Choosing a Protein based conditioner/ treatment

Are you at the beginning of your hair journey? Then you have probably wondered how you can tell if a product is moisture based or protein based. We already talked about how to choose Moisturising products, please Click here if you missed it.
A balance moisture & Protein in your hair strands is very important, a defeciency in either one usualy leads to breakage and therefore no or very little length retention.  I personally understood this after having a protein over load! This means that my hair had a lot more protein than it needed and as a result the hair became brittle and dry and this led to breakage.
Some people´s hair can take a lot of protein but for others too much protein could lead to breakage and therefore no length retention. A protein overload can be treated by simply keep off protein treatments for a few weeks and stepping up the use of moisturising deep conditioners and conditioners instead. As soon as the hair feels normal again protein treatments can be incorporated back into the hair care regimen. For examples of protein and Moisture conditioners/ Treatments Click here  

Ingredients to check for when getting a protein treatment. here is one example of a protein conditioner with it´s ingredients list.

• soy protein
• milk protein
• animal protein
• keratin
• collagen
• pathenol ( binds well with hair follicles leaving it smooth and is also a humectant i.e it draws moisture from the air into your hair)
• silk amino acids
• amino acids
• liquid silk
• cholesterol
• wheat protein
• hydrolized wheat protein
• hydrolized milk protein
• hydrolized silk 

Proteins found in most modern hair products have been hydrolized. which means that they have been broken down into amino acids, hydrolized proteins can easily penetrate the hair and strengthen it from the  inside. this effect can last upto 6 weeks. Non-hydrolized proteins have larger moleküles which cannot penetrate into the hairshaft but can coat the hair´s surface an egg is a good example of a non- hydrolized Protein.. products with hydrolized proteins shouldn´t be used too often because they are more aggressive. But then again if you have been using a protein treatment/ conditioner that works perfect for you you don´t need to change anything.

For ladies with natural hair protein treatments  must not be done so religiously since the hair has not lost it´s natural protein. unless one has suffered heat damage. As for hair that has undergone any form of chemical treatment including relaxing, Texlaxing or even colouring protein treatments should be done at least every 4 weeks to add the lost protein back into the hair.

In order to make sure your hair grows with enough protein of it´s own just eat protein rich foods.