Man this protein/moisture thing is tres confusing!!!!!

[WillowHair87]

Ok so my hair is fine but thick and curly. I do use heat on it very often and I am trying to cut back on that.

My hair is very dry. I wash and condition about twice a week. (maybe I should condition it more since it's dry?)

It is brittle and break sooooooo easily. I def have split ends. (white bulb things are there :()

I thought protein was to make your hair stronger and prevent breakage. So I thought, YAH THIS IS WHAT I NEED!

but then I read about the strand test. If it snaps you need more moisture. If it stretches, more protein.

It snaps. fairly easily. some strands stretch quite a bit then break. some just stretch and get all curly and weird. :confused:

So I started deep conditioning. The products I used for deep conditioning were:

aloe vera gel
honey
castor oil
ojon oil(sometimes)
Dabur Vatika coconut oil
and Boots 5 minute hydrating mask.

NOW I hardly ever look at ingredients. I thought if it says hydrating then it must be moisturising. I also bought Mane N Tail deep moisturing conditioner because I thought, "hey this has good reviews and it's moisturising!

:rolleyes:

Well whilst using these products, my hair was very shiny and oh so soft but still..very brittle and just snapped..

:0


Upon further inspection, I realised that The Boots hair mask had quite a lot of protein in it!!

Bah the last thing I want to do is load it with protein.

So today I just washed my hair with aussie moisturising shampoo, mane n tail condish and then used a boots moisture mask that has honey and jojoba oil then I rinsed and added sweet almond oil to the ends. (will let u know how it worked after it dries)

I knew mane n tail had protein in it but it said moisturising.


So what should I avoid? what should I look for?

I want to go tomorrow to an ethnic hair shop and find some moisturising leave ins.

This is the mane n tail deep mositurising conditioner ingredients:




Water (Aqua), Stearyl Alcohol, Cetearyl Alcohol, Cetyl Alcohol, Stearamidopropyl Dimethylamine Lactate, Behentrimonium Methosulfate, Cocos Nucifera (Coconut) Oil, Fragrance (Parfum), Glycerin, Cyclopentasiloxane, Glycine Soja (Soybean) Oil, Dimethicone, Isostearmidopropyl Mopholine Lactate, Olea Europaea (Olive) Fruit Oil, Panthenol, Tocopheryl Acetate, Hydrolyzed Wheat Protein, Methylchloroisothiazolinonoe, Methylisothiazolinone, Blue 1 (CI 42090), Yellow 5 (CI 19140), Benzyl Salicylate, Butylphenyl Methylpropional, Hexyl Cinnamal, Linalool, Limonene.


Should I use this less? bah so confusing.

oh proteins how you confuse me!

[WillowHair87]

I also just used a lil bit of baby oil on my ends.

I thought I should avoid mineral oil when it came to hair products but seems lke a lot of hair products have mineral oil! so can't be all that bad. lol.

[chou]

That Mane N Tail conditioner contains Hydrolyzed Wheat Protein which causes my protein sensitive hair to freak out even more than most proteins. You want to look carefully at ingredients lists and make sure that they don't contain "hydrolyzed" anything because those are proteins. There is a list of protein-free products that linked to in the forum stickies here, and this site: http://www.naturallycurly.com/topics/view/products-ingredients has reviews with easy to browse breakdowns of product ingredients.
If you can make it to Sally's their GVP conditioning balm is a protein-free deep treatment. Aubrey Organics Honesysuckle Rose conditioner is also a deeply moisturizing protein free treatment.
Most importantly, give your hair time to recover from protein build-up. Don't overload it with products, just avoid all protein for a week or two and see how your hair feels.

[battles]

That Mane N Tail conditioner contains Hydrolyzed Wheat Protein which causes my protein sensitive hair to freak out even more than most proteins. You want to look carefully at ingredients lists and make sure that they don't contain "hydrolyzed" anything because those are proteins. There is a list of protein-free products that linked to in the forum stickies here, and this site: http://www.naturallycurly.com/topics/view/products-ingredients has reviews with easy to browse breakdowns of product ingredients.
If you can make it to Sally's their GVP conditioning balm is a protein-free deep treatment. Aubrey Organics Honesysuckle Rose conditioner is also a deeply moisturizing protein free treatment.
Most importantly, give your hair time to recover from protein build-up. Don't overload it with products, just avoid all protein for a week or two and see how your hair feels.

This, pretty much. Read the ingredients list very, very carefully before you buy something. I can't even tell you how many conditioners I've bought that were full of protein and rosemary oil, and I can't use either of those. :rolleyes: I read bottles now.

