Wheat protein, silk, and b5

[wahmof9]

Have any of you used these. If so how much and how?

[EvaSimone]

My hair hates wheat protein but it tolerates silk proteins in small doses. I use Loreal Vive Nutrigloss conditioning treatment (cone free) about once every week or two. One of it's main ingredients is silk protein.

Are you asking about bulk usage? I've never used just plain silk or wheat protein though; that would make my hair miserable and I wouldn't even know where to buy it.

ETA: I am not sure about silk protein. Loreal Vive Nutrigloss conditioning treatment has pearl protein in it not silk. Oops.

[wahmof9]

Yes you can buy it in bulk and add it to your shampoo or conditioners or make your own..
However, I bought all this before finding this forum (yest.) and I am not so sure I made the right choice.

How does one determine if your hair needs protein or not???

Now I am all confused...

[wahmof9]

EvaSimone it seems you have the same hair texture I have. Would you mind sharing your hair care routine with me?

[EvaSimone]

Yes you can buy it in bulk and add it to your shampoo or conditioners or make your own..
However, I bought all this before finding this forum (yest.) and I am not so sure I made the right choice.

How does one determine if your hair needs protein or not???

Hmm.. I didn't know you could buy it in bulk although it makes sense. Most products already have some added proteins and for most people that's enough. Some people use Aphogee treatments (which are super, heavy protein treatments) and they help stave off breakage for some (usually people with relaxed hair use it) but most people don't need a ton of protein.

Most people need more moisture than they do protein and it's much easier to overdose on protein than on moisture. One way to tell if your hair needs protein is to take a wet strand and stretch it; if it stretches and stretches almost like bubblegum and doesn't go back to it's original size then it needs protein. If you want to check for moisture then take a wet strand and try to stretch it. It should stretch about 2/3rds before snapping. If you stop before 2/3rds it should go back to it's original size.

Here's are a few articles that deal with protein/moisture balance that might help you:
http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/vbjournal.php?do=article&articleid=44
http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/vbjournal.php?do=article&articleid=17
http://blackbeautyblackhair86911.yuku.com/forum/viewtopic/id/511 <--This is a very comprehensive article.
http://www.verticalsinhair.com/elasticity.shtml


EvaSimone it seems you have the same hair texture I have. Would you mind sharing your hair care routine with me?

Nope I don't mind. :)

First of all I will say that my hair is very sensitive to protein. I wasn't really aware of this until I tried a honey/egg/olive oil mask I'd heard about on LHC. My hair was so stiff and terrible afterwards that I realized I had done something to it that was really bad. Upon further investigation I realized that every time my hair felt bad when using a product or after a deep treatment their was a common denominator. Protein was usually high on the ingredients list and their was usually multiple kinds of proteins on the ingredients list.

My hair care is specifically low/mid protein in nature and is silicone and sulfate free. I've been using the same routine without change for the last year. Your hair might not be as finicky about protein as mine so I just wanted to let you know where my biases lie. ;)

Here's what I do:
Wash every other day with a non sulfate non silicone shampoo. My favorite shampoo is Giovanni 50:50

I've used some of the Nature's Gate shampoos and they aren't too bad either but I happened upon a massive sell off of Giovanni 32 oz. bottles of shampoo. I think I bought five of them so for the foreseeable future I will be using Giovanni. :p

I condition with one of four conditioners and sometimes a combo of the ones listed below:

VO5 vanilla mint tea therapy. I'll usually use this on my crown because it's definitely a lighter weight conditioner.

Giovanni 50:50 conditioner

Loreal Vive Pro Nutri Gloss deep conditioner

Burts Bees Green tea and Fennel Seed Conditioner

About 50% of the time I will use a teensy (and I mean teensy) drop of Olive Oil in my hand and use it after washing my hair to help with the moisture. I usually do this when the weather is super cold.

When my hair needs moisture I will wet my ponytale, coat it in conditioner, rinse the conditioner out and towel dry my hair so it's not sopping wet. Then I apply olive oil onto my wet length. Then I wrap saran wrap around my tail (so I don't get my pillows greasy). I leave my hair wrapped overnight or however long I can. This is about the best moisture treatment for my hair.

I Hope this helps and sorry for writing so much.

BTW I highly encourage you to experiment and don't become discouraged if it takes you awhile to find what works for you :flower:. I tried so many different things for the first year that I came to LHC and I didn't have a routine that worked for that entire time!

[Isa-belle]

I have used both wheat protein and silk in my homemade shampoo, and added to (purchased) conditioner. I believe my hair likes the silk better than the wheat protein, but it's much more expensive and it always ends up in big unusable crystals after a while no matter how carefully I store it :shrug:

I just need to be very light-handed with them - or my hair will get tangled and crunchy. I believe it's a matter of trial and error - some hair will crave protein, some will hate it, and some like mine will like it in moderation :)

[Unofficial_Rose]

Lots of conditioners have wheat protein. My hair likes it, despite not liking protein much generally.

Cannot say for silk or B5 though!

[Kirin]

Has anyone used these and if so how?

All of the above are likely in most commercial shampoos/conditioners and is the protein element.