Pantene Full & Thick

This is a compensated review from BlogHer and Pantene Full & Thick

Anyone who reads my blog will recall that I have been struggling with hair issues for quite some time. Earlier this year, my hair and I had a standoff of sorts. I said “hair, I’m tired of your wispy ways and limpness. I am tired of looking like an old washed out mop. I want the hair I used to have. I want hair that looks like hair and not faded Christmas tinsel. I know you can do it!” Yet, even with the pep talks and various products, my hair was having no part of it. I tried different shampoos and conditioners. I tried washing my hair every day and that didn’t even help. I was considering a perm and the flashback to my 80s hair almost made me cry. I just wanted a little body, some appearance of thickness. Mostly, I wanted my hair to look like it was not pasted to the top of my head by the middle of the day.

I went through a myriad of shampoos and conditions and even went to the doctor to ask if my age and hormone levels could be the root cause (ha!) of my hair problems. It seemed that when I turned the big Four-OH! last year, my hair decided it had had enough and began to limp out, break off and otherwise boycott all efforts I made at prettiness. As luck would have it in the midst of my hair product experimentation, BlogHer approached me with this review.

I had already tried five different shampoos since the first of the year, working my way down the list of suggestions my readers had provided earlier. When my Pantene arrived, the first thing I did was open it and take a smell. I like a shampoo that smells good but not heavily perfumed. Pantene smelled very light and fragrant but not overpowering. I washed my hair that night and was surprised that the shampoo is clear. I am not sure what I expected, but it wasn’t clear shampoo. I also like the fact that I only needed a small amount to clean my hair with a head full of bubbly lather. I conditioned and was surprised at the difference I felt simply combing it out. The true test would be the morning when I woke up. Usually, if I wash my hair at night, when I wake up in the morning it is limp and thin. However, the miracle of Pantene Full & Thick was that my hair actually had some fullness and thickness to it the next morning! Even better? My hair still looked good that night!

I was hesitant though to love this new Pantene Full & Thick just yet. I still had another day of hair to deal with. I used Pantene again and decided to blow dry my hair. Wow. Note to self: no need to hang my head upside down to blow dry it using Pantene. Yeah. I had big 80s hair that was, well, big. I had to tame it back just a little with some water. However, again, I was able to go two full days without washing my hair and that is huge for me.

I decided to wash both of my daughters’ hair with the Pantene Full & Thick. This was comical at best. My 12 year old has really thick, full hair. This shampoo gave her a full on lion’s mane. Not the look she was going for at all! My 9 year old has thin, wispy hair like mine. Her hair was beautiful and full of body and bounce. She is hooked and asked if I could buy her some Pantene for “just her.”

I have been using the Pantene Full & Thick all week and I honestly have no complaints. My hair looks good. It feels good. It has more body than it has had in over a year and it is not breaking off. It even smells good the next day and is easy to comb through.

If you have thin or limp hair like I did, I would feel totally comfortable recommending Pantene Full & Thick. I also appreciate the fact that the conditioner is a light conditioner that does not weigh down my hair, but still leaves it soft and manageable so I can pull it up at work if necessary, and when I drop it back down, it still looks good. I finally have movie star hair!

Well, almost.

Oh Look! A Contest:

Would you love to win a $100 Visa card and a year’s supply of Pantene? If so, leave me a comment below and tell me how much time do you spend dealing with hair issues daily and do you have any tips or tricks you can share - or you may leave a link to your post on your own blog in the comments below. The contest will begin at 9:00 a.m. (PST) July 1, 2009 and will end 5:00 p.m. (PST) August 1, 2009. Make sure that the e-mail address you leave is correct.
Rules:
• No duplicate comments.
• You may receive an additional entry by linking on twitter and leaving a link in the comments.
• You may receive an additional entry by blogging about this contest and leaving a link in the comments.
• This giveaway is open to US residents, aged 18 and over
• Winners will be selected via random draw, and will notified by e-mail.
• You have 48 hours to get back to me, otherwise a new winner will be selected.
• Please see the official rules here: Official Rules

Check out the rest of the BlogHer reviews for 8 additional chances to win!

Zing Zang Zoom! The Circus is Coming!

Hey kids! Guess what? (don’t you hate it when people say guess what and you have absolutely no idea what the heck they’re asking you to guess about?)

The Circus is coming! Zing Zang Zoom! The Ringling Bros and Barnum & Bailey circus is coming to Phoenix, like, right now. This month!

The following dates and times have been scheduled for the Phoenix showing at US Airways Center:

Wednesday, June 24, 2009, at 7:00 p.m.
Thursday, June 25, 2009, at 11:00 a.m. and 7:00 p.m.
Friday, June 26, 2009, at 11:00 a.m. and 7:00 p.m.
Saturday, June 27, 2009, at 11:00 a.m. and 3:00 and 7:00 p.m.
Sunday, June 28, 2009, at 1:00 and 5:00 p.m.

If you would like to attend any of these showings, here is deal you cannot resist:

Purchase a family 4-pack of tickets for only $44 at www.ticketmaster.com and enter the coupon code: MOM

The best part of all? As if the circus coming to town wasn’t cool enough: You can win tickets right here! Simply leave a comment here telling me your favorite circus memory (or lack thereof). I will choose a random winner Friday, June 19th, at 8:30 p.m. Arizona time. I will email the winner and you must get back to me that night with your name. You will be able to pick up your tickets (with a valid picture ID) at Will Call the night of the show.

