The Power of a Deep Conditioner...

Part 1) Deep Conditioning: How to feed your hair?

How often do you deep condition your hair? once every 2 weeks, once a month?

I do it once a week and I attribute this key-step in my regime to keeping my hair healthy.

My motto is: 'conditioner is a curls best friend' make it yours too!

There is no other single process you can do to your hair whether it is relaxed or natural that will:

a) Strengthen it more
b) make it more shiny and
c) make it generally more healthy- than a good old deep condition or DC!

This is one of my favourites!! it strengthens and adds moisture with a great smell too!

How to deep condition your hair?

• If you want to, you can wash your hair first. I simply rinse it out well and gently squeeze out the excess water with a soft towel, I do not always shampoo before hand- its not always necessary!

• Generously apply your deep conditioner to damp hair towel blotted hair, slather it on and focus on the ends. Work through with your fingers, or use a wide toothed comb to work through your hair. This is the only time I ever use a comb or brush on my wet conditioned hair. Otherwise, only use your fingers.

• Place the shower cap over hair, and then put the heating device on your head for a full 30-45 minutes. You need at least 30 minutes to allow the hair cuticle to open fully, and let the conditioner completely penetrate and feed your hair.

• After 30+ minutes or longer, (you could leave the conditioner on at this point, even all night after heating), take off your cap and let your hair cool for at least 5 minutes. This allows your hair shaft to close again.

• Rinse hair with warm water until about 80% of the conditioner is rinsed out.
  
• Do a final rinse with the coldest water you can stand. This is important to seal your hair shaft and get all the benefits of your deep conditioning treatment.

• Apply a leave-on conditioner and allow your hair to air dry.
  
• Do not wash your hair the next day. Give your hair a break after a deep conditioning for at least 24 hours.

• I suggest deep conditioning weekly. The week-ends are best for me.
  
  By doing this, your hair will will become healthier and shinier. It will regain its softness, and retain length. Moisture-robbed hair is more subject to breakage and unmanageability.
  
  

My 5 ***** Dream Conditioner wish-list:

These conditioners are great for relaxed and natural hair- but you need to fly 1000's of miles to get them as they are not sold in the UK! boo hoo ;(

One of my favourite Dominican conditioners...this will give your hair slip like you have never felt before.

Yet another favourite from the Dominicans- a fabulous product...

This one is out of this world! once you have tried it you will wonder where it has been all your life- it delivers unreal moisture to the dryest hair.

Natural Alternatives:

If your at home and do not have a deep conditioner to hand, then have a rummage around your kitchen cupboard and dig up some of these ingredients to condition your hair with:

1. Mayonnaise - this is excellent to use as a protein conditioner, add some honey to it to make it super moisturising
2. Avocado - Mash up one of these with some honey to add some moisture to dry tresses, do not use heat, just cover your head with a plastic cap
3. Eggs - Whisk up a couple of these to strengthen your strands, do not use any heat- unless you want fried egg in your hair!!
4. Honey & Olive oil - warm a mixture of these two together, apply to your head and cover with a cap for a super moisturising treat!

The key to conditioning is to ensure to use products that strengthen and moisturise your strands...so if you have no real DC to hand think out of the box or the kitchen to be precise!

The *DEEP Conditioning Challenge!

Ladies as the summer comes to an end and the humidity lessens, your hair will become dryer as we turn the heating up and start wearing our hats again.
So why not challenge yourself to up the moisture levels and improve the health of your tresses over the next 2 months!

Join us at http://www.grow-it-long.ning.com/ as we take part in our Deep Condition challenge.

It will be fun to see how your hair responds: start date is September 1st ending on November 1st, you can also join by clicking the purple GROW LONG HAIR button at the top of the page on the right hand side.

The health of your hair lays in your hands...take responsibility for it!

Peace & Blessings
xx