• by Sarah Mahoney  @mahoney_sarah, February 5, 2016

Sure, most of the hullaballoo leading into this weekend’s Super Bowl 50 will focus on the hardest-hitting men on the planet. But personal care brands Pantene, Axe, and even Old Spice are poking around all that manliness in some unexpected ways.

Procter & Gamble’s Pantene hair brand is building on its “Strong is beautiful” campaign by recruiting three big-name football players for a tough assignment (at least for people with freakishly large hands): Creating a dad-do for their little girls, complete with barrettes and those impossible-to-master pony-tailers. New Orleans Saints Benjamin Watson and Pittsburgh Steelers DeAngelo Williams manage (sort of) pigtails, while Dallas Cowboy Jason Witten fails at both buns and ponytails.

P&G’s Old Spice is having plenty of football fun, too, showering football players with gifts in new videos: It’s helping coach Jamaal Charles, Kansas City Chiefs’ injured running back, get back to health with an Emotional Strength Training Ball that talks to him, because “it’s important to heal from the inside out.” Among its encouraging words? “You are stronger than your fears…and most adults,” “It’s okay to cry — tears are a spin cycle for your soul.” Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Andy Dalton gets a showerhead that produces a sports drink. Antonio Brown, wide receiver for the Pittsburgh Steelers, gets a fake leg so he can experiment with kicking.

And Unilever’s Axe, with a spot that is airing during the game’s fourth quarter, is taking a powerful swing at what masculinity means with its Find Your Magic spot, which reminds men that six-pack abs don’t matter nearly as much as a funny nose or dance-floor courage. The campaign, created by 72andSunny Amsterdam, pushes men to find their individuality: “Who needs some other thing when you’ve got _____?”