The difference between protein and moisturizing conditioners

     It's so important to use conditioners on your hair to add back to it moisture and/or protein. Black hair is the driest of all hair types and needs moisture more than other hair types. If you live in a very humid environment like I do, you may not need to moisturize everyday. I usually go with the flow when I moisturize my hair. With that said, one important way of adding moisture back to is by deep conditioning it at least once a week with a moisturizing conditioner.
     Proteins are an integral part of your hair structure and to maintain healthy hair, you also need to add protein back to it by ingesting adequate proteins internally and using protein conditioners externally. The next question you might ask me is so how do I add moisture AND protein to my hair? How much protein or moisture do I need? This is what I call the 'balancing act'.
     It's so important to balance the protein and moisture because excessive proteins lead to a condition called protein overload and excessive moisture causes extra soft, mushy hair. For black hair, I would say that you should tip the balance in favor of moisture if you don't know what to do. It requires practice to learn how to strike this balance. When you start handling your hair personally, you'll learn the difference.

 You can do balance your protein/moisture needs in different ways. 2 ways I suggest are:

 1. Prepoo with light protein weekly

• prepoo with a light protein conditioner weekly (Light protein please)
• shampoo your hair.
• deep condition with a good moisturizing conditioner.

 2. Use a moderate to heavy protein conditioner once a month

• once a week, deep condition with a good moisturizing conditioner
• once a month, use a moderate to heavy protein conditioner
• follow it up immediately with your moisturizing conditioner to soften your hair. Proteins make hair hard so don't miss this step or you might end up with hard, unmanageable hair.

If you were to ask me, I would go with option one but I think the second option works too if you don't have time to prepoo. 

Before I end, I just want to remind you that too much of either protein or moisture can cause hair breakage and it takes a while to learn the balancing act but like I said before, when in doubt, go with moisture.

Dr Fomsky 


P/s: don't forget to register for the Healthy hair bootcamp here.