The healthy hair care journey can sometimes be a tedious task. At times we search high and low to find the perfect remedy to repair or prevent damage. Many times, the answer is in the information we can’t easily find in our YouTube binge watching sessions. However, for those of us that let our inner scientist reign supreme, we’ve learned that protein is a core necessity for strength throughout our bodies. Protein treatments sometimes get misused, causing other issues such as severe breakage. It’s time I answer your most frequently asked questions about protein treatments.
1. Can I do a protein treatment at home or should I go to the salon?
In this day and age of using YouTube videos to teach us anything and everything, we’ve become DIY experts in life, especially with hair care. However, as much as we want to do things on our own to save money, we have come to the realization that there are some things we should leave to the professionals. Though protein treatments may seem easy peasy to do at home, if you are new to the protein treatment game it is highly recommended that they are performed at a salon. High-end protein treatments contain natural combinations that harden the hair. They are considered to be safe to use under the supervision of hair professionals who know how to properly handle them when they are applied to the hair. Natural hair has to dry a certain way and be handled delicately; many testimonials can be found with individuals that handled their hair too roughly with the treatment in which led them to experience more damage.
After wash day today I realized that I’ve run out of my Protein treatment, but I didn’t panic because I’ve read somewhere that eggs got proteins, especially the egg white. Though my hair was moisturised I could tell because I had crazy curls it later felt so dry I then used a deep conditioner, oh before that did I tell you that the eggs cooked on my hair?!😂 You don’t have to go through that ever! So I’d advise that you use cold or lukewarm water to rinse off the egg.
Now to the ultimate question!
2. How often should you do a protein treatment?
This question tends to go under heavy scrutiny because many naturalistas have a different answer based on the condition of their unique head of hair. To eliminate all confusion, protein treatments especially deep treatments should be done every 4 to 6 weeks. Protein treatments should be applied so sparingly for a couple of reasons, the first being that applying protein treatments too often can lead to protein overload causing breakage throughout the hair. Secondly, using deep protein treatments more than once every 4 to 6 weeks may not provide any further benefit. Some hair care professionals may suggest getting a protein treatment every three months, about the same length of time in between regular trims.
3. What do you do after a protein treatment?
When dealing with protein and its application to hair, it is important to know about the rules that govern the protein-moisture balance of your hair. It is a highly interdependent relationship; the hair cannot be of great quality if one component is off. As I said before, after doing the protein treatment my hair felt dry and I still had to deep condition afterwards. The only explanation I have of why a deep conditioner is important I “a deep conditioner is what a fabric conditioner is to your clothes” hope it makes sense.
There’s often an overload of information when it comes to protein treatments, but I hope that my advice will help you identify whether your hair needs one, as well as more confidently choose the treatment that works for you.
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