Hey, Loves!
In this post I’ll be focusing on conditioning your hair as part of building a hair regimen. In my last post I discussed shampooing. The next step after shampooing is conditioning the hair. If you want healthy, nourished hair this is a step that cannot be skipped.
When conditioning you can use a regular aka daily conditioner or deep conditioner. Is there a difference between the two? So glad you asked. Yes, there is a difference. And depending on what your hair needs you might opt to do one over the other.
Regular or daily conditioners are designed to soften the surface of the hair making it easier to detangle. It also helps to lay the cuticle of the hair down taming the frizzes. Think of this conditioning type as a surface treatment.
Deep conditioners are designed to penetrate the hair shaft going beyond the cuticle. Some folks in the natural hair community will often give silicones a bad name in hair products. But here’s the thing, certain silicones are designed to fill in gaps along the hair shaft that are damaged by the environment, bleached/colored hair, chemically treated hair, or every day styling practices. Silicones can be non-water soluble, meaning that they don’t rinse away with water, or water-soluble rinsing away with water. A nice con of sulfate shampoo is that it’s able to remove non-water soluble silicones from the hair shaft.
The reason I’m bringing up silicones is because just about ALL over the counter, affordable and expensive shampoos and conditioners contain them. Of course, you can purchase products without them, but be prepared to pay some bucks. I purchased this high-end deep conditioning mask from ULTA for $36… And guess what? It has silicones in it! Dimethicone is the third ingredient and amodimethicone is farther done the list. This particular brand is used in hair salons.
So sorry for the poor quality pics! I don’t have one of those fancy cameras…yet. 🙂 But you get what I’m trying to point out. And that would be silicones aren’t evil as once believed. Well…at least for me.
Let’s recap:
After washing your hair, conditioning is a must depending on the state of your hair. Regular/daily conditioners work on the hair’s surface. Deep conditioners penetrates the hair shaft. There are two types of silicones – non-soluble and soluble. A sulfate shampoo will remove silicone buildup. Silicones in general are not bad for your hair.
In my next post I’ll be discussing the difference between a moisturizing deep conditioner and a strengthening deep conditioner.
Do you use regular/daily conditioner or deep conditioner? If so, why? If not, why? What benefits have you seen?
Until next time,
Suzette
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