[BlondieHepburn]

I was in the same boat last year. I was like "Yay protein!", but my hair got so dry and brittle and yucky, so I had to go into ultra-crazy-moisturizing mode. After several months of no excess protein, but more moisture treatments, my hair is so happy and soft and shiny again. I've been conditioning the living daylights out of it (CWC), and I just started overnight treatments that make my hair love me again. You could try deep conditioner, honey, olive oil, and coconut oil. My hair is like silk the next day. Even my husband (who never takes much notice of my hair goings-on) notices a huge difference. Good luck!

[Hollyfire3]

That Mane N Tail conditioner contains Hydrolyzed Wheat Protein which causes my protein sensitive hair to freak out even more than most proteins. You want to look carefully at ingredients lists and make sure that they don't contain "hydrolyzed" anything because those are proteins. There is a list of protein-free products that linked to in the forum stickies here, and this site: http://www.naturallycurly.com/topics/view/products-ingredients has reviews with easy to browse breakdowns of product ingredients.
If you can make it to Sally's their GVP conditioning balm is a protein-free deep treatment. Aubrey Organics Honesysuckle Rose conditioner is also a deeply moisturizing protein free treatment.
Most importantly, give your hair time to recover from protein build-up. Don't overload it with products, just avoid all protein for a week or two and see how your hair feels.


This, just let your hair recover, best advice ever. Protein overload is ugly, and even uglier on curly hair, trust be been there and am still sometimes if im not careful, my curl dissapears and my hair gets so brittle, moisture moisture moisture. if you are dealing with heat damaged hair, some protein may work later on after the heavy moisture. It is all about balance, i am in a constant battle with that balance since terrible protein overload this summer, just be patient, it does get better, hang in there and keep calm.

[rachel809]

I just started overnight treatments that make my hair love me again. You could try deep conditioner, honey, olive oil, and coconut oil. My hair is like silk the next day. Even my husband (who never takes much notice of my hair goings-on) notices a huge difference. Good luck!

Hi BlondieHepburn - can you elaborate on how you do overnight treatments? Do you just put those ingredients in a bowl, mix, smear, and cover? And what would you cover with?

Sorry total newb, lotsa questions. Trying to figure out why my deep conditioner says moisturizing w/ protein if they are separate! EEK!:doh:

[BlondieHepburn]

Hi BlondieHepburn - can you elaborate on how you do overnight treatments? Do you just put those ingredients in a bowl, mix, smear, and cover? And what would you cover with?

Yep, I do exactly that. Mix, smear, cover. I actually put my hair in a high ponytail and slathered only the length. Of course you can do your scalp as well, if you want. I braided the slathered pony and then wrapped it up bun-style, and pinned it. Before going to bed I just put a shower cap on my head, and voila!


Sorry total newb, lotsa questions. Trying to figure out why my deep conditioner says moisturizing w/ protein if they are separate! EEK!:doh:

Your hair needs both moisture and protein to be lovely and healthy. But as with anything, there must be a balance. If your hair is stocked up on protein, then adding more will make your hair seem dry. At that point, omit the protein and go moisture, moisture, moisture! When I was all gung-ho on treatments, I was doing "neutral henna", eggs, etc., which all contain lots of protein. My hair was so dry and frizzy until I realized what I was doing wrong.
And, of course, don't worry about newbie questions; that's why you're here! :D

[heidi w.]

If hair is breaking off, snapping off, it's usually because of TOO MUCH protein OR the opposite, too little.

This is an example of changing only one thing at a time, and allow enough time to pass so one can judge what the results are.

A clue that one may have too much or too little protein is that hair snaps off or breaks easily, SUDDENLY and a lot. Usually too much protein, I find.

It's important to know that in a given brand of shampoo, between the product line's shampoo and conditioner, protein is balanced between the two as a part of such regular products. ETA: When we begin to mix and match shampoo and conditioner from different manufacturing/product lines, this is one way that things can go wrong as it concerns protein. END ETA

Adding a leave-in, performing an oiling deep treatment (such as VO5 which has boatloads of protein in it) and the like can often mean sudden and a lot of hair breakage, meaning too much protein.

One should not have to use a myriad of products to offer sufficient moisture to one's hair. IF one is oiling, then a leave-in is likely NOT needed. Because oiling is a leave-in, for one. One should not need to combine a variety of products to create a conditioning application. Conditioner by itself is sufficient. One oil by itself is sufficient for leave-in. Maybe a carrier oil with a drop or two of essential oil for aroma is sufficient for oiling.

Leave-in is where I went wrong a number of years back and caused protein overload in my hair. Read the bottle very carefully. Some leave-ins for some hair types are actually supposed to be rinsed out and not left on the hair between hair washes. I had a sudden boatload of hair breaking off in the wake of using a leave-in improperly.

Just stuff to kind of know,
heidi w.