Until recently I thought there was no such thing as too much moisture for your hair.
But the key to maintaining healthy hair and having the most optimal hair growth possible is finding the perfect (or as close as you can because "Nobody's perfect" lol) balance between enough Protein and enough Moisture in your hair.
As far as things have been going recently, I think I have inadvertently found a pretty good balance.
A lot of us are not aware of it... but a lot of the conditioners we use that claim to be "moisturizing" conditioners, still have amounts of protein in them.
Take for instance one of mine and many of my hair journey sister's favorite co-washing product. VO5 Strawberries and Cream Moisture Milks Conditioner. Did you know that this product contains protein?? Sure does. As do most conditioners that have a 1-3 minute and then rinse formula in them.
As we found out earlier in being able to tell the difference between a conditioner and a DEEP conditioner... conditioners than say you can rinse out after 2 or so minutes are meant to smooth and coat the cuticles or hair follicles to create a soft feel to the hair. They are not deep penetrating conditioners. These often contain proteins to help strengthen the hair quickly. Not much as say your Aphogee 2 Minute Reconstructer (which has proven to be WAY too much protein for me), but protein non the less.
If you use these conditioners as they are labeled and rinse them immediately out then this doesn't pose too much of a risk to you... but if you like to use these as a leave in them you just want to keep this in mind when factoring in how much protein your hair gets.
I've found that while Coconut Oil is NOT a protein, it does have strong strengthening qualities for your hair. Coupling a DC of coconut oil with my Organix shampoo and conditioner line (that contains proteins) tends to leave my hair drier than normal. I either have to make up for this with other leave ins... or change my regimen around a bit when I do this.
Now all this pertains to having too much PROTEIN in your hair. But we're talking about too much MOISTURE.
If you are deep conditioning on top of deep conditioning... Moisturizing and sealing every day... etc... etc... and you are not getting any kind of protein into your hair your hair can go into what is called MOISTURE OVERLOAD. And just like your hair will break off from being as hard as a rock with too much protein... it will break off from being soft as a sponge from not enough protein.
So how can you tell if you're in moisture overload and how to prevent it? Especially since retaining moisture is the number one way to retain length?
Well I'll answer the last part first... because that's easy. You can help balance out your protein by continuing to use those co-wash conditioners that contain those proteins we knew nothing about lol. This is why I say I inadvertently maintaining a balance without even noticing.
Also, if you want a quicker fix for what you think is a more serious moisture overload than you can simply do the 2 Minute Aphogee Reconstuctor Treatment. One treatment usually does the trick.
So how do you tell?
Really the same way you tell if you have too much protein only the very opposite.
When you have too much protein your hair feels hard a brittle. With too much moisture your hair will feel TOO soft and spongy.
Your hair will break off just as much but it will be stretchy.
Now... if now you're worrying you have moisture overload because your hair is too soft... don't panic. Soft hair is GOOD. If your hair is not breaking off then you are fine. Don't immediately rush out and try to do a protein treatment because you have unusually soft hair from sticking to your hair journey. Just keep an eye on your hair. :)
Sources:
http://blackhairscience.com/hair_breakage.html
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