OREANDA-NEWS. September 09, 2015. Pantene announced today the official launch of the #8or8 Challenge, benefiting the Pantene Beautiful Lengths program. Pantene Ambassador Selena Gomez joined in the program by asking fans nationwide to ‘choose their 8,’ by either donating \\$8 or 8 inches of hair to help create free, real-hair wigs for women who have lost their hair due to cancer treatment.

Since 2006, the Pantene Beautiful Lengths program has been providing free, real-hair wigs to women during the toughest fight of their lives. With the introduction of the #8or8 Challenge, the program continues to expand, enabling more and more women with cancer to benefit from the gift of a real-hair wig. The number eight is significant for Pantene Beautiful Lengths for many reasons - more than 800,000 ponytail donations have been received to-date, a minimum donation of an 8-inch ponytail is required, and a minimum of eight ponytails is necessary to create one wig.

“Pantene Beautiful Lengths helps women with cancer feel better about themselves,” said Selena Gomez, Pantene Ambassador. “I love that you can support the cause in a variety of different ways with the #8or8 Challenge.”

To help launch the #8or8 campaign, Pantene partnered with Cosmopolitan and Seventeen magazines to conduct a survey to understand the lifestyle and attitudes of millennials and teens, including the charitable behaviors of both groups. The survey found that millennials and teens are interested in a cause if they have a personal investment or see a direct benefit to those they support. Pantene Beautiful Lengths helps them do just that with the tangible gift of a wig and the knowledge that they are helping women undergoing cancer treatment feel more confident, beautiful and stronger.

Get Involved

There are a number of easy ways to get involved and donate to Pantene Beautiful Lengths:

  • Charitweet: Donate via Twitter by retweeting @Pantene’s “Charitweets” on September 8th for instructions on how to donate to the cause.
  • One Today by Google: Visit the Pantene Beautiful Lengths Fund page here.
  • Pantene Beautiful Lengths Fund: Donate via The Greater Cincinnati Foundation here.
  • Donate Your Hair: September 8th is also National Donate Your Hair Day! To donate hair, simply go to your local salon, measure a ponytail of at least 8 inches and make the cut. For full instructions, visit www.beautifullengths.com.
  • Challenge Your Friends: Share your donation and encourage your friends to participate in the #8or8 Challenge by using #8or8 and #BeautifulLengths hashtags, tagging @Pantene.

“Hair donations have always been at the heart of this program and will continue to be, but we thought to ourselves, ‘What if we could do more?’” said Jodi Allen, Vice President of Procter & Gamble North American Hair Care and Color. “With the Pantene Beautiful Lengths Fund, anyone who wants to support the program can do so and we encourage everyone to help us create even more wigs than ever before by joining the #8or8 Challenge.”

About Pantene Beautiful Lengths and the Pantene Beautiful Lengths Fund

Since its creation in 2006, Pantene Beautiful Lengths has collected more than 800,000 ponytails and provided the funds to create more than 42,000 free, real-hair wigs which are distributed through select American Cancer Society wig banks across the country.

The Pantene Beautiful Lengths Fund works with the non-profit organization The Greater Cincinnati Foundation, which accepts monetary donations, allowing anyone to support the Pantene Beautiful Lengths program.

Many of the women helped say that putting on a wig makes them feel like themselves again during the toughest fight of their lives and when people across the country donate to Pantene Beautiful Lengths, they are helping make that happen.

About Pantene® Pro-V:

Pantene Pro-V, the world’s #1 hair care brand, includes 22 collections to help provide women with their most beautiful, healthy hair. The current Pantene Pro-V offerings include: Anti-Breakage, AquaLight, Beautiful Lengths, Classic Clean, Color Revival, Curl Perfection, Damage Detox, Daily Moisture Renewal, Full & Strong, Ice Shine, Nature Fusion, Repair & Protect, Smooth & Sleek, Pro-V Style Series, Sheer Volume, Truly Natural, Truly Relaxed, and Ultimate 10. Pantene Expert offerings include: Age Defy, Advanced Keratin Repair, Fade Defy, and Dry Defy. Powered by 70 years of experience, 200 scientists and partnerships with 11 leading independent hair doctors from around the world, Pantene’s Pro-V Formula works inside and out for beautiful hair rooted in true, lasting health.

About Procter & Gamble:

P&G serves consumers around the world with one of the strongest portfolios of trusted, quality, leadership brands, including Always®, Ambi Pur®, Ariel®, Bounty®, Charmin®, Crest®, Dawn®, Downy®, Fairy®, Febreze®, Gain®, Gillette®, Head & Shoulders®, Lenor®, Olay®, Oral-B®, Pampers®, Pantene®, SK-II®, Tide®, Vicks®, and Whisper®. The P&G community includes operations in approximately 70 countries worldwide. Please visit http://www.pg.com for the latest news and information about P&G and its brands.

About The Greater Cincinnati Foundation:

One of the nation’s leading community foundations, The Greater Cincinnati Foundation helps people make the most of their giving to build a better community. We believe in the power of philanthropy to change the lives of people and communities. As a community foundation, GCF creates a prosperous Greater Cincinnati by investing in thriving people and vibrant places. An effective steward of the community’s charitable resources since 1963, the Foundation inspires philanthropy in eight counties in Ohio, Kentucky, and Indiana.

About the American Cancer Society®:

The American Cancer Society is a global grassroots force of 2.5 million volunteers saving lives and fighting for every birthday threatened by every cancer in every community. As the largest voluntary health organization, the Society's efforts have contributed to a 22 percent decline in cancer death rates in the US during the past two decades, and a 50 percent drop in smoking rates. Thanks in part to our progress nearly 14.5 million Americans who have had cancer and countless more who have avoided it will celebrate more birthdays this year. We're determined to finish the fight against cancer. As the nation's largest private, not-for-profit investor in cancer research, we're finding cures and ensuring people facing cancer have the help they need and continuing the fight for access to quality health care, lifesaving screenings, clean air, and more. For more information, to get help, or to join the fight, visit cancer.org or call us anytime, day or night, at 1-800-227-2345.