Are Home Remedies For Hair Care A Good Idea?
Let’s talk about home remedies for your hair! I don’t know about you, but most of the time when I encounter a problem my first attempt at finding a solution is to seek out a home remedy. Unfortunately I’m here to tell you that when it comes to hair care, home remedies aren’t necessarily the best option.
In this post I’m going to explain why home remedies don’t work very well for hair care as well as the best ways to solve your hair problems at home. I’ll also tell you about the one home remedy that I do stick behind!
Why shouldn’t we use home remedies for our hair?
Now when I say that I’m against most home remedies, that doesn’t mean that I’m against treating your hair at home.There is a difference!
I just mean that I’m against using coconut oil, greek yogurt, and mayonnaise as a conditioning treatment for your hair. Before you attack me with your coconut oil, let me explain why.
There is a reason that professional hair masques and conditioning treatments exist. They are specifically designed with the components necessary to penetrate the cortex of the hair (middle layer of a hair strand) to moisturize and repair damaged hair from the inside out.
Using food items on your hair won’t necessarily hurt your case, and they may even smooth down the cuticle (outer layer) which is why you may feel like you see results. They can make your hair feel a little softer on the outside, but they won’t go deep inside to the cortex to moisturize and repair hair the same way that professional conditioning treatments will.
To learn more about the anatomy of a hair strand, see my post here.
Home remedies for dry and damaged hair
There are a ton of recommended options out there of home remedies to moisturize and condition your hair. But as I mentioned earlier, all these these remedies are doing is smoothing down the outer layer of your hair to make it feel softer.
At the end of the day, they are not moisturizing the inner layers of your hair that make it strong and healthy. Your hair will only feels softer, and is likely now weighed down and coated with food products that are likely making it harder for conditioner to penetrate the inner layers of your hair strand.
Your hair will still be damaged and dry if you aren’t using quality products that will penetrate those inner layers. You can actually make matters worse by creating build-up and blocking the hair from actually absorbing moisture.
If you are going to buy a tub of coconut oil to use as a conditioning treatment, why not just buy an actual hair masque that works 10x better? Coconut oil isn’t cheaper either!
To do an at home conditioning treatment, you’ll also need a shower cap and your regular shampoo and conditioner.
Hair moisture masque
A hair moisture masque is a heavy duty conditioner that gets quite a bit deeper than your average conditioner (or coconut oil).
After you shampoo, condition, and towel dry your hair, apply the masque. Towel drying is important because the hair will absorb more of the treatment with less water in it. Focus more of the product on your ends or any areas that you may have breakage.
Wrap your hair in your shower cap which will keep heat in. The heat opens the cuticle and allows for deeper penetration of the product. Let this sit for a minimum of 10 minutes.
I wouldn’t recommend sleeping with any treatment on. I never recommend sleeping with wet hair because that’s like leaving your clothes in the washer overnight to get full of mildew. Leaving the treatment on for 10 hours won’t make your hair any softer than leaving it on for 1 hour. 10-30 minutes is all you need.
The more heat that your hair is exposed to while this product is on, the better. Heat opens up the outer layer of your hair and allows the product to better penetrate the inner layers of your hair structure. So sitting outside if it’s warm out for a bit or even taking a blow dryer to heat it up will be beneficial.
Rinse the product out of your hair completely and style as desired.
Hair bond builder
A bond builder is a conditioning treatment that is formulated to repair broken bonds in your hair, making it stronger and healthier. They do NOT add moisture. These are great for bleached or chemically treated hair that has some chemical damage and has become weak or fragile.
Remember that this product is not a conditioner. So be sure to keep in mind that you’ll need to shampoo this out and condition your hair after using it.
If your hair is really dirty it may be beneficial to shampoo and condition it prior to getting started, but it’s not necessary.
On wet, towel dried hair, apply your bonding treatment. Just like with the moisture masque, focus the product on any weak or damaged areas like the ends of your hair or front fragile pieces. Wrap in plastic, and let sit on for a minimum of 10 minutes, and no longer than 1 hour.
Like the moisture masque, this product also works well when exposed to heat such as a blow dryer or the warm sun because it allows for better penetration.
After the time is up, fully rinse out the product, then shampoo and condition your hair like normal.
Hair protein treatment
Our hair is made up of a protein called keratin. When our hair is weakened and depleted, it is beneficial to do a protein treatment to strengthen it. Now, doing this too frequently can be harmful to your hair, so make sure you do not over-do it.
I would not do any sort of protein or keratin treatment at home if you have had a keratin treatment in a salon in the last 6 months.
Since keratin is what hair is made up of, too much keratin can build up on the hair and actually cause breakage. So never do this any more frequently than every 4 weeks!
Apply your protein treatment to dry hair and wrap it in plastic. Let it sit on for 10 minutes, rinse thoroughly and then shampoo and condition like normal.
Products to take care of your hair at home
***Since I’m sharing the products that I love to use with you guys, this page includes affiliate links to these products. If you take action and purchase a product through clicking one of my links, I’ll make some commission money from it at no extra cost to you. This enables me to be able to continue giving you awesome hair tips, so thanks! ***
Hair Moisture Masque
- Pravana Purple toning masque – Masque for cool toned blonde hair
- Pravana Intense Therapy Treat Masque – Masque for all hair types
- Olaplex No. 8 – Moisture Masque
Bond Builder Treatment
- Olaplex No. 3 – The best at-home bond builder on the market
The best home remedy protein treatment for your hair
The egg white protein treatment is the only at-home food product that I will recommend you using on your hair!
Since your hair is made of protein, the egg whites will strengthen your hair significantly. But as I mentioned earlier, DO NOT do this too frequently!
How to do an egg white protein treatment
Take the egg whites only and whip them up to a complete foam. Apply to dry hair and let sit on for 10 minutes only. Rinse, shampoo and condition your hair afterwards. You can even follow it with a moisture masque if you’d like.
Keep in mind that this is a protein treatment. Your hair will feel much stronger after this, but not necessarily softer. Following this with a moisture masque will help it to feel softer again.
How often should I do conditioning treatments?
How often you do each of these treatments depends on the current condition of your hair:
For severely damaged and dry hair
Significant damage is categorized by breakage and very weak and fragile hair. You will see shorter and uneven pieces around your hairline as well as lots of flyaways traveling up your hair strand. It may even feel brittle and straw like.
This is often the case for someone that has put their hair through a lot of chemical processes, using box color, significant lightening processes, and/or lots of heat tools on the hair with or without a thermal protectant.
If you have significant damage, then I recommend doing one of the below treatments every single time you wash your hair. Alternate between a moisturizing hair masque and a bond builder after every shampoo, and do a protein treatment once a month.
For semi damaged hair
Semi dry and damaged hair may still have flyaways traveling up the hair strand, but you wont have shorter pieces at your hairline from breakage. You’ll fall in this category if you have lightened your hair with highlights or balayage, or if you use heat on it at all.
If your hair is semi dry and damaged, I recommend doing a conditioning treatment every 2-3 washes. Alternate between a moisturizing hair masque and a bond builder, and do a protein treatment once every 6-8 weeks.
For healthy hair
Healthy hair will be full and smooth. It won’t have any breakage at the hair line, and has minimal flyaways traveling up the hair. It will feel strong, sturdy, and likely hasn’t been lightened ever before.
If your hair is healthy you can get away with doing one of these treatments every month. I still recommend alternating between a hair masque and a bond builder, but if your hair is healthy you can skip the protein treatment all-together.
Home Remedies For Hair Care Conclusion
Using food products as a home remedy for hair care won’t work nearly as well as an actual hair product will. This is because real hair products have been formulated to penetrate the middle and inner layers of your hair. Most home remedies will only penetrate the outer layer of your hair.
They will coat the hair which may smooth it out, but won’t actually moisturize it. In fact, they can actually create build-up and block moisture from getting to the inner layers of your hair, making it even more dry and damaged.
To really condition and heal your hair, use products that were actually designed to do so:
- Moisture masques
- Bond building treatments
- Protein treatments
Depending on the current condition of your hair, you may use one of these every time you wash your hair or as little as once a month.
If this was helpful to you and you’d like to read more more about making your hair grow strong and healthy, check out my post here!
If you have any further questions for me, leave them in the comments! As always, Have A Good Hair Day!
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