Sunday, September 27, 2015

Protein Sensitive

As you may know, I've been experiencing some dryness and breakage. I wasn't quite sure what was going on, feeling defeated and frankly fed up. After reviewing my blog entries (I was giving it a bit of a facelift) I began to realize that I may be using too much protein. I haven't been using strong proteins, but I believe any amount of protein may be too much. In other words, I am protein sensitive. When I was relaxed this was harder for me to notice, be cause I have very fine hair and didn't couldn't really determine if the breakage I experienced back then was a result of the relaxer. Now, it's a lot easier to figure out.

To confirm my suspicions I avoided all protein based products for a few weeks. That meant shampoo, conditioner, leave in and moisturizer. Oh yes, I was using protein based shampoo. Smh. I guess I thought my curly hair could handle it. To boost my moisture level, I applied my old tested and true Banana/Coconut Milk Masque to see if I could revive my very dry tresses. It helped and I noticed the difference almost immediately. My hair felt soft and moisturized and I was able to maintain a decent amount of moisture until my next wash day. In the past, no matter how much product I put on my hair, it continued to feel quite dry. So it was confirmed. My fine locs can not handle too much protein.

I didn't want to swing too far into the opposite direction, so I completed a mild protein treatment today utilizing my Avocado Masque  (modified), which I think will keep me on the right path to healthy balanced hair. To recap, I blended the avocado and oils well in a blender until smooth then add the egg and the honey. In addition to modifying the recipe a bit, I applied freshly washed hair, from root to tip, applied 2 plastic caps and let it sit for 3 hours. My goal was only 1 hour, but I was a little distracted. I rinsed it out and lightly finger detangles and then applied AO Honeysuckle Rose and allowed that to sit while I cleansed my body. I then finger detangled again while doing my final rinse. Finally I applied homemade moisture balance spritz, sealed with my shea butter mix and air dried. That's it. Here is the modified recipe I used:

1 small hass avocado
1 egg
1 tsp each of EVCO, EVOO, JBCO
1 tsp honey

Overall, I am very pleased with the results. My hair feel soft, yet strong. I'm going to stick with moisturizing products and plan to do a protein treatment in 4-6 weeks. I will have to wait to see what my hair needs. As much as I would like to use certain products that seem to be loaded with protein, I simply can't. In this rare occassion, my hair calls the shots.
                                 

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