I’ll never wash my hair without a detangling mist again and here’s why

A detangling mist was the first beauty product I ever remember owning. As someone who grew up with coarse curls, it was an absolute essential for allowing a brush to pass through my hair. You know the Paolo scene from The Princess Diaries? That was me.

And yet as I got older (and got into beauty as a job; lucky me), my routine grew to include everything from blonde-toning shampoo to heat protectant sprays, and somehow along the way I let my OG fave fall away.

Maybe it was because of the plethora of products I already had to use to keep my bleached, damaged hair afloat (AKA attached), and maybe simply because a detangling mist hadn’t crossed my desk (or knocked my socks off) since the old strawberry-scented one I used as a kid.

But when Pantene (a brand I’ve long relied on for smoothing, repairing formulas) dropped a detangling mist promising to aid the woes of dry hair, I knew I was a prime candidate as both a dry-haired girl and a previous mist fanatic…

The product

A must-try for anyone with parched, hard-to-handle hair, the Pantene Instant Smooth Detangling Mist ($15 at Woolworths) is devoted to nourishing, softening and smoothing dry hair, leaving it manageable instead of matted. Its goal is simple but game-changing, especially if you deal with dryness: to gift you smoothness, softness and shine for quick, easy styling.

Pantene Instant Smooth Detangling Mist review

Okay, review time! We’ll get to the formula, but I simply have to start out with the scent, mostly because I genuinely cannot get it off my mind. I cannot stress enough; if I could wear Pantene’s signature sweet-and-clean aroma in bottled fragrance form, I genuinely would. I love it that much.

As for how to apply, the instructions suggested spraying evenly onto damp hair before combing through, and I did just that fresh out of the shower. I do generally comb conditioner through my hair during my wash, and yet the post-tub tangle situation is always dire regardless. But a few spritzes of this stuff and the comb was practically gliding – think scissors through wrapping paper. For the record, the bottle does also specify to avoid eyes and maybe spritz over a mat or towel, and I did both to make sure no stinging or slipping occurred.

I left my hair to air-dry after spritzing to see how the detangling benefits stood up to time, and blessedly, no knots formed. I even thought my wave patterns dried a little smoother and slightly more defined than usual. It’s pretty impressive that such a simple step could cause such a major improvement.

I must confess I didn’t solely keep it for damp hair – I tend to only commit to a full shampoo and condition twice weekly, so I did find myself craving a couple of spritzes on the between-wash days, too. Plus, I wanted to see how it would behave on day-old, dry hair, as that’s the kind of hair that I usually struggle the most with, tangle-wise.

I’ll admit that the specific tangling benefits were more obvious on wet hair, perhaps because you can saturate the hair more without worrying about sabotaging your blow-wave, but it still offered a speedy refresh. The deliciously good scent, however, was more obviously apparent (and what a blessing that was) on dry hair, as it wasn’t competing with the smell of the shampoo and conditioner as well. The biggest benefit I did see on dry hair? Less frizz! And as anyone with dry hair will well understand, that’s a true gift.

It’s lucky it’s readily available on supermarket shelves (and goes for only $15), because I’m spritzing the stuff both generously and frequently.

Image credits: Supplied

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