Like I need a reminder that they're not considered "diet" food

I love all things Cheese. We have a serious, long term relationship, Cheese and I. In fact, I have the same loving relationship with Cheese’s salty little adopted brother, Cheetos. So, you can imagine my delight when I was browsing the chips isle at the local supermarket and spotted this:



No one could ever accuse me of missing a chance to eat anything covered in Cheese. Especially not GIANT cheesy salty goodness covered Cheetos. I will admit it, I was excited to try the new GIANT Cheetos. I love all things Cheetos (well, except spicy hot burn your lips off and stain your fingers Cheetos. Those are kind of gross).

I brought my bag of GIANT cheesetastic goodness to work and mowed them all week long. Today, I was finishing off the bag and when I popped one of the final five GIANT Cheetos into my mouth, I had one of those gagging kind of what the hell did I just eat feelings. I looked into my bag because my GIANT Cheeto was wet. WET?!

My first thought was who has been drooling into my Cheetos bag? Upon closer inspection though (and by closer I mean dumping out the remaining four GIANT Cheetos onto a Kleenex on my desk and making a huge, crumby mess) I was greeted with what can only be described as gross. At least a tablespoon (YES, AN ENTIRE TABLESPOON) of clear looking oil. This oil had no smell or flavor. It was just pooled down there in the bottom of the bag, sopping up the extra Cheetos crumbs.

I’ll be honest. I grossed me out. My love of all things GIANT and cheesetastic is officially over now I’m afraid. I couldn’t bring myself to eat the remaining Cheetos. They were ruined for me.

My advice: They were good. They were Giant. They were Cheesetastic. However, they were also rolled in oil and dumped in a bag and that my friends, is gross.

Fresh Air Fund

The Fresh Air Fund needs hosts for the Summer of 2009. There is no right or typical host family. If you have an extra bedroom and a big heart, you can host a child also. (there are geographical considerations)

If you cannot host a child, perhaps you can donate to what could be the opportunity of a life time. The Fresh Air Fund relies on donations to raise the funds needed to give these children the experiences they deserve.

The Fresh Air Fund is a not-for-profit agency. Donations are tax deductible.

What is more annoying that?

Do you want to know what annoys me? wearing a bra Answering the phone. What I hate even more than that is when I answer the phone during dinner or my favorite television show or at 8:01 a.m. and it is not the school informing me that one of the dramas has chopped off her leg or work calling to say I won the lottery and don't need to come in today.

Telemarketers.

Often times it is my bank calling to offer me life insurance or hospital benefits or other useless crap that I don't want and did not ask for. How many insurance policies does one family need? Why can't they call to tell me "bank error in your favor, collect a gozillion dollars?"

Since that is never going to happen, I am going to rely upon the pros.

A website, Every Call, recently launched that helps stop telemarketing calls by identifying who's behind those unknown numbers that come up on our caller ids.

It is a free service that works in conjunction with data from the FCC.
Visit Site and feel free to pass this message along.

Spring Cleaning 2.0

I had a neighbor who used to fill up her gas tank every weekend and go out trolling garage sales. I've never been one to go to a garage sales because I just don't have the desire to drive around until I find that good sale. My neighbor however furnished her entire formal dining room via garage sale for under $300 and you wouldn't know it to look at her stuff. She also furnished her family room the same way and I must say, she did a fine job.

I was approached by the folks over at GarageSalesTracker and asked to give my readers the information on the product they provide. Here you go:

The traditional way of advertising a garage sale in the past was to place an ad in the newspaper, post signs around the neighborhood and wait for visitors to pour in. Today that has changed thanks to sites like GargageSalesTracker.com which allow users to post their sale on the internet and get instant exposure to millions of viewers. In these tough economic times, having a Garage Saleseems to be a prudent way to raise money while cleaning out the old junk in the house. In other cases families have taken to these thrifty sales as a means to save money and find household items, children s clothes, toys, and appliances at bargain basement prices.

Thanks GargageSalesTracker for providing a service such as this. Where I live, garage sales have to be approved through the home owners association and generally, they must be community sales. I am sure that even sales such as those will benefit from the services you provide.

Snuggle with me?

So, I'm minding my own business one day and I get an email with a coupon for the new Snuggle scents Sweet Almond and Jojoba and I had to try one because a) I had a coupon; b) it was on sale so with my coupon it only cost me a buck; c) if it sucked, I was only out a dollar; and d) I like the feel of extra super soft bedding and towels (especially now that it is pool season again).

Now, I will be honest. I have never been a big fan of fabric softeners. Usually they make me sneeze and it is never good to crawl into a freshly made bed and start sneezing your face off. Equally un-fun to grab a towel after a nice shower and immediately begin to sniffle and snort.

Imagine the torture of using fabric softener at work...

TECH TIP - if you work in an office with carpet and find that ya'll are shocking yourself on a regular basis, mix one part fabric softener and four parts water in a spray bottle. Spray it on the carpet monthly and work will be, quite literally, a less shocking place. This is helpful to avoid burning out a keyboard (been there, done that); shocking the boss when you had him/her the stack of freshly printed documents; and more importantly, your hair will not be constantly flying about in your face and eyes as you feverishly try to finish up that big project on Friday afternoon.

Don't thank me. I live to serve.

Because I am a trooper, I purchased my bottle of Sweet Almond Essence and headed home to do laundry.

I. Love. It.

Not only did I NOT sneeze my face off, the scent lingers in the air. My laundry room smells delicious. My bedroom and bathroom smell delicious. Even my stinky brother's bedroom has a clean, fresh scent to it. You have no idea what comfort that brings me since his room is directly across from the guest bathroom (which now smells equally wonderful).

In fact, my office now smells like Almonds and I have not shocked myself all week. But – don’t take my word for it. Go get your coupon and try it for yourself.