A friend of mines father owns a small pharmaceutical company. They specialize in medicated skin products. They are about to roll out a new product that they are particularly proud of. It is a burn spray that contains panthenol as one of its active ingredients. The idea is that you would spray the spray into your mouth after burning it on a hot cup of coffee or eating a hot cheesy piece of pizza. They are actually focusing their marketing on coffee shops and pizzerias.

I for one think this is a great idea. There is nothing worse that burning the roof of your mouth and then having it be numb, uncomfortable and tasteless for the rest of the day. I have been able to try the spray and it really works. I dived into a pan of lasagna too soon and burned my mouth really badly. A few mists of the spray and the pain was gone completely. I was able to go right back to enjoying my meal. I guess panthenol really works

This article brings up the issue of holistic vs western medicine. Despite the fact that people all over the world have been using a form of panthenol spray to treat wounds for many years, the western scientific community cannot prove its health benefits. This is not an isolated incident.

Often times western medicine dismisses traditional and folk remedies who have no greater science behind them then the strength of tradition. Just because they do not conform to the narrow standards of "healing" identified by our empirically obsessed culture, the are written off and mere placebos. But you can't argue with results. If people try this spray and it works and there are no side effects, I say keep it up. Just because science can't prove something doesn't mean that it doesn't exist/work.

Since panthenol has healing properties, it is also used to treat damaged hair. Hair that has been chemically altered by perms or highlights can benefit from panthenol.

Though nothing can totally undo the damage brought on by over-processing your hair, products using panthenol can help improve its appearance a bit. My hair fell victim to my need for change, and I had a perm, a straightener, and multiple highlights on the same hair without ever cutting any of it. Pieces of it would come off in my hand, and they were soft and frizzy, as though they had melted. Panthenol products at least gave what remained of my hair a sheen and softness.

I recently received minor burns from bacon grease, so I got some panthenol spray. I read that it is mixed with allantoin to treat mild burns and other skin irritations.

I wanted to know what I was spraying on my skin before I applied it, so I researched allantoin. Allantoin has soothing, healing, and moisturizing properties. It helps cells regenerate and encourages the growth of healthy new skin. It also softens skin and chemically removes dead or scaly tissue when applied to it. A low concentration of allantoin is very effective, as low as 0.1% and up to 2%.

After reading this, I wondered if Pantene hair products got their name from panthenol. I did some digging, and it seems that they did.

Switzerland is responsible for the development of the compound panthenol in 1940. In World War II, experimental treatments involving panthenol sought to cure burns, and during these treatments, people discovered that panthenol also improved the elasticity, health, and moisturization of the hair. So, the drug company from Switzerland, Hoffman-La Roche, invented Pantene shampoo and put it on the market in 1947. Though at first you could only get it in Europe, it gained a good reputation, and U.S. department stores picked it up.