Panthenol (B Vitamin) may not sound exciting, but once you learn its ‘clean’ little secret, you’ll look for it in all your skincare products. Vitamin B is a provitamin with anti-inflammatory and moisturizing properties. It naturally occurs in many foods included in a balanced diet but is also commonly found in daily multivitamins and supplements. (Note: Always seek medical advice before using dietary supplements!)
Psst! You can also find it in our Restoring Shampoo!
What Exactly is Panthenol?
Panthenol comes in two forms: L-panthenol and D-panthenol. Both are great for moisturizing, and both are B vitamins, but D-panthenol is the more bioactive form. Panthenol is a water-soluble substance that converts to pantothenic acid in the body, and it’s a must-have ingredient in any hair or skincare product.
How Provitamins Support Wellness
To best understand the benefits of panthenol, we need to know why provitamins are essential. A provitamin is a substance that the body can convert into a vitamin once absorbed. We can find another example of a provitamin in Beta Carotene.
Beta Carotene is an antioxidant often found in fruits and vegetables. You can tell when this ingredient is present when your foods have a bright yellow, orange, or green color. Our bodies can convert Beta Carotene within the liver, allowing us to reap its anti-aging and anti-inflammatory benefits. The same thing happens with panthenol, except that panthenol turns into vitamin B5.
Provitamins are precursors that convert into bioavailable, active forms of vitamins that our bodies can readily take advantage of. They help deliver the benefits of the essential vitamins (the variations of vitamins A, C, D, E, K, and B) more effectively. In this instance, panthenol helps our bodies to process and utilize vitamin B5.
How B Vitamins Help Our Hair
It is becoming more well-known that B vitamins can carry nutrients to our scalp. They aid in delivering the energy needed to grow, repair, and moisturize the hair. Vitamin B6, for example, is essential to collagen synthesis. Collagen, in return, has been shown to support hair growth.
Biotin (vitamin B7) is another example of a B vitamin that has become extremely popular in hair care products because it stimulates keratin production, aiding healthy hair growth. A Biotin deficiency (as well as any other essential nutrient deficiency) can contribute to hair thinning, hair loss, and even anemia.
But biotin isn’t the only B vitamin responsible for beautiful, healthy hair. As mentioned, it works best in unison with other vitamins and nutrients, such as panthenol or pantothenic acid.
B Vitamins offer innumerable benefits to overall health, but one of our absolute favorite hair benefits is moisture.
Most of us enjoy soaking up sunlight on bright, beautiful days, and it’s great for your mood, vitamin D levels, and, obviously, a gorgeous tan.
But despite all the health benefits, overexposure to direct sunlight can dry out the hair. In this case, panthenol can help to protect the hair shaft’s integrity and target the hair follicle to support new growth (combating thinning and baldness). It retains moisture in the scalp and hair, helping to keep damage from weather and the elements to a minimum.
Hot styling tools like hair dryers also contribute to dryness and dehydration by blasting heat directly onto the hair shaft and scalp. Over time, regular use of these tools can result in significant damage and breakage. However, ingredients like avocado butter (which contains ample provitamin B5) make all the difference in combating dryness.
Even without hot tools or overexposure to the elements, people who battle chronic dryness may find that panthenol is the key to finally obtaining shiny, hydrated hair!
Humectant, Emollient, Shine Expert
Most of us have experienced the negative consequences of dehydrated skin and hair at one point or another. The hair can become brittle, flat, and dull, and it can even start to break. These issues aren’t just bad news for our hair health; they can also be a big hit to our self-esteem. That’s where panthenol comes in!
One of the more technical terms used to describe panthenol is a humectant. A humectant, to put it simply, is a substance that aids in retaining moisture. Humectants are used in countless products, from foods to cosmetics to medicines. In this case, the humectant envelops itself with moisture from within the skin or hair or from the environment to keep the surrounding area, well, moist.
But how do we maintain that moisture? Well, Vitamin B5 is also an emollient. Emollients improve skin barrier function, keeping the newly-acquired moisture intact within the skin or hair. These agents help reduce dryness, itching, and other inflammation. So, they give moisture and help you retain it. They can also help to add softness, elasticity, and shine!
Wellnesse Ingredients with Naturally Occurring B5
Here are a few of our favorite hair care ingredients that contain naturally occurring provitamin B5.
Nettle: A common plant utilized throughout history for everything from pain management to soothing allergies. We love nettle for its powerful support for new hair growth and shine.
Avocado Butter: A rich, high-fat butter that helps deliver panthenol more effectively and directly to the hair. It helps deep condition the hair for extra moisture.
Jojoba Oil: An oil rich in both provitamin B5 and vitamin E. The two vitamins are a powerful duo for moisturizing and combating oxidative stress.
Argan Oil: An oil that contains beneficial fatty acids and many vitamins, including pantothenic acid. Argan oil is an ancient Moroccan beauty secret, great for conditioning and repairing damage in the hair. It is also known as an anti-aging wonder, soothing skin irritation and improving the skin barrier.
Panthenol Partners
Panthenol isn’t the only ingredient in our collection that helps strengthen, moisturize, and undo hair damage. We’ve worked hard to combine multiple hair superfoods to give you a haircare formula that gives you everything you need!
A few of our other ingredients include:
Nettle: Boosts hair growth
Keratin: Smooths hair, reduces frizz, and adds gloss
Lavender: Balances the pH of the scalp
Jojoba: Moisturizes and adds shine
Hydrolyzed Quinoa: Repairs hair damage and aids new growth
We carefully source each ingredient in our haircare products to ensure nothing gets between you and your happiest, healthiest hair. And we’ve worked hard to formulate all-natural recipes that address all of your hair concerns, from flaky scalps to excess oil.
Our goal is to provide you and your family with products that ensure you never have to (or want to!) resort to store-bought hair care products that do more harm than good. Instead, show your hair some love by using clean, ethically-sourced ingredients that help your hair to grow, glow, and shine from the inside out.
If you want a closer look at our ingredients, you can view them on our ingredient page. We believe in radical transparency, which is why our ingredients are always listed on our public ingredient page alongside their EWG rating. (Spoiler alert: Most of our ingredients have the highest possible ratings by EWG!)
Ditch your old, toxic hair care products and treat yourself to clean, natural, effective formulas designed for the best hair type: yours. So go ahead; add a little more Wellnesse to your day. You deserve the upgrade!
Resources
Yang, M., Moclair, B., Hatcher, V., Kaminetsky, J., Mekas, M., Chapas, A., & Capodice, J. (2014). A randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study of a novel pantothenic Acid-based dietary supplement in subjects with mild to moderate facial acne. Dermatology and therapy, 4(1), 93–101. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13555-014-0052-3
Camargo FB Jr, Gaspar LR, Maia Campos PM. Skin moisturizing effects of panthenol-based formulations. J Cosmet Sci. 2011 Jul-Aug;62(4):361-70. PMID: 21982351.
Stettler H, Kurka P, Lunau N, Manger C, Böhling A, Bielfeldt S, Wilhelm KP, Dähnhardt-Pfeiffer S, Dähnhardt D, Brill FH, Lenz H. A new topical panthenol-containing emollient: Results from two randomized controlled studies assessing its skin moisturization and barrier restoration potential, and the effect on skin microflora. J Dermatolog Treat. 2017 Mar;28(2):173-180. doi: 10.1080/09546634.2016.1214235. Epub 2016 Aug 2. PMID: 27425824.