So I’m at a crossroads with my hair. After battling post-partum shedding in 2011-2012, I’ve realized I have seriously neglected my hair by not putting enough protein in it.
Many naturals have gone through this: why are so-and-so’s two-stranded twists so thick and yummy and mine are scalpy and sparse? Come to find out, after researching, you got thin or fine hair. Either low-density, which is the number of hairs per square inch on your head, or fine strands, each strand being thin in diameter.
Some have both. I just have one: my hair is quite dense, but the strands are fine.
There are various breakthroughs each of us go through on our natural hair care journey. Sometimes, it feels melodramatic. But for anyone who isn’t a black woman, you have to understand that hair is an important part of our culture. Unfortunately, those of us that had our hair relaxed from an early age, have absolutely no idea of what our chemical-free hair is like. Hence, all these aha-moments and realizations about our hair every few years.
A year or two ago, I realized I had fine hair. However, I didn’t realize that the diameter of your hair kind of dictates how much protein you should be using in your regimen. The smaller the diameter, the less natural protein you have in your hair. So you have to add some now and again. Or maybe a lot, on the regular, if you have very fine hair. In all the natural hair spaces online, I feel like this information gets lost among the desire to keep our moisturized. In fact, you can damage your hair by over-moisturizing.
It’s been a long, long time since I’ve done a protein treatment. All things considered, I’m surprised my hair has held up this long. But after the postpartum shedding wasn’t an issue anymore, I was still losing a lot of hair during the detangling process. And it seemed limp and lifeless. I needed to change things up a bit, at least short-term. First thing I did was look for a shampoo and conditioner. I chose these:
Pantene’s line for fine hair. It’s inexpensive. Won’t hurt to try. It was somewhat of an epiphany for me to realize that shampoos and conditioners that add volume are probably ok for me. Again, you’re conditioned as a natural to focus on super moisturizing and taming that fro.
Even though I haven’t done a protein treatment in a while, I’ve got a protein conditioner sitting right under my sink, Aubrey’s Rosemary Peppermint. I’m going to use this to detangle tomorrow (wash day!!), wash and condition with Pantene, then moisturize with Shea Moisture Curl Enhancing Smoothie. I’ve been using this for a while; it has silk protein in it but it’s listed in middle of the ingredient list. I haven’t been super impressed with it. Not sure if my hair likes shea butter. But if I have been dealing with damage from lack of protein, no product is going to do well in my hair.
I’ll do an update soon!