Do I Really Need To Deep Condition My Hair?

Struggling with deep conditioning your natural hair? Here’s what you need to know!

We know how beneficial it is to deep condition our hair! It is one of those things that we’ve probably heard a million times.  I definitely saw a difference in the health of my hair, once I included monthly deep conditioning in my regimen. My hair is now more manageable, softer and I have been able to retain more length.

Benefits of Deep Conditioning

All hair types can benefit from a good deep conditioner. This is especially true for black hair. We have the most fragile hair. The cortex of our hair is protected by the cuticle layer. If you have black or African type hair, your cuticle layer is thinner, than the cuticle layer in other hair types (Gavazzoni Dias, 2015). As a result, we must treat our hair with a lot more care to prevent damage and retain length. Most deep conditioners contain conditioning agents and proteins that help seal and protect our cuticle layer, fill in damaged or weak spots, and reduce the force it requires to comb our hair. In order to retain hair length, it is imperative that you do your best to protect the cuticle or outer layer of your hair. Washing, combing, and using high heat all contribute to the destruction of the cuticle layer in varying degrees. This is why the most damaged parts of our hair are the ends. They are the oldest and have experienced all the above-mentioned practices for the longest period of time.

The Problem

Many of us lead BUSY lives! and it’s difficult to find time to deep condition!  After we get through pre-pooing and washing, we’re just too tired to bother to deep condition our hair!

The Good News

Remember in my previous post when I talked about cationic ingredients in conditioners? Well, high quality conditioners/deep conditioners are usually formulated with high levels of cationic surfactants. Now here is the good part! When you apply a conditioner to your hair most of the conditioning agents bond to your hair in less time than it would take to shower with the product in your hair and rinse it out! Please note this pertains to good quality conditioners. As cheaper formulations with low levels of conditioning agents are not going to perform the same way.

Why it Works

Most of the conditioning agents and proteins found in your deep conditioner work on the surface of your hair and don’t have to penetrate your hair fibers to be beneficial. In fact, some of them can’t because their molecules are simply too large. Many deep conditioners contain protein blends.  Some of those proteins are small and can penetrate your hair and others are large and work on the surface.

If your hair is more virgin, less of the conditioning agents will bind to your hair fibers in the 5 minutes, but if it has been color-treated or you flatiron, more will deposit. Also, if you use silicones, they coat your hair almost instantly. The important thing is using a quality conditioner that contains sufficient conditioning agents that give you benefit almost instantly without much effort.

My Advice!

Don’t skip using a deep conditioning when you are short on time! Instead, deep condition your hair in the shower. Use a plastic cap or a conditioning cap to generate some heat and rinse out before leaving the shower. Once you are using a quality conditioner, your hair will get most of the benefits! We tend to have an all or nothing approach when it comes to our natural hair, but it doesn’t need to be that way. When you have the time to use heat, do it, particularly if you have processed hair. However, on the days when you don’t have the time to sit under a dryer then try this quick option using a quality conditioner. Remember natural doesn’t have to be complicated!

Reference

Gavazzoni Dias, M. F. R. (2015). Hair Cosmetics: An Overview. International Journal of Trichology, 7(1), 2–15. http://doi.org/10.4103/0974-7753.153450