By Jc of The Natural Haven
Click here for part 1.
Click here for part 2.

Here are some of your questions from the protein conditioner series.

Didi asks, ‘I use Mega-Tek Rebuilder. It contains hydrolysed keratin and I think it is quite a heavy protein but it says leave on for 5 mins then rinse – does this mean it gets washed out?’
JC: From the ingredient list for this product, keratin is very high up in the list which means it probably is a very protein rich conditioner. If the keratin has been hydrolysed to a good size then some of it will remain on your hair because it will form temporary bonds to it. A lot of the product would be washed out. This is not a bad thing because too much protein leads hair to feel and be very brittle so using protein rich conditioners is always a balancing act.

Didi and Jan ask, ‘I do not use heat with my protein conditioner does this make it less effective than say aphogee 2 step which requires heat and gets rock hard?’
JC: Not necessarily. Manufacturers design and test their products to perform best at specific conditions. Adding heat to a product which has not been formulated to be heated, may not be useful and even could be harmful. For example the ingredients may be heat sensitive or the preservatives used could be changed by applying heat. It could also be harmless, but the results would be unpredictable. In short, my view is that the manufacturer will produce a set of instructions for their product. They will have performed several tests in these conditions and end up with a formula (ingredients and conditions) which they believe to be most suitable. Deviating away from this means you are experimenting. If you like predictable results, stick with the instructions on the label. If you are willing to experiment, just be aware that the results could turn be good, bad or indifferent.

KN asks, ‘You did not mention following up a protein conditioner with a moisturising conditioner, is this necessary?’
JC: Good question. If the conditioner has hydrolysed protein as one of the first 5 ingredients, then yes it would probably be beneficial to follow up with a moisturising conditioner (see the natural hair shopping list). This is because as I mentioned before, high protein content can lead to a dry brittle feel to the hair strand. Applying some softening ingredients improves the pliability of the hair. However if the conditioner has a few amino acids or hydrolysed wheat thrown in towards the end of the ingredient list, then in all likelihood, it will behave more like a moisturising conditioner rather than a protein conditioner.

Carole asks, ‘Regarding protein conditioners, can you please let us know which proteins are from animals?’
JC: The main types of hydrolysed proteins are collagen, keratin and wheat. Of these, only wheat is strictly plant based. Keratin does tend to be sourced from animals (for example wool from sheep) and collagen has a variety of sources with cattle being a main source.

This series was awesome, I learned so much! Ladies, did you learn anything new from the series? Have you changed the way you use protein or tried it for the first time?
Be sure to check out The Natural Haven for more informative hair articles.

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By Jc of The Natural Haven
Click here for part 1 of this series.

Avril asks: ‘What do protein treatments really do for your hair, in particular eggs? What is it in ApHogee 2 step protein treatment that makes the hair so hard, and how do we benefit from it?’

Kelly asks: ‘I thought natural hair was undamaged, do we really need to use protein conditioners?’

Jan asks: ‘Can I add amino acids to my hair conditioner to make a protein conditioner?’

Let me start by describing proteins. Proteins are made up from single units known as amino acids (see the diagram below). These amino acids (approximately 20 different types) are arranged joined together through peptide bonds. For simplicity I have drawn just 4. The order and number of amino acids that make up a protein is determined genetically (DNA is wonderful!!). Each protein is made up several hundred to a few thousand amino acids. Again for simplicity I have drawn just a few amino acids.

In order for a protein to be useful for hair, it has to be broken up into smaller segments. This is because proteins such as collagen, wheat protein or keratin are TOO LARGE to be useful. By breaking the protein up into smaller fragments (known as hydrolysed or hydrolyzed protein). Amino acids on the other hand areTOO SMALL.

So why is hydrolysed protein the correct size?
This is because to be useful, the protein has to adsorb (yep with a D) to hair. Adsorb means the protein sticks to and forms temporary bonds with the hair. Very large protein simply can’t form these bonds reliably. Amino acids on the other hand tend to be very soluble in water so you can expect that you will remove majority of whatever you put on once you rinse your hair. With damaged hair, very small hydrolysed protein (known as peptide fragments) can also be absorbed - yes this can penetrate through to the cortex and be deposited in the hair shaft (Journal of Cosmetic Science, pg69-87, 1993).

Size Matters
Just before moving on, let me just say that even hydrolysed protein has an ideal size for use:

For collagen hydrosylates for example, this is a molecular weight of 2000 (Book reference – Conditioning agents for hair and skin By Randy Schueller, Perry Romanowski).

For wheat hydrosylates this is around 5000-10000 ( Book reference -Principles of Polymer Science and Technology in Cosmetics and Personal Care By Errol Desmond Goddard, James V. Gruber).

The problem is that I have not seen a single protein conditioner actually state the molecular weight. The protein part of eggs (egg white/egg albumin) has a molecular weight of approximately 33000- 40000 (The Journal of Biological Chemistry, pg 189-193, 1939). I can’t find a reference for hydrolysed egg albumin size but I would strongly suspect that this molecular weight is too large to be beneficial.

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Janelle (not pictured) says;

Thanks to the information on your site, I’m realizing that I need to do some kind of strengthening treatment on my fine strands. I know that protein treatments work by depositing protein on the cuticle, while henna works by binding to the cuticle and thus strengthening it. My question is, which is better for strengthening? I can’t decide which to choose. I’d love to hear your readers thoughts and experiences.

Great question Janelle! Ladies, which do you like better as a strengthening treatment: henna or protein? Share your tips, photos and advice below!

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Protein –namely whether or not we should add it to our hair — is a hot topic among naturals. Jc of the Natural Haven is here to guide us through this topic.

By Jc of The Natural Haven

There is a lot of buzzing about protein treatments and what they can do for hair. To summarise it, protein treatments are known to temporarily repair and strengthen hair. They do this by filling up gaps in the cuticle and if of a sufficiently small size can also penetrate to the cortex.(Journal of Cosmetic Science, pg69-87, 1993).

For natural hair damage tends to come from normal weathering – washing, drying, combing, heat use etc