My step-brother is a hair stylist. He also says that Pantene is bad for color treated hair.
With all due respect, stylists are not chemists. I have not met one stylist (and I go to a great one) yet who knows as much as me about ingredients, and I am self-taught. A lot of times, stylists only know the basic product knowledge taught to them by the suppliers. But stylists are there to give us great haircuts, not chemistry lessons
As I mentioned above, the main causes of colour fade are the sun & plain old water. There is no ingredient that will preserve colour, other than a colour depositing shampoo. What you wash with is of little consequence when it comes to making colour last longer. There is no ingredient in ANY Pantene formula that isn't in salon brands. Proctor & Gamble own Pantene, they also make Frederic Fekkai, Wella & Sebastian, to name a few salon lines. The ingredients in their drugstore lines are the same as their salon lines, although the formulas vary slightly, the main difference is really fragrance.
L'oreal, another cosmetics giant, own the drugstore Vive lines, which are generally
excellent (there are a few misses, but more hits). The also own Khiels, Kerestase, Redken, Pureology, and Matrix. The same holds true for them, same ingredients, slightly different formulas.
Pantene is one of the best performing conditioners on the market today, and stands up (and above, in many cases) to anything you buy in a salon. P&G hare HUGE, and spend a LOT on research & development, so accross the board, they are making great products.
the trick is to learn about the chemistry of hair, and haircare ingredients. learn what your hair responds well to, and how to cut through the marketing BS of the haircare industry. If your $30 shampoo works great for you, and you can afford it, buy it, but because you love it, not because you think there is nothing as "good" in the drugstore. There is, you just have to know how to look
