How do you do protein treatments

[forgetmenotak]

Hi! I'm pretty new here, though I have lurked for awhile now. I have done a Henna N Placenta treatment that has decreased the snapping of my hair and my hair feels like silk.

I was just wondering how everyone does their protein treatments. How can you tell if you have protein overload? How do you moisturize your hair afterwards? What products are your favorite treatments? How often do you do it?

Any information would be helpful. TIA

[chloeishere]

I do several different protein treatments.
My hair's most very favorite treatment is Mayonaisse. No, really! Makes my hair very smooth, silky, and tangle-proof. Since egg is moisturizing, and mayo also contains oil, it's also moisturizing, which prevents protein overload. But... the smell is gross, and I hate having it on my hair for an hour. (I leave it on my hair for an hour or so, under a showercap covered with a towel, then wash my hair.) So I look for alternatives.
I've also used Henna N Placenta (this is the henna n placenta thread (http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/showthread.php?t=1979) in Recipes, Henna, and Herbal Haircare, by the way), and I've had very good results with it as well. The particular one I tried doesn't seem to have as much protein in it (I used the "Super Pak" one) as mayo does, so I don't consider it a very strong protein treatment. It does make my hair glimmery, though-- I like that it has cassia in it!

If you have protein overload-- your hair will be brittle and stiff. When wet, it won't stretch at all, it will just snap.

I don't normally do anything special afterwards to moisturize my hair-- I just follow my normal routine. I believe some very strong protein treatments might require it, though (I'm thinking of things like aphogee (spelling?), which aren't much used on this forum). I try not to use protein treatments that are likely to over-proteinate my hair. If it's a concern, you could always do an SMT afterwards.
With henna n placenta, just rinsing out my hair and applying a little bit of my normal conditioner, then rinsing and applying my normal leave-in, is enough for me.
With mayo, I need to wash several times to get it out (it's pretty difficult to remove), then I just follow my normal conditioning regime again. No problemo!

For your last question, I SHOULD do a mayo treatment about every month. I've done it two weeks apart, as well, with no problems. However, I am very lazy about mayo treatments, and it's been a few months.
With Henna 'n' Placenta, I think about once a week is good (assuming I'm not doing other protein treatments). Probably if I was doing both treatments, I would do mayo, wait two weeks, and then do Henna n Placenta every week.
But it really depends on how your hair FEELS. If it's feeling extra-stretchy when it's wet, do a protein treatment (I need to right now). If it's feeling stiff, don't do any protein treatments, and maybe do a few extra moisture treatments. My schedule is determined by what has worked for me in the past; but I still go by feel most of the time.

Hope that helps!

[Magsi]

I do several different protein treatments.
My hair's most very favorite treatment is Mayonaisse. No, really! Makes my hair very smooth, silky, and tangle-proof. Since egg is moisturizing, and mayo also contains oil, it's also moisturizing, which prevents protein overload. But... the smell is gross, and I hate having it on my hair for an hour. (I leave it on my hair for an hour or so, under a showercap covered with a towel, then wash my hair.) So I look for alternatives.
I've also used Henna N Placenta (this is the henna n placenta thread (http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/showthread.php?t=1979) in Recipes, Henna, and Herbal Haircare, by the way), and I've had very good results with it as well. The particular one I tried doesn't seem to have as much protein in it (I used the "Super Pak" one) as mayo does, so I don't consider it a very strong protein treatment. It does make my hair glimmery, though-- I like that it has cassia in it!

If you have protein overload-- your hair will be brittle and stiff. When wet, it won't stretch at all, it will just snap.

I don't normally do anything special afterwards to moisturize my hair-- I just follow my normal routine. I believe some very strong protein treatments might require it, though (I'm thinking of things like aphogee (spelling?), which aren't much used on this forum). I try not to use protein treatments that are likely to over-proteinate my hair. If it's a concern, you could always do an SMT afterwards.
With henna n placenta, just rinsing out my hair and applying a little bit of my normal conditioner, then rinsing and applying my normal leave-in, is enough for me.
With mayo, I need to wash several times to get it out (it's pretty difficult to remove), then I just follow my normal conditioning regime again. No problemo!

