Review: Pantene Fine Hair Triple Action Volume Mousse

My local CVS has been failing me.  They never have any of my usual hair products in stock.  Sob.  So instead of picking up my usual Dove Volumizing Mousse, which I love to death because it leaves my hair nice and soft and bouncy with zero buildup or crunchiness, I grabbed this Pantene Fine Hair Triple Action Volume Mousse (such a mouthful).  You get 6.6 0z of product for about $3.50 vs. the $6 for my Dove mousse where you get 7 oz.  So it's a better deal per ounce. 


The bottle is very tall and skinny, probably about 9-10 inches tall and inch and a half wide.  I like the packaging--it's very sleek and polished, and I like that they have consistent packaging for all the products in their hair solutions line, all yellow for fine hair, green/blue for thick hair, etc.  Now, if you know me you're wondering why I got mousse for thin hair when I have enough for for about four different people on my head.  Well.  I figured that the volumizing mousse for thin hair would be more intense than the volumizing mousse for thick hair because thin hair is flatter (I feel like that logic is deeply flawed somehow, but whatever). 

Here's what Pantene says about the mousse: 

-Volume Particle Technology creates distance between hair fibers to help add volume.  
-Gentle enough for color treated or permed hair.  
-The result is all over volume that lasts all day.
-Volumizing mousse contains maximum level hold to protect hair from humidity for style that lasts.

It has 'maximum hold' at Level 4 (whatever that means).  As for the mousse itself, here goes.  It smells amazing, that mixture of florals and slight fruitiness that expensive conditioners have.  I don't think the smell lingers on my hair for all that long, but it's hard for me to smell my scalp.  The texture isn't as wonderful.  There are the mousses that have a great, thick, marshmellowy texture that don't collapse like a souffle, and there are the mousses that look nice and thick but collapse like whipped egg whites when you touch them.  This one collapses.  Which means that I have to use more product to feel like I'm putting anything in my hair at all, which means that the cheapness of the price doesn't end up being so cheap.  


However, once I put it in my hair and brush it out, it all gets better.  It is one of those mousses that you have to brush out--I brush it out a lot, and sometimes when my hair dries it's still a bit crunchy.  If you brush it out once it's dried, however, it stays nice and soft.  This mousse leaves my hair soft and shiny--not as soft as my Dove mousse, but still pretty soft with minimal buildup.  The best part about this mousse is the volume.  It gives me great volume.  Even more volume than my Dove mousse, and I've even been getting comments on it.  The volume lasts all day, even in weird Boston weather.


Awkward Chic rating: A.  I have to use more product because of the texture and it does dry a little crunchy, but the volume it gives me is fab, so it cancels out.  All in all it's a pretty good deal for the money, even if you don't have fine hair.