My Pantene Commercial: Behind the Scenes (Part Two)

Part one here.

Let’s just rename this post to The Swish. Isn’t that what it’s all about? The infamous hair swish.

You guys, I did a lot of swishing. A LOT OF SWISHING. Like, approximately 3 hours of non-stop swishing. Here’s how it went down. I stood on a specific spot in my mangy cargo pants, listened to the director yell, “1, 2, 3, ACTION”, and then turned my head from one shoulder to the other. The hairstylist would come over, re-brush my hair, make sure everything was in place, and I would wait for the director’s cue again. Rinse and repeat, rinse and repeat, RINSE AND REPEAT. (I actually had to visit a physical therapist a few days after the shoot from the world’s worst crick in my neck. It was like mini-whiplash. No, it was, wait for it…SWISHLASH. Man, the occupational hazards of starring in a hair commercial…tough stuff.)

There is definitely a science to the perfect swish – start with the chin down, raise your chin as you’re swishing across and then back down, but let’s talk about the waterfall. I think this is the number one question I’ve been asked regarding the commercial. What’s up with the hair commercial waterfall? You know the one, where the hair looks like it’s rippling downward towards the ends? The waterfall actually is created using a this long, flexible metal ruler type thingy. (Highly scientific, I know.) Basically you bend it into a U shape,  place it underneath your hair and the slowly push it out and in, creating that waterfall effect in commercials. I think most of my commercial was the swish from side-to-side look, but hey, now you know how the waterfall is made! The more you know.

After swishing for most of the morning, we started shooting a few of the speaking parts. Now, THAT will get your heart pounding. Imagine the same “1,2,3, ACTION” directed at you, with what seemed to be a billion people standing around watching your delivery like a hawk. To add a little more pressure, to make sure it was perfectly quiet, they would yell the usual “quiet on the set!” and then cut the power to the A/C or anything that was making any sort of noise. You guys, you could hear a pin drop in that room. Perfectly still, and everyone waiting for you to deliver your lines. I get a little goose-bumpy just thinking about it – it was SO COOL. I loved every minute.

Here are some shots from that part of the day.

After a few hours, we took a lunch break, and then it was back to the trailer for even MORE hairstyling. (If I had to estimate how many times my hair was touched during the 15-hour shoot, I would confidently say at least 15,000 times.) More on my afternoon on the set coming to you next week, and by the way, thanks for reading and being so supportive. It’s so fun being able to tell this story to you all!

Read the Finale here.