DIY Conditioner and Moisturizers for Low Porosity hair please?

NatashaDW

Hi guys,
So I've been natural for 2 years and the struggle is real! Always shedding and breakage, and I just shaved off all of my hair (buzzcut) in April.
I want to start over again, but I've lost all motivation.
My hair is low porosity, product sits on it, and the day after shampooing and conditioning my hair, it's itchy.  I have fairy knots even after cutting my ends off (frayed ends are common as well!). I've used Shea moisture, Curlz, African pride, cantu- ect... and nothing has really aided my hair in growth and less breakage. I've also use coconut oil and shea butter, and my hair does not like that. 
If I can get tips on just DIY moisturizers to help my hair, I would absolutely love that. Any tips in general for low porosity hair would be [email protected] I want to start over again and have healthy hair.

Therese1

Do you know whether your hair is sensitive to protein? Sometimes excessive breakage can be due to protein overload. Low-porosity hair is often sensitive to protein. If you want to test this theory, you could use only products that have no protein for a couple of weeks and see if your situation improves.

If everything is sitting on your hair, I would make sure that you do a deep conditioning treatment. I find that simply putting on my conditioner and letting it sit for five minutes and then rinsing it out is not enough time for the moisture to penetrate the cuticle. I have to let it sit for 15-20 minutes to get decent penetration. 

You could try using aloe as a leave-in on your hair if you want a DIY mositurizer. I would dilute it at least 1:1 with water, as aloe is very acidic by itself, too acidic to be friendly to your hair.

NatashaDW

Therese1 said:

Do you know whether your hair is sensitive to protein? Sometimes excessive breakage can be due to protein overload. Low-porosity hair is often sensitive to protein. If you want to test this theory, you could use only products that have no protein for a couple of weeks and see if your situation improves.

If everything is sitting on your hair, I would make sure that you do a deep conditioning treatment. I find that simply putting on my conditioner and letting it sit for five minutes and then rinsing it out is not enough time for the moisture to penetrate the cuticle. I have to let it sit for 15-20 minutes to get decent penetration. 

You could try using aloe as a leave-in on your hair if you want a DIY mositurizer. I would dilute it at least 1:1 with water, as aloe is very acidic by itself, too acidic to be friendly to your hair.

Thank you! Well, I don't do any protein treatments, so I don't know actually But I do try to deep condition, and maybe it would help if I did it consistently more. Thank you for the aloe tip!

BrittanyM

Check your ingredients for proteins. A lot of curly hair products have them. Another suggestion that I learned from a lady here who has type 4 low porosity hair is that her hair loves to be clean, so she uses sulfate shampoos regularly. I'm not saying use them every time you wash, but try it once and see if your hair is really prone to buildup and likes being clean. Best of luck!

NatashaDW

BrittanyM said:

Check your ingredients for proteins. A lot of curly hair products have them. Another suggestion that I learned from a lady here who has type 4 low porosity hair is that her hair loves to be clean, so she uses sulfate shampoos regularly. I'm not saying use them every time you wash, but try it once and see if your hair is really prone to buildup and likes being clean. Best of luck!

thank you!!!

NatashaDW

Can anyone list the protein ingredients please?

Guide 65

Most proteins will say the word "protein" - like silk protein, wheat protein, etc.  Sometimes they use the word "hydrolyzed" in front.  But not everything hydrolyzed is protein.  Keratin is a protein, so watch for that, and also collagen.  Any herbal extracts made of grains are protein - oat flour, hops extract, rice, things like that.

BrittanyM

• Hydrolyzed wheat protein
• Hydrolyzed keratin
• Hydrolyzed silk protein
• Hydrolyzed Oat Flour
• Keratin
• Variations of hydrolyzed collagen
• Variations of hydrolyzed soy protein

These are common proteins, copied and pasted from textured talk. Amino acids are also proteins.

NatashaDW

Guide 65 said:

Most proteins will say the word "protein" - like silk protein, wheat protein, etc.  Sometimes they use the word "hydrolyzed" in front.  But not everything hydrolyzed is protein.  Keratin is a protein, so watch for that, and also collagen.  Any herbal extracts made of grains are protein - oat flour, hops extract, rice, things like that.

Thank you so much! You are such a big help!

NatashaDW

BrittanyM said:

• Hydrolyzed wheat protein
• Hydrolyzed keratin
• Hydrolyzed silk protein
• Hydrolyzed Oat Flour
• Keratin
• Variations of hydrolyzed collagen
• Variations of hydrolyzed soy protein

These are common proteins, copied and pasted from textured talk. Amino acids are also proteins.

Thank you love! I'll be checking my labels more than ever now!