Protein treatment 101?

[hototogisu]

Hi there. I've noticed that my hair has become very stretchy when wet, and when I pull on a loose wet strand until it breaks the broken ends will curl up. I need to protein my hair.

But how?? I know protein makes hair drier, and that we should be very careful with it and follow with a moisture treatment. My current Sunday clarify-and-SMT has me hopping in and out of the shower a lot. If I add protein to the mix will it be a third shower, as well?

Also, what are the favourite protein treatments aroudn here? I'm leaning towards buying either Joico K-Pak or the old Redken CAT. If I spray on Redken CAT then apply a moisture treatment over the top, will that provide both moisture and protein? Am I going to have to shampoo - protein treat - moisture treat to get the most out of a protein treatment?

I'm really just after your stories and advice. Thank you, wise hair hive mind!

[defineinsanity]

REALLY GO WITH MOISTURE! LOTS OF MOISTURE!.... basically, right now my hair is completely awful and horrible and dry and awful again :P this is because of my protein treatment mistake. i clarified my hair (which also makes it dry if you dont add moisture afterwards) then left mayo/egg/tiny bit of honey in hair for hour n half (that was my mistake) i totally forgot that you have to be careful with the amount of protein you're adding. then after washing out and finding my hair a tangled dry mess i started piling on the conditioner, left that for an hour and it didn't make a difference because i have overloaded with protein.. gah!
So yeah my advice to you is if you are going to do any kind of protein treatment consider if you hair really does need loads of it or just a small amount and dont leave it in for too long. also definitely dont forget to condition afterward even if it does involve having to go back in the shower again :)

[Dogbones]

Some peoples hair loves protein, I bought mane n tail conditioner for the protein in it and it made my hair look broken off and fly away, but for my friend whos been using it for 2 years her hair is pure silk that slips out of ponytails. what giives

[Shelly]

If a person is going to start doing protein treatments on their hair need to find that happy medium between protein and moisture. That's the reason I do 2 deep conditioning treatments on my hair weekly. The first one is a protein treatment and the other one is for the moisture. The first one by itself or after the moisture does make my hair dry but if they are in the right order and left in for the right amounts of time my hair feels so soft and silky that it falls out of anything I try to do to it unless I make sure it's good and secure.

[gthlvrmx]

Do not use the white of the egg, it coats and dries anything. Apply it to your skin and you will see, it reacts worse with hair. If you use egg, only the yolk!!!!! Honestly. I think avocado works best, but then again people say soy sauce works because of the hydrolyzed stuff in it, it peentrates better.
Read those ingredients for a protein pack!!!! Many reconstructors have silicones that you have to clarify to get rid of and ruins the whole point of doing a protein treatment in the first place. I use only the first bottle of my protein pack because it contains many protein ingredients but i didn't see it working much, pretty lame.
I prefer using Mane n Tail orignial conditioner now because it is loaded with protein anyways and my hair seemed to react the way it should when it gets protein and follow with my regular Ocean Breeze conditioner.
Honestly, if you've got too much moisture, stretch out your washes and use a little less conditioner. Hair is already 90 sometimes % kertain, and moisture evaporates over time. Get somethign to fill in the holes with protein and moisturize right after, but dont continue overdoing it unless your hair asks for it. Eventually the too much moisture will dissappear if you use a conditioner (maybe suave Tropical Coconut or for a faster result, the mane n tail) that has protein in it.

[CurlyMopTop]

When my hair became overmoisturized (I didn't realize it right away), I used Ion's reconstructor treatment. I left that stuff in for 40 minutes, didn't follow up with moisture, and my hair ate it up. No tangles, no dryness, it just really needed it. Sally's Beauty supply carries it. I followed up with another one about 10 days later, didn't leave it on for quite as long, my hair still loved it, but my ends became a little dry. Now I'm experimenting with Ion's effective hair care treatment. It's a little milder in proteins, so I'm hoping that if I swap it out with one of my conditioners 1 or 2 times a week that it will do the trick. My hair is very fine and curly. Fine hair tends to need more protein than other hair types. I choose the Ion brand because it's fairly inexpensive and has no cones or mineral oil that I could see in the ingredient list. Happy experimenting and good luck finding your protein/moisture balance!! :D

[YepLilly]

If you're going to do a protein treatment always follow with a deep conditioner. I personally like Nexxus Emergencee (followed by Aussie 3MM).

When doing protein treatments pay more attention to your hair. You don't want to have an excess of protein either. Good luck!

[pheonixphire]

Somehow this seems somewhat complicated deciding what the hair realy needs. I had no idea hair could be over moisturized! This is a great thread, hopefully I can figure my own hair out :P.

[arcane]

With Redken's Cat treatment I use it in the shower and put conditioner over it. I find my hair doesn't mind this. For protein though I like using Ions reconstructor (or whatever its called, I get it from Sally's). I find when I use that I use it by itself, rinse, then deep condition again.

[Idjit]

You could test whether you need protein with neutral protein filler. http://www.sallybeauty.com/Neutral-Protein-Filler/CLRFUL1,default,pd.html?cm_vc=SEARCH
It's cheap and effective. Just dilute it with water in a spray bottle and spray it on your hair. If it reacts well then you can spray some more on or use a stronger protein treatment.