Just like everything else, your hair regimen has to be balanced.
If you didn't know about protein and moisture, keep reading, this is helpful for all hair types.
It's essential to keep a moisture and protein balance in your hair. So you alternate between using a protein conditioner and a moisturizing conditioner each wash day. There, the moisture and protein are balanced. But are they really? Or is there more to it?
Not all hair needs constant moisture and not all hair needs constant protein. It depends on hair type, styling methods, whether you have relaxed natural hair, colour or chemically treated hair.
In a nutshell, without having both moisture and protein our hair will break.
Without getting into the science, our hair is made up of proteins that give our hair it’s structure and strength. Additionally, having enough moisture keeps hair elastic and supple.
How do you know the balance is off?
There are some pretty clear signs that hair will give when it's moisture and protein balance is off. This is why it’s important to know your hair:
You can tell your hair has too much moisture when it starts to feel limp and weak. It stretches and keeps stretching without bouncing back which means it’s lost elasticity. Additionally, your hair can feel gummy or mushy.
Signs of too much protein include dry, rough, and brittle hair that easily breaks. A lack of shine and overall lifelessness to the hair. Shedding and tangling tend to happen a lot more. Plus, no matter how much moisture you apply to your hair it doesn’t seem like it’s getting enough.
Now on the flip side, the signs of not enough protein or moisture mirror the above.
When your hair doesn’t have enough protein it breaks, can feel dry, and is also limp. Signs of not enough moisture are dry, rough hair and breakage.
Balanced hair, which is where we want to be, acts just right. It bounces back when stretched and doesn’t break. It has shine and not only looks good but feels good as well.
What causes the hair to be unbalanced? Hair can be over moisturized by doing long deep conditioning treatments that last hours, over-washing and conditing, using too many heavy moisturising products such as oils and butters (although these are very essential for low porosity hair i.e. type 4 hair).
Hair can also get too much protein by using too many protein ingredients such as hydrolyzed (wheat, oat, soy, collagen, keratin). So simply put your hair itself is made up of a protein called keratin (responsible for physical, chemical properties in your natural hair). This is important because adds to the hair's strength. So sometimes you might need to replace lost protein now and again, especially if you dye, perm or straighten your hair often.
Phew!! That's a lot. But stay with it... The session is almost over! Hope you're taking notes.
So here's a cheat sheet for you to keep close:
If your hair needs LESS moisture:
Use a clarifying shampoo at least once or twice a month. Swap a co-wash with the Camille Rose Lavendar Stimulating Growth Fresh Cleanse, use a conditioner that contains some hydrolyzed protein like the Algae Renew Deep Conditioning Mask by Camille Rose
If your hair needs MORE protein:
If your curls feel spongy, lacking definition (no matter what your hair type), more protein might be needed, if your hair is damaged by chemical processes (like keratin treatment and relaxers) or by heat and straighteners. It will stick together and be difficult to comb through. It will break easily (even from the room. So you need to use a protein-rich conditioner like the Bamboo Protein Treatment from the Curls Green Collection, or the Olaplex treatments to rebuild your hair.
If your hair needs LESS protein
Most conditioners have protein, but if the conditioner is making your hair feel stiff, hard, and dry, it's not for you. Look for words like hydrating and moisturizing on the label.
Even those of us who have been doing the curl girl method or have found products that we love regardless, it's still not easy figuring out if a product will work without road-testing it for a few times. This is what hairgrowbox helps you with. Discovering products you might not usually use or simply stocking up on hair products you know your loves. An affordable, effortless way to discover hair products for curly, coily and kinky hair.
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