Wash Day Fiasco: Protein sensitive hair

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That face right there is the EXACT face I had in the middle of trying to wash and deep condition my hair last Monday as my attempt to breath some life into Fifi turned into a complete fiasco. 

Prior to said fiasco wash day actually started off completely normal. I set up all the necessary products,  procrastinated for about 3 hours and then finally decided to get to work. (The procrastination period is very important lol)

  I was super excited about this wash day too because I was going to be using my newly purchased Shea Moisture Manuka Honey & Mafura Oil Intensive Hydration Conditioner & Intensive Hydration Hair Mask 0_0 say that 3 times fast lol.  

I saw a post on the BerryCurly Instagram page about it and decided I would be the perfect product to get to start prepping my hair for the colder months and protective styles. Especially since Fifi and been feeling a little dry lately anyway. I did a little post on my Instagram to let you all know I was bout to try it out and started washing. 

I started off first by wetting my hair with a spray bottle and then adding some olive oil to it and lightly detangled my hair. I always do this before I shampoo if I had a twist out prior or had been noticing knots from a wash & go. Shampooing knotty hair will do nothing but make more knots and cause breakage ALWAYS ALWAYS begin with light detangling.

Pre wash, letting the water and olive oil sit

I decided to do an apple cider vinegar pre wash, I had been rocking the same twist out for about 3 weeks and had been using ALOT of product on my hair to keep it stretched and looking its best so I knew my hair would need a little help getting fully clean. If you guys are unsure of how to use ACV and what it does to help the hair and scalp leave a comment below and ill be sure to make a post about it =)

Next I pulled out my Shea Moisture Raw Shea Butter Moisture Retention shampoo, this is the second time I've used this shampoo and I'm decently pleased with it. I was originally shampooing with the Shea Moisture that comes in the pink bottle...the name escapes me right now -__-

THEN IT WAS FINALLY TIME TO CONDITION!!!

I was like beaming with excitement, I really don't know what it is about trying out a new product that gets me like a kid in a candy store but that was EXACTLY how I felt. I have to admit I'm a product over user sooooo probably put like 10 squirts of the conditioner in my head worked it through and let it sit for about 2-3 mins.

I began to try to comb my hair though with the wide tooth comb and to my surprise......that comb went no flipping where!!! Even starting from the ends and trying to work my way up (the proper way to detangle) the comb was having some serious issues getting through my hair. All of this was super weird for me but I kept trying for about another 5 mins and eventually decided to just wash the conditioner out and go to the mask. 

Now let me be VERY clear, I NEVER have issues detangling my hair like that. Even though my hair is "4C"  I'm still very able to get a come through it with conditioner. Also having done my pre detangle, it shouldn't have been that hard.

When I began to wash out the conditioner I noticed my hair felt super dry, which is completely the opposite of what it should have felt like. I started to panic and quickly grabbed the hair mask, I covered my hair in the mask and threw on a plastic cap and sat for about 15 to 20 mins hoping that it would correct whatever madness just happened.

Little did I know....I was only making my situation worse -___-

The moment I realized this was really going down hill

Once I took the cap off and began to detangle, again I was running into the same issues. However this time it was worse knots seemed to form at any attempt to detangle, my hair felt rough and was hardly manageable. So y'all know I was losing it!!! I quickly began to rinse my hair and things went even more down hill, my hair felt completely stripped and almost straw like, it was rough and stiff I could have cried. 

I grabbed my apple cider vinegar and started spraying my hair down in hopes that it would help remove the mask and conditioner completely from my hair. Once I did that I grabbed my Carols Daughter Cleansing Conditioner and began to work that though my hair to detangle this mess that was now Fifi.

The holy trinity that saved my hair

After 2 ACV rinses, one detangle with the Carols Daughter CC and then adding some olive oil and CC to my hair and sitting under a plastic cap Fifi finally started feeling........somewhat normal. I didn't have such a harsh straw feeling anymore I added some Trader Joes Tea Tree Tingle Conditioner as a leave in and felt secure enough to style my hair without thinking it was going to snap and break off.

My hair after it was all said & done not 100% back but better

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What went wrong you ask? Why did Fifi go all straw like you ask?

PROTEIN SENSITIVE HAIR!!!

This tragedy happened to me once before, it was in the first few months of going natural this time around. I called myself doing a protein treatment on my hair to build up its strength and moisture and my hair all but turned into a ball of hay! In panic mode I of course googled my symptoms and stumbled upon a few articles about protein sensitivity. Which basically means your hair can not handle large amount of protein or products who's main ingredients are protein. 

WHICH SUCKS!! 

Something that is supposed to help your hair be great can actually damage some peoples hair. 

After my wash day fiasco was all said and done I sat and read the back of the Shea Moisture products and don't you know it PROTEIN PROTEIN PROTEIN!!

So I know all of you would LOVE for me to give a review on the Shea Moisture Intensive Hydration line but, I won't...it actually wouldn't be fair, because of course it would be a negative review based off of my experience. Which I would be perfectly fine with cuz trust me if I don't like something or don't recommend it I'm not afraid to say it. However this would be COMPLETELY unfair....it would be like asking a person who's deathly allergic to dogs if they like dogs and love to be around them....OF COURSE NOT! Lol its an unfair bias.

Lets just say I won't be using it again....

However I hope this does not discourage other naturals from trying it if they do not have a protein sensitivity. Especially if you are having issues retaining moisture in your hair its worth a shot! 

For those of you out there who are worried about using the product because you don't know if your hair is protein sensitive or not...sadly the only way to really find out is to use something with protein in it and seeing how your hair reacts. 

If you notice any of these effects after using a product containing a high amount of protein you may be protein sensitive:

-Stiffness

-Hard to detangle

-Dry

-Straw like or brittle feel 

If you are protein sensitive ingredients to look out for are: 

-Hydrolysed keratin

-Wheat hydrosylates

-Hydrolysed collagen

-Amino acids

As always I hope this helps you some of you out there, if you do try the Intensive Hydration line and you do notice any of these effects do an apple cider vinegar rinse and condition with your normal conditioner that will begin to restore your hair. Also from that point on READ LABLES CAREFULLY to avoid another mishap.

Also I would love to hear what you all think of the line! Have you tried it? Let me know below!!

Until Next Time,

XO Deanna