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View Full Version : How do I know what my hair needs?



plainjanegirl
August 4th, 2008, 12:10 AM
How do I know if my hair needs moisture or protein or both? Any help? My hair is fairly thick and mostly straight and is waist length. I am a cone user cause my hair tangles and I need the slip it provides. I normally use a s and c every other day. Also once I determine what my hair needs how do I know how often I should do it? Thanks!!!

Forest
August 4th, 2008, 03:45 AM
Hello!

I think it is all trail and error, there's no way around that.

Add a product that is supposed to be good at giving moisture, try it a few times, if your hair looks good than you know it's good. Add something with protein, see how it works etc.
The key is to try only one thing at a time so that you know what's working and not.

Maybe start with a good deep treatment and see how that works?

What have you tried so far?

savi
August 4th, 2008, 05:41 AM
It's hard to say from your post, but normally it's better to start by trying to use more moisture at first.

To know whether your hair need moisture or protein do a test with a shed hair. Hair that needs more moisture is not going to strech and snaps quickly. Hair that needs more protein will have a gummy feel - streches much and the structure will be odd. But as said it's better to err on the moisture side.

Ursulas article (http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/vbjournal.php?do=article&articleid=39)is a nice read through too.

HTH.

Nat242
August 4th, 2008, 05:55 AM
Keep in mind that cones seal moisture out of your hair, so if you're going to attempt a deep treatment for moisture, you may need to clarify your hair beforehand to get rid of cone build-up, otherwise the moisture may not penetrate well.

Iylivarae
August 4th, 2008, 10:14 AM
I do it like this: I take one hair and then I pull. If you can stretch it a bit before it snaps, and if it goes back to its natural form when I don't stretch anymore (before snapping, of course :D) then everything is ok. If it breaks without stretching, it needs moisture. If you can stretch it and it doesn't go back to its natural shape, but is rather curvy and kinky where you stretched it, then it needs more protein.

Cinnia
August 4th, 2008, 11:45 AM
If your hair is dyed or damaged in any way it's more likely to need protein then if it's totally virgin.
It doesn't hurt to do a protein treatment in any case and it's easy to tell if your hair needs it or not, by the way it behaves.
If you've got nice shiny hair afterwards, well there you go.
If your hair doesn't like it, it'll get weird, rough and stiff.
Most hair needs quite regular moisture treatments, so there's never a bad time to do a nice SMT ;)

Curlsgirl
August 4th, 2008, 11:53 AM
Even though I use chemical color on my hair I still rarely need to do a protein treatment. I would avoid it if especially if you don't use chemical color. It more likely needs moisture like most have said and using a protein treatment could make it even worse. A good leave-in is the best thing you can do in my opinion. I would use a diluted SLS shampoo to clarify then use a fairly heavy non-cone conditioner and then a non-cone leave-in followed by a light oil to help "seal" the moisture in. It may take a while to see a lot of result but if it needs moisture it will soak these products right up and make a difference right away.

Bene
August 4th, 2008, 11:54 AM
trial and error....