SuperNatural- Protein

One key thing to having healthy natural hair is to know your hair type. I have soft hair that is stretchy, and prone to breakage mainly split ends, I am currently on a mission to get rid of all my split ends and trimming every 2-3 months, but that's for another post I am an advocate for healthy hair. I'd rather have healthy short hair than long shabby hair but that's for another post I digress. I have been natural for several years and NEVER ever used a protein treatment which explains why my hair was growing at a good rate but prone to breakage; it was because my strands were weak, thus I was not retaining my hair length because of breakage.

Moisturizing your hair daily will promote hair growth, but without protein treatments your hair will not be strong and will become stretchy snapping easily, and too much protein treatment will make your hair brittle. So how on earth do you know when your hair needs protein and needs moisture you are thinking? It's a balance. You have to listen to your hair and do a strand test.

Hair needing moisture: Hair stretches a little and then snaps.
                                       Hair feels dry, rough, and breaks when combed.
Solution: Use deep moisturizing conditioner once to twice weekly with heat for 8-12 weeks to re-balance your hair. However, if your hair becomes very stretchy and gummy through this period add a protein treatment.

Hair needing protein: Hair stretches and stretches until it snaps
                                    Hair feels mushy, gummy, is limp and stretches very easily particularly when wet.
Solution: Use a protein treatment usually one to two treatments will work. Listen to your hair it will tell you
               what it needs.

**Balanced Hair: Hair stretches slightly and returns to its original shape.**

My hair was very stretchy, has loads of gaps in its strands, and split ends. I didn't even know I needed a protein treatment this last week, the only reason did I my first protein treatment instead of my usual deep conditioning regime was because I ran out of conditioner and didn't know it. I currently live in an area that does not have a beauty supply store for Afro-Caribbean hair. As a result, I had two options use this cheap watery conditioner my flatmate had (I wasn't touching it) or use egg and mayonnaise, that idea just randomly popped into my hair. I choose to do the latter and I am happy I did, my lack of conditioner was a blessing in disguise.

A few mistakes I made while doing my protein treatment; however, was I didn't do a gentle wash afterwards. Thus my scalp felt itchy (a problem I don't generally have). Second, I rinsed with hot-lukewarm water, when I should have rinsed with cold- lukewarm water. Also doing a pre-wash before washing or conditioning after the protein treatment may work for you as well. I aim to start adding protein treatments to my hair regime bi-weekly, to see if the strength of my strands increase, along with my usual weekly DC (deep conditioning) and daily moisturizing. If i see rapid improvements I will keep this regime. You may need less protein and more moisture or vice versa.

In short I am happy I did my accidental protein treatment. My hair DID NOT SHED AT ALL!! I have never in my life experienced that, NEVER!!!! My hair was a bit harder than usual afterwards, which is why I will DC next time afterwards, add honey as one of my friends suggested to me via twitter, or just add an egg to my DC biweekly. I wish I would have known this key element of realizing the balance between protein and moisture back in 2004 when I went natural I would have seen better results at an earlier stage. I hope you're learning from my mistakes.

The Natural Protein Treatment I did:

1. Mixed a jar of Mayonnaise and one egg:

2. I section my hair into four parts when i wash my hair. It makes my washing process easier. 

I washed each section twice with Creme of Nature Ultra Moisturizing Shampoo. Many natural hair advisers say to avoid products with Sodium Laureth Sulfate, but I don't find the results too harsh on my hair. I will be getting another shampoo that is Sodium Laureth Sulfate free to compare the results (future post).

3. I rinsed each section and then added the egg mayonnaise mixture and added a sachet of John Freda Recovery sachet (the only thing I had sadly) to my edges, and wrapped my hair with cling film. I left it in for 30 minutes or so. 

4. I rinsed each section after 30 mins, towel dried then twisted to allow my hair to air dry over night. Again I would add two more steps now. Rinse with cold-lukewarm water and then condition a final time before drying and styling. In addition, next time if I add it to my regular conditioner I may not use heat (the cling film) and a hot towel as it isn't recommended when using eggs.

ALTERNATIVE PROTEIN TREATMENTS:

• ESSENTIOUS REJUVENATE STRENGTHENING PROTEIN TREATMENT.(WWW.ESSENTIOUS.COM) BEST
• AN EGG MIXED WITH YOUR REGULAR CONDITIONER (DO NOT USE HEAT) 
• MIZANI KERAFUSE INTENSIVE STRENGTHENING TREATMENT (WWW.BEAUTYCLICKS.COM)
• APHOGEE (IN LOCAL BEAUTY STORES) - MAY CAUSE DRYNESS BUT STOPS BREAKAGE QUICKLY
• ION RECONSTRUCTOR PROTEIN TREATMENT (IN SALLYS BEAUTY STORES) - APPLY, COVER WITH PLASTIC CAP AND SIT UNDER HEATED DRYER FOR 10 MINUTES
• JOHN FRIEDA KELP HELP
• REDKEN EXTREME CAT

I hope this post has helped. For further information on other moisturizing shampoos and protein treatment alternatives visit: Africurl and Hairfinity I found these sites very helpful.