What does my hair need? Protein or moisture?

[sarahthegemini]

On clarified hair, the 'stretch test' showed that my strands stretch a little and then snap upon harder pulling. The strands don't bouce back. I understand that hair that stretches a lot and doesn't ping back needs protein, and hair that stretches very little and/or snaps imedietietly needs moisture. So I need moisture right?

My regular RO is very rich, it has Cetyl alcohol, Stearyl alcohol and Centrimonium bromide in the first 5 ingredients (the other 2 ingredients in the first 5 are water and butylene glycol) It also has hydrolysed soy protein as the 9th ingredient.

I've been using this RO in conjunction with a protein heavy LI and coconut oil pre-wash treatments which I'm guessing was just too much for my hair.

What do you guys suggest I do now? As I need moisture, should I lay off protein altogether? Or do you think it would be safe to continue using my regular RO but not using the protein rich LI?

Sorry for making another thread, I just figured there was a bit of development since my other thread :o

[Anje]

In my personal opinion, the stretch-test is really a difficult thing to judge when you're dealing with single strands of hair. One strand of fine hair isn't going to offer up much resistance before being stretched too far either way, and all hair will reach a point of no return.

I think this is the best description of hair that needs protein vs moisture that I have ever read. (http://blackbeautyblackhair86911.yuku.com/topic/511/t/Hair-Breakage-and-Shedding-101.html) See if either description makes sense to you.

Chances are, especially if your hair hasn't had a lot of chemical treatment, that you're somewhere in the balance that isn't too extreme, and your hair is going to be fairly resilient toward getting thrown out of balance either way. If that's the case, it's great -- it means you don't have to worry nearly as much about your products and maintaining a balance, but can do treatments as you would like to schedule them using what you like best. People who get too far to either extreme have to be more careful, and people who readily bounce between the two and risk overcorrection have a particularly tricky time.

Are you a little protein-overloaded? It's possible. If your hair feels hard, tangles intensely and instantly, it's definitely a sign of too much protein. But from the sound of it, you're just in a stage where maybe you need to tinker with your products a little until you achieve the hair texture that you like best. That's a good place to be.

[sarahthegemini]

In my personal opinion, the stretch-test is really a difficult thing to judge when you're dealing with single strands of hair. One strand of fine hair isn't going to offer up much resistance before being stretched too far either way, and all hair will reach a point of no return.

I think this is the best description of hair that needs protein vs moisture that I have ever read. (http://blackbeautyblackhair86911.yuku.com/topic/511/t/Hair-Breakage-and-Shedding-101.html) See if either description makes sense to you.

Chances are, especially if your hair hasn't had a lot of chemical treatment, that you're somewhere in the balance that isn't too extreme, and your hair is going to be fairly resilient toward getting thrown out of balance either way. If that's the case, it's great -- it means you don't have to worry nearly as much about your products and maintaining a balance, but can do treatments as you would like to schedule them using what you like best. People who get too far to either extreme have to be more careful, and people who readily bounce between the two and risk overcorrection have a particularly tricky time.

Are you a little protein-overloaded? It's possible. If your hair feels hard, tangles intensely and instantly, it's definitely a sign of too much protein. But from the sound of it, you're just in a stage where maybe you need to tinker with your products a little until you achieve the hair texture that you like best. That's a good place to be.

Thank you for the reassurance Anje, it's strange, I thought my hair was absolutely fine, until I just happened to see a shed hair and thought why not stretch it? My hair looks and feels great, hence the seere confusion over that bloody stretch test! I'm checking out that link now btw!

[sarahthegemini]

After reading that article, I realise that my hair broke because it was under 'undue stress', I.e. I pulled the strand at both ends and tugged hard. I guess my only issue is the fact that it didn't stretch very much, which should be sorted by more moisture. I plan to use my co-wash conditioner mixed with honey as my RO for the next few washes. Then after that, I'll go back to just using my original RO.