Deep Conditioning Curly Hair

Deep conditioning curly hair every once in a while will help build the strength and integrity of your curls and give it a good dose of hydration. Let’s look into the details!

Ingredients in a conditioner

There are mainly 2 types of ingredients in a conditioner that help hair – penetrating ingredients and ingredients that cling on to the surface of the hair.
1) Ingredients that can penetrate the hair shaft – These ingredients plump up your hair (just like water pumps up a dried raisin) and give it shine, hydration and manageability. The ingredients’ molecules should be small enough to penetrate the hair shaft. There are a few ingredients that do that:

• Water
• Hydrolyzed Wheat Protein – How Protein Helps Your Curls + Protein sensitivity
• Coconut Oil – Science of Coconut oil on hair
• Olive Oil
• Sunflower Oil
• Ucuuba Butter
• Palm Kernel Oil
• Babbasu Oil
• Panthenol
• Cetrimonium Bromide

Read more about moisturizing oils vs sealing oils – Oils and curly hair – Benefits, types and ways to apply

2) Ingredients that attach to the surface of hair(adsorption) – Surfactants (like behentrimonium chloride and behentrimonium methosulfate) and emollients like cetyl alcohol, stearyl alcohol etc. help to soften the hair, smooth the cuticle and minimize static.

Is there any way to increase the penetration and adsorbtion?

Yes, and that’s where deep conditioning comes into picture. Deep conditioning is leaving on certain products for longer time so that they have more time to penetrate your hair shaft or attach onto hair. Increased time and temperature increase the penetration as well as adsorption.
Temperature – A good value is around 35°C. Heat caps like Tempcap Pro are a good way to achieve this.
Time – Adsorption stops after around 30 minutes whereas penetration can continue even after 30 minutes. 30-60 minutes is a good time for a deep conditioner.

Do we really need a separate product for deep conditioning?
If you have been following me on Instagram or even checking my product reviews, you would have noticed that I don’t use or advocate deep conditioners as much as products like conditioners and gels.
If your regular conditioner has the above mentioned ingredients, just keep them on for longer – they become deep conditioners!
If not, just mix any of the easily available ingredients (oh how I love coconut oil and olive oil for this) into your regular conditioner and leave it on for longer. Add just 2-3 drops of oil (just enough to not make your hair greasy).
If you do fancy buying a deep conditioner, make sure the first 5-8 ingredients have at least 2-3 of the above mentioned ingredients.

Should we deep condition on washed hair or dirty hair?
Freshly washed hair is your best bet so that the deep conditioner can easily penetrate your hair. However, if you are using pure oils (without mixing in conditioner), apply it on dry hair before shampoo.

What is to be done after the waiting time?
Just rinse your hair in water. Do NOT shampoo. That would negate the hard work you and your deep conditioner just did hehe (if you are using pure oils on dry hair before washing, follow it with shampooing and regular conditioning) and go on to apply your styling products.

How often should we deep condition?
Once a week is a standard measure, you can increase or decrease it to suit your hair’s needs.

Happy deep conditioning curlies!!

Source : Deep Conditioning: Everything You Need To Know – The Natural Haven Bloom