For your last question, I SHOULD do a mayo treatment about every month. I've done it two weeks apart, as well, with no problems. However, I am very lazy about mayo treatments, and it's been a few months.
With Henna 'n' Placenta, I think about once a week is good (assuming I'm not doing other protein treatments). Probably if I was doing both treatments, I would do mayo, wait two weeks, and then do Henna n Placenta every week.
But it really depends on how your hair FEELS. If it's feeling extra-stretchy when it's wet, do a protein treatment (I need to right now). If it's feeling stiff, don't do any protein treatments, and maybe do a few extra moisture treatments. My schedule is determined by what has worked for me in the past; but I still go by feel most of the time.

Hope that helps!


I was wondering about protein treatments too! Thanks so much for this detailed response, I will definitely use your advice!

Mags

[chloeishere]

I was wondering about protein treatments too! Thanks so much for this detailed response, I will definitely use your advice!

Mags

Aw, thank you! I'm happy to help!

One thing I didn't mention-- I wash my hair, then apply Henna 'n' Placenta, wait a while (I've gone several hours before, with no ill effects) with my hair under a shower cap or plastic bag, then rinse it out. The reason I don't wash afterwards is because I wash before I apply it-- and its conditioner-like-texture makes it easy to rinse out.

[forgetmenotak]

Thank you very very much! I appreciate your help!

[Cinnamon Hair]

I like to use cheap protein treatments like Queen Helene Cholesterol Hair Conditioning Cream (read about it here (http://www.hairproducts.com/view_product_BLA-QUE112.htm)) or Queen Helene Super Cholesterol etc etc (seen here (http://www.hairproducts.com/view_product_BLA-QUE101.htm)). They are easy to find at Walmart and drugstores and sometimes you can score 2 tubs for a couple bucks. Oh joy!

I do a protein treatment maybe once a month. I shampoo then glob this stuff all over my hair and put it up into a shower cap. Then use a heat cap for 30 mins or so. Rinse out and either do a second deep conditiong treatment (moisture this time instead of protein) for 30 mins with the heat cap, or at least put some moisturizing condish on my hair before getting out of the shower.

Protein treatments can give hair volume and thickness, but if you do one too often (say, once a week) it's likely your hair will rebel and say "enough!" and you'll end up with brillo pad dry tangly hair until you do a moisturizing treatment to counteract it. If I haven't done a protein treatment in a looonng time I can sometimes get away without using anything afterwards but that doesn't happen very often. You will know if you need to add a moisturizing conditioner when you jump back in the shower to rinse the protein treatment out. If you have tons of tangles and overall bird's nest hair, you need something.

[chrissy-b]

I do the henna and placenta treatment about once a month. other than that I don't have any protein in my conditioners or poo. My hair loves protein in very small amounts but definitely not daily or even weekly. I follow with a conditioner, rinse, and then a leave-in.

When I was chemically coloring my hair (and my hair was about BSL) I would do the aphogee treatments rather infrequently. they did seem to boost the volume of my hair, but I think it was a bit too much protein for my fine hair.

[Buddaphlyy]

It's taken me a while, but I've forund that my hair likes protein a lot more than it like moisture, so I usually do a protein treatment as a pre-poo treatment on dry hair. Then I shampoo and deep condition with a moisturizing treatment. I probably do protein treatments once a week (when I say my hair likes protein I mean it REALLY likes protein). To make sure I don't go overboard, I co wash or spritz on the days between washings.

My favorite protein treatments are Nexxus Emergencee and KerapHix and the Ion Reconstructor.

[forgetmenotak]

It's taken me a while, but I've forund that my hair likes protein a lot more than it like moisture, so I usually do a protein treatment as a pre-poo treatment on dry hair. Then I shampoo and deep condition with a moisturizing treatment. I probably do protein treatments once a week (when I say my hair likes protein I mean it REALLY likes protein). To make sure I don't go overboard, I co wash or spritz on the days between washings.

My favorite protein treatments are Nexxus Emergencee and KerapHix and the Ion Reconstructor.

Do your favorite protein treatments have cones in them? And where can you find them? Thank you Buddaphlyy!

[forgetmenotak]

Does you hair liking protein always mean that your hair is damaged? Or can hair that hasn't been blowfryed, dyed, or otherwise tortured still like it? I'm actually just curious on this one because up to December I used a blow fryer, and didn't know about oiling hair, and using protein treatments.

[asantegold]

This thread is very informative because I'm beginning to figure my hair is protein sensitive. As I mentioned in another thread, my dry hair may have been partly due to not using enough moisture.

I'm really interested in the answer to forgetmenotak's question too.

[chloeishere]

Does you hair liking protein always mean that your hair is damaged? Or can hair that hasn't been blowfryed, dyed, or otherwise tortured still like it? I'm actually just curious on this one because up to December I used a blow fryer, and didn't know about oiling hair, and using protein treatments.

There is some debate on that. In my opinion, it is not a matter of damage. My hair has damaged ends (from being dyed), but for most of my life, I have had pretty much completely virgin hair. I've never been much for hair fuss-- I never liked to blow dry, flat iron, or dye. I generally just washed, conditioned, and let it air dry (I did brush when dry though... ouch).
Some people think that more porous hair likes protein more, but I definitely don't think that's true. Curly hair tends to be more porous (due to the shape-- the cuticles can't lay as flat due to the curl), but I think curlies are most frequently the ones that are protein sensitive-- so I think that puts the kibash on that theory.
My hair is not porous, and other than the ends, not damaged. And it LOVES protein. I think the only way to find out if your hair likes protein or not is just to do a protein treatment, and see how your hair feels afterwards-- and if it's bad, run and get some moisture on it, fast!
Another, gentler method to figure out how your hair feels about protein would be to compare how your hair feels with conditioners-- if you notice it feels worse when you use conditioners that contain protein, and better when you use conditioners that don't have protein... well, consider that a lesson.

[Buddaphlyy]

Do your favorite protein treatments have cones in them? And where can you find them? Thank you Buddaphlyy!

Yes, I'm pretty sure they all have cones in them. The Nexxus ones I usually get from Walgreens and the Ion Reconstructor is exclusively from Sally's.


Does you hair liking protein always mean that your hair is damaged? Or can hair that hasn't been blowfryed, dyed, or otherwise tortured still like it? I'm actually just curious on this one because up to December I used a blow fryer, and didn't know about oiling hair, and using protein treatments.

I really don't know. My hair is virgin and I hardly use heat and keep it up, so I know it's not really damaged. My hair is naturally porous though due to the curl pattern but I know lots of other people with my hair type whose hair hates protein. So I really think it's all individual.

[forgetmenotak]

Thank you Buddaphlyy, and Chloeishere for taking the time to help me out. I appreciate your answers. Who knew that healthy hair was such a challenge?!?

[birdiefu]

Nexxus Keraphix and Emergencee don't have cones (I have both, love them- Keraphix especially but it's a milder protein treatment). You can find those in CVS or even most drug/grocery stores now. I got a little packet of the Ion 'Intensive Therapy Protein Rebuilder and Moisturizer' from Sally's. I haven't tried it yet, but it doesn't have cones either.

[Buddaphlyy]

Nexxus Keraphix and Emergencee don't have cones (I have both, love them- Keraphix especially but it's a milder protein treatment). You can find those in CVS or even most drug/grocery stores now. I got a little packet of the Ion 'Intensive Therapy Protein Rebuilder and Moisturizer' from Sally's. I haven't tried it yet, but it doesn't have cones either.


Hmm... I really hadn't noticed that. But I've been using them for so long because they're so good that I rarely read the back anymore, lol.