Wavy Hair Care

A wavy hair blog sharing tips and tricks for embracing naturally wavy hair.

What Does Your Wavy Hair Need? Moisture, Protein Or Clarifying?

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If you’ve had a basic wavy hair routine down for a while and then suddenly you’re struggling to get a decent hair day…you’re probably asking yourself what your hair needs now.

Usually if your hair suddenly starts acting different, it needs one of three main things. It either needs more moisture, or more protein, or it’s time for a clarifying shampoo or chelating shampoo. It can be a bit challenging to figure out which of those to try first though. Let’s go over the signs of all three.

Diagnosing wavy hair problems - how to tell if it's time to clarify (because you have buildup) or if your hair needs moisture or protein.

Signs That Your Hair Needs Moisture

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Aphogee Two Step Protein Treatment Review

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When I was new to the curly girl method I read about protein overload and was scared of protein as a result. I successfully avoided using much protein for quite a while without a problem. I think after about a year and a half, I started experiencing moisture overload.

I’d wash and style my hair the same way, using the same products as before, but I’d barely get a cast when I used to get a hard cast. Plus, my waves would fall flat after just a few hours or less than a day, when they used to last multiple days. I couldn’t avoid protein any longer.

Once I saw how much my hair benefited from some protein, I started incorporating it into my routine more often. I remained afraid of really ‘strong’ protein treatments though. Yet, I continued to find myself in moisture overload fairly frequently when using more mild protein treatments. If you haven’t already, I’d recommend learning your hair type and how your hair type impacts what products you should use.

A year or so ago, I finally decided to try a strong protein treatment…the Aphogee two-step protein treatment. I bought the sample packet at first. It went really well, so I’ve since bought the full sized bottle.

Aphogee two step protein treatment

Aphogee Two Step Protein Treatment Review

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Identifying Protein Hair Products

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Once you’ve learned that your hair needs protein, it can still be confusing to figure out how to incorporate it into your routine. If you’re new, it can even be challenging to figure out which hair products have protein and which don’t! Thankfully, you don’t really need to learn every hair product ingredient out there in order to learn to detect protein-based ingredients in hair products. You can make an educated guess based on how the product is marketed.

protein hair products. How to tell if a hair product has protein in it and some of my favorite protein containing wavy hair products.

Signs That A Hair Product Has Protein

The product describes itself as…

  • Repairative
  • Strengthening
  • Fortifying
  • For bleached hair
  • For damaged hair
  • Restoring
  • Renewing
  • Reconstructing

Protein is not just for damaged hair, but damaged hair does need protein so most protein products are marketed at damaged hair. In a nutshell, protein-containing hair products will market themselves as lending strength to your hair.

naturally wavy hair

Ingredients that are protein

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Signs & Causes Of Damaged Wavy Hair

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Signs Of Damage In Naturally Wavy Hair and common causes of hair damage

Signs That Your Wavy Hair Is Damaged

Split ends. These are a giveaway that your hair is definitely damaged. It’s best to have them trimmed because while splits will start at the ends, if left untreated they can continue to split up the hair shaft.

Unexplained texture change. Texture can change due to hormonal changes so if you’ve gone through puberty, pregnancy, or changes in hormonal medications that could be the cause. Keep in mind that hair grows about half a inch per month, or six inches per year. So it may be several months or even a year after a hormonal change before you may really notice the change. If you have seen a texture change with no clear cause, it could be damage.

No elasticity. If you pull on your waves and they don’t spring back at all, that’s a lack of elasticity. It can be a sign of needing protein or using products that are too heavy…but it also can be a sign of damage.

Your hair feels dry compared to your norm.

Tangles. Tangles are normal for many hair types, but if your hair has become much more tangly this can be due to damage.

Breakage. If you see lots of broken pieces of hair happening, that’s a sign that your hair is likely weak due to damage.

Lots of frizz. All wavy hair has some frizz, some more than others. In general, there are many, many causes of frizz and most aren’t a sign of damage. But if yours has gotten really frizzy vs your usual that can be damage.

Your hair is rough feeling. Some hair types are naturally less soft than others. For example, really thick hair strands are often rougher feeling than fine hair strands. So this is another one that you should base on your norm.

High porosity hair is usually a sign of damage. Gets soaked easily but dries fast too. Feels rough after your hair dries unless you use leave in.

Your hair looks matte or dull rather than shiny. Hair type can make a difference in natural shine, but if your hair used to be shinier and has gotten more dull, that’s likely damage.

Longer hair is always going to be a little damaged because even gentle grooming and ordinary living life in the world causes some damage to hair. So the longer you grow your hair, the older your hair ends are, and the more time they’ve had to get damaged by life. Here is a quote about ‘natural’ (non-chemical or hair dye-related) damage in hair.

“Cuticle damage evidenced by broken scale edges can usually be observed a few centimeters away from the scalp. Such damage is caused by weathering and mechanical damage from the effects of normal grooming actions, such as combing, brushing and shampooing. In many long hair fibers (25 cm or longer), progressive surface damage may be observed (illustrated by Fig. 1.23). Stage 1 shows intact smooth scale edges and scale surfaces; stage 2 contains broken scale edges; in stage 3, the scales have been partially removed, and in stage 4 the hair splits indicating extensive cortical damage. ” quote is from Chemical and Physical Behavior of Human Hair by Clarence R. Robbins.

 

Causes Of Damage In Wavy Hair

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