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What is Deep Conditioning?

Did you know that curly hair is drier than straight hair?

Regular conditioner coats and sits on the hair, so every now and then, us curlies need something more intense to penetrate the hair shaft.

Regular deep conditioning is a necessity for curly hair. It nourishes, strengthens and moisturizes curly hair. It also improves the texture, reduces breakage and improves the hair's health. It also helps improve the hair's elasticity, which means it is more flexible and can stretch more before it breaks.

Deep conditioners can be specially formulated, a boosted regular conditioner or a DIY concoction.

How long? How often?
If your hair is extremely dry or damaged, you should condition twice a week. To maintain good hair health, once a week or every two weeks may suffice.

Leave the deep conditioner in anywhere from 20 minutes to an hour (20-30 minutes seems to be the consensus as some curly bloggers are saying that it won't work anymore after 20 minutes) before rinsing.

What order?
You can deep condition:

  • After you wash your hair
  • Before you wash your hair
  • After you condition your hair
  • Before you condition your hair
  • .... experiment to figure out which order works best for you.
Focus on your ends. They are usually the most dry, since natural oils take a while to work their way down the length of your hair. 

Too much conditioning can create over-moisturized hair and product build up, which will weigh down your curls. You may even lose your curl and bounce, but this can be corrected by one or several protein treatments. 

Deep conditioners available in most stores
  • Garnier Fructis One-Minute Masks (but even though the directions say to leave it on for one minute, leave it on for at least 20)
  • Curls Blueberry Bliss Reparartive Hair Mask
  • Deva Curl Melt into Moisture
  • Deval Curl Heaven in Hair
  • Shea Moisture Manuka Honey and Marufa Oil
DIY deep conditioners
  • 1 egg yolk + 1 tbsp olive oil
  • 1/2 avocado + 1/4 cup mayonnaise + 2 tbsp avocado oil + rosemary essential oil
  • 1 ripe banana + 1 tbsp honey
  • Add 2 tbsp olive oil or argan oil to your regular conditioner
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