If you or someone close to you has suffered from cancer, you know how debilitating the disease can be. The current statistic is that 1 in 8 women will develop invasive breast cancer during their lifetime. That’s a staggeringly high amount of people.

Therefore, raising awareness about cancer is everyone’s concern – even men’s! Think about your mother, your friend, your partner, or your sister. Knowing how to seek treatment for cancer and what support is available can make all the difference in a person’s treatment and recovery.

So, in 2006 Pantene launched the Beautiful Lengths Program to help women undergoing chemotherapy treatment. The program ended at the end of 2018, but it had quite an impact while it was running. Essentially, it sought to have people donate wigs to women who were battling cancer. The program encouraged people to donate 8 inches of hair or $8. Once the hair was collected from 8 different women there was enough to create a wig, which they then donated to a cancer victim. The number 8 is significant in that it represents the statistic for women regarding breast cancer.

As many of us know, chemotherapy is a drastic treatment that leaves women bald. While undergoing the treatment is something many people may want to avoid, it increases the chances of recovery quite significantly. As if dealing with the pain of the treatment isn’t enough, the psychological effects of becoming bald and loosing drastic amounts of weight can really make a woman feel depressed.

That’s why Pantene wanted to encourage women to look and feel beautiful while fighting this horrible disease. This often gives them the courage and confidence to keep living their lives and increases their chances of recovery quite significantly. To find out more about this amazing program – please keep reading!

The Importance Of Donating Hair

Cutting off your locks can do a world of good for someone battling cancer.

It’s only when someone close to you gets cancer that you realize how drastic this disease is. If the disease is caught early, the chances of recovery are usually quite high. However, if it’s only discovered later on, the course of action needed is a lot more drastic.

In most cases, treatment involves chemotherapy. Chemotherapy not only destroys cancer cells but everything in its path. Sometimes, if caught early enough, cancer can be treated holistically. But more often than not, chemotherapy is recommended.

While chemotherapy does improve the patient’s chances of recovery significantly, it leaves the patient in incredibly bad shape. A person is likely to experience a weak immune system, a reduced appetite, and even hair loss.

The radical shift in a woman’s health and image has a terrible effect on their sense of self-worth. And this negative pattern of thinking may only worsen their chances of recovery. So it’s imperative to do whatever possible to restore their confidence. Which brings us to the importance of donating hair. 

By donating your hair towards a wig, you give a woman battling cancer the ability to feel good about herself. Rather than staying indoors and succumbing to sadness or hopelessness, she can start living her life with a more positive outlook. This is an important part of the recovery process. In some cases, it can mean the difference between life or death.

So donating a wig is not simply a superficial way to help someone with a very real disease. It’s a simple way to allow a woman to reclaim her life. Giving someone a second chance could change more lives than you can imagine, and it can all begin with a simple ‘snip’ from your scissors!

Pantene Beautiful Lengths Program Explained

Pantene’s Beautiful Lengths Program sought to meet the need of providing free wigs to those with cancer.

The Pantene Beautiful Lengths program was centered around sourcing natural hair and funds to create wigs for women going through cancer treatment. The idea was also to raise awareness about breast cancer and various other forms of cancer, specifically for women. But how did the program work? First you had to check whether your hair qualified (I’ll explain that shortly).

If your hair did qualify and you sent it in, it would have to be processed into a wig. This was done by washing it, then dyeing it and then sewing it onto a headpiece that ultimately became the wig. The finished wigs were then sent to the American Cancer Association, where they were later redistributed across the country to those who needed them most – completely free of charge.

The process did take a while. But once your hair qualified for the program it went to someone who really needed it, ultimately having a huge impact on their life. There were countless stories on the program’s Facebook page depicting the positive impact that this organization and the support of thousands of women across the country had on the lives of those affected by cancer.

Pantene Beautiful Lengths Program Requirements

The Pantene Beautiful Lengths program did have certain requirements. But first of all, it’s important to note that even if your hair didn’t qualify for the program, you could still donate $8 towards this cause. The money would go towards crafting a wig for someone in need. That being said, here are the steps people took in order to donate hair and determine whether their hair qualified for the program.

– Hair should be a minimum of 8 inches long
– Contain no dyes, bleaches or excess chemicals (i.e. product)
– Have no more than 5% grey hair

The reason why they didn’t take bleached or dyed hair is that it makes processing the hair a lot more complicated. Once the hair is received at a program, it needs to be trimmed, washed and dyed the same color to be used uniformly in a wig. When the hair is already dyed or bleached, it takes more time for the dye to be absorbed. This slows down the process and affects the final color of the wig. So hair must be as close to natural as possible!

Treating And Preparing Your Hair Before Sending

– Use a conditioner after each wash for at least a month before sending in your hair. This ensures that it’s hydrated and protected against damage.

– Use a spray-on, leave-in conditioner before using heat treatment appliances. This protects your hair against heat damage.

– Avoid excessive combing or teasing of your hair, as this may damage the cuticles over time.

– Use a deep moisturizing treatment, such as a hair mask, at least once a week before sending in your hair.  This helps to ensure that your hair is healthy and nourished.

Recommended Don’ts For Treating Hair

– Don’t use a brush immediately after wetting your hair in a shower, as this may cause split ends. Use a soft, broad-tooth comb instead to help separate your hair. It’s gentler on the cuticles and strands.

– Don’t blow-dry your hair directly after showering. This causes excess heat damage to the follicles and may result in dry, damaged, and stressed out hair. It’s best to towel-wrap your hair for 10-15 minutes before attempting to blow-dry.

– You should avoid over brushing your hair. Rather, remember to brush a little bit once a day or every two days. This helps promote a healthy oil balance and encourages stronger hair growth.

Making The Cut

Pantene gave some simple steps for how to prepare hair for donation.

When making the cut and sending it off, here’s what Pantene instructed:

1.) You needed to shampoo and condition the hair and avoid using hair spray or any additional products. You also had to ensure that the hair was completely dry before sending it off.

2.) Gather the hair at the nape of the neck.

3.) Create a ponytail in your hands by making a fist around the loose hair and securing it with an elastic band. The band had to be tight around the hair to keep the hair together after cutting. If it came out of the band, it wouldn’t be included in the donation. A second hair band could be placed around the middle of the ponytail to keep the hair together.

4.) Ensure that the elastic band was just below the point where you wanted to cut your hair. Keep a second elastic band on around the middle of the ponytail at this point to ensure that it stayed together.

5.) Measure the length of the ponytail from the elastic band to the tips, making sure it was at least 8 inches long. Donations shorter than 8 inches weren’t used, because this is too short for making a wig. If your hair was not 8 inches, continue growing it out. There is no maximum length requirement.

6.) Cut the hair just above the elastic band so that the elastic band remains on the ponytail after cutting and keeps cut hair together. Do not wash or style the ponytail in any way after it has been cut off.

Pantene Beautiful Lengths Shampoo and Conditioner Review

Pantene’s beautiful length shampoo.

In order to help promote their campaign towards supporting women affected by cancer, the company released a shampoo and conditioner that are perfectly suited towards encouraging hair that is perfect for donation. The Pantene Beautiful Lengths shampoo and conditioner are designed to help encourage long, healthy hair that is strong and durable. And they include keratin, a naturally occurring protein that our hair relies on to encourage long, healthy, and strong growth.

The idea is that by using the shampoo and conditioner on a regular basis, you can prevent damage and split ends by nourishing the follicles with every wash and adding an extra layer of protection to your hair against the occurrence of sun and heat damage. The shampoo and conditioner have a lovely scent. They’ll leave your hair feeling soft and smooth after every wash.

In an attempt to donate hair to the program myself, I decided to use both over the course of a month. And I was pleasantly surprised with the results. While my hair has never really been prone to breakage, it certainly did feel a lot stronger and more supple by the end of the month.

They rinse out easily and give you the freedom of a no-fuss wash and condition treatment. I love these products because they work and they work well. The added bonus was that you could have the satisfaction of knowing that you were helping a good cause, rather than simply buying another hair care product. I would also recommend these products for anyone who makes use of heat treatments on a regular basis. The added protection will help to prevent the onset of split ends and premature breakage.

Healing damaged hair is a lengthy and tiresome process that often costs a lot more than simply preventing it in the first place. So be sure to start using Pantene’s Beautiful Lengths Shampoo and Conditioner today to help prevent the onset of dry, damaged hair and enjoy the comfort of healthy, strong hair for longer.

Conclusion

When a close friend of mine was diagnosed with breast cancer, it shook me to my core. She was a healthy, happy and positive person. For her to develop this horrible disease was practically unthinkable for me!

Being there to help her through this tough phase in her life allowed me to see what the effects of this disease are firsthand. Thankfully, she managed to recover fully and is currently leading a very happy life. But knowing that it happened to her made me wonder how many other people had developed this disease.

Since then, I’ve made every attempt to stay up-to-date with new causes and organizations that help create awareness about this horrible disease and help those in need. When I came across the Beautiful Lengths program, I was bowled over by how many people they’ve been able to help over the past 12 years.

The products they’ve released in connection with this cause work great. I would recommend them whether they were for the cause or not – simply because Pantene is known for holding a certain level of quality in their products that is often hard to match. But showing support for cancer victims is something that we should all be doing. It’s a very serious disease that affects a lot of people – too many people. So show that you care and snip your ponytail for this amazing cause.