Hello ladies,
When its comes to a hair journey, your deep conditioners should be the products you get through/finish most quickly. Our hair loves and needs regular deep conditioning to thrive. Conditioners can be a little confusing to buy because there are soooooo many types and most claim to be repair damage, stop breakage, moisturise, strengthen, repair split ends etc.
So how do you avoid becoming too confused when trying to decide which deep conditioners to buy ?
As I mentioned in the How to Buy Shampoo post, to make product buying easier it is best that you know what you need and get familiar with product ingredients
What Do You Need: Conditioners
You need two types of conditioners on a hair journey:
1) – A protein deep conditioner – strengths our hair
2) – A moisturising deep conditioner – softens our hair and makes it elastic
I have written a very detailed post about the functions of protein and moisture conditioners and how to use them. If you are not familiar with protein and moisture balancing, I encourage you to read it. You can find that post here.
How To Buy Deep Conditioners
A Protein Deep Conditioner
- Products are usually grouped together by brands, eg, all of Organic Roots Stimulator products usually be grouped together, from their shampoos through to their styling products.
- Start by looking at the conditioners of the brands you are familiar with.
- Look at the ingredients at the back of the bottle or jar and see if the following ingredients are listed. Preferably one or more of these ingredients should be amongst the first 5 items found on the ingredient list.
Keratin
Collagen
Pathenol
Soy protein
Silk protein
Oat protein
Wheat protein
Amino Acids
Please note that some of these proteins may start with the word hydrolyzed, eg hydrolyzed wheat protein or hydrolyzed soy protein.
A Moisturising Deep Conditioner
- Start by looking at the conditioners of the brands you are familiar with.
- Look at the ingredients at the back of the bottle or jar and see if the following moisturizing ingredients are listed. Preferably one or more of these ingredients should be amongst the first 5 items found on the ingredient list.
Aqua
Cetearyl alchohol
Cetyl alchohol
Stearyl alchohol
Urea
Glycerine - Please note that there are many more types of moisturising ingredients that may be found in moisturising deep conditioners. Those listed above are some of the most popular ones which are commonly used by product manufacturers.
My Personal Favourite Deep Conditioners
Protein: Vitale Olive Oil Hair Mayonnaise
This contains a lot of great ingredients and most of the proteins it contains are hydrolyzed. Hydrolyzed proteins are better at being absorbed by our hair than non-hydrolyzed protein.
This conditioner also has more slip than other brands I have tried and my hair just seems to react well when I use it. The only con for me is that it can leave a lot of residue in our hair as it is quite thick so thorough rinsing is essential when using it.
Moisture: Motions and Herbal Essences
I can’t pick one, I love my Motions Moisture Plus and I love my Herbal Essences Hello Hydration. Both of these have a thick consistency which my texlaxed hair loves and both really boost my hairs elasticity.
The Motions Moisture Plus contains mineral oil, a synthetic oil which isn’t the best for hair ( natural oils like olive or coconut would be better). For a long time I kept fighting the fact that my hair seemed to do well with this product. I kept trying to find a better alternative but I always came back to my motions. I decided to listen to my hair…and we are both happy.
The Herbal Essences Conditioner contains a lot of silicones and can sometimes make my hair feel a little weighed down but it the elasticity it gives my hair is worth it.
Tips for Buying Hair Products in Nigeria
Have a Side Chic
This is probably the only scenario in which I will encourage having side chic
If you have been on a hair journey for a while, you will have found products you use and re-purchase regularly because they work well with your hair ( ie your staple products….your main chic).
In Nigeria, sometimes particular products can become scarce or difficult to find. It is best that you have a back up product which works well enough with your hair so that you can use it as a substitute until your staple is back in stock. For example my staple protein deep conditioner is Vitale olive oil hair ,mayonnaise but if I cant get my hands on it I am happy to use Aphogee 2 Minute Reconstructor.
I hope this post will help buying your deep conditioners a little bit more straight forward. Again, if you are new to deep conditioning I recommend that you read the post on deep conditioning which explains the functions of each type of conditioner and why we need both.
Ladies what are your favourite deep conditioners? Do you have a side chic conditioner?
x
Lade