on my hair after every wash.

It always made my hair feel silky smooth, and after years of living on my own, I always searched for a product that would leave my hair feeling the same.

L’Oreal recently launched its Extraordinary Oil line of products and I received three of their products to sample from Influenster, along with a coupon to purchase another.

The minute I applied the L’Oreal Extraordinary Oil Nourishing Shampoo I noticed a difference. My hair felt clean, and you can feel the oils penetrating your hair for an even deeper clean.

The L’Oreal Extraordinary Oil Nourishing Conditioner feels EXACTLY like the L’Oreal Excellence Creme Protective Treatment Conditioner I had used for many years and grew to love.

The difference? This line of products smells a lot better.

For months, I would wash my hair and leave the conditioner in it for a naturally curly hairstyle and apply the L’Oreal Extraordinary Lustrous Oil Serum before and after an at-home blowout.

Although leaving the conditioner in my hair never gave me dry scalp or buildup in my hair, I never really felt comfortable leaving the regular conditioner in my hair so I went out and completed the line of L’Oreal Extraordinary Oil products by purchasing the Styling Creme. Buying the L’Oreal Extraordinary Transforming Oil-In-Cream was one of the best decisions I’ve ever made for my hair. It leaves my hair feeling just like it did when I applied the L’Oreal Extraordinary Oil Conditioner, except it’s meant to be applied on wet hair for styling purposes. And of course, it smells just as good.

The Hair Says It All

Although Pantene has worked wonders on my mother’s hair, for me, the winner is: L’Oreal.

Since receiving samples from Influenster, I’ve purchased the L’Oreal Extraordinary Oil Nourishing Shampoo and Conditioner twice. Once at CVS and another time at Publix. I did notice that out of all the places I shop, Target has the best price for this line.