Deep conditioner recommendations

[bnhbriannaa]

Hello, first time posting here. I recently went natural and I’m struggling to find a protein and also protein free deep conditioner to use. I have 4c hair and low porosity. I use a protein free deep conditioner weekly in place of a regular conditioner, and a protein deep conditioner at least once a month. So far I have tried 

Protein 

Mielle Babaussu Mint Mask

Protein free 

TGIN honey mask 

Brigeo Be Gentle Be Kind 

my main problem with most of these mask is that they either completely dry my hair out, or there is little to no moisture. 

Im open to any recommendations 🙂 

[WinglessOne]

Hi @bnhbriannaa ! I have coily hair (I’ll call it mostly 4a) that’s low porosity at the crown and back, and high porosity in the front. I’ve been natural for 20 years. Finding products that work for my blend of porosity is sometimes a challenge, but I’ve got some trusty staples in my haircare routine (I’m mostly a wash & go gal). 

My usual conditioner is Redken All Soft Mega Curls Conditioner. It does contain soy protein, so it might not be what you want for frequent use. It works very well on all my hair, though—even the crazy high porosity stuff that always wants to frizz the heck out before the rest of my hair’s anywhere near dry. (Note that this is NOT the same product as Redken All Soft Conditioner; that one leaves my hair feeling unmoisturized and I can’t detangle with it.) 

A few times a month, I swap Redken with Briogeo Don't Despair, Repair!™ Deep Conditioning Hair Mask 8 oz/ 237 mL  and use it as a deep conditioner. This product also contains proteins. This is the only Briogeo product I use (eh, I do have their solid shampoo bar waiting for me to test). 

After rinsing out either of those conditioners, I immediately apply leave-in conditioner and/or styling product while my hair’s still soaking wet. This helps define my coils and does some moisturizing. Then I gently towel-off any drips. If you don’t already do that, give that a try and see if it helps your hair feel less dry after conditioning. 

Oh, and that TGIN honey mask… my hair’s generally not a fan of honey, and that might also be part of your hair’s problem. For some reason, honey’s the only humectant that seems to make my hair cuticles stay lifted/open, which makes my strands catch and snag on one another (hello tangled mess) and lose moisture. I don’t have this problem with aloe vera, or at least not as big a problem. Last time I tried TGIN’s mask, it didn’t play nice with my hair because of this. 

[ather]

@bnhbriannaa  My favs are K18 Biomimetic Hairscience Mini Leave-In Molecular Repair Hair Mask 0.5 oz/ 15 mL   OUAI Treatment Mask for Thick Hair 8 oz/ 236 mL   Briogeo Scalp Revival™ Shampoo + Don’t Despair, Repair!™ Hair Mask Travel Gift Set  I can’t seem to tag just the mask version but I do love the mask! They also have a protein one in the line that is great also. And I really enjoy amika Soulfood Nourishing Hair Mask   is a great one! I hope you find one that works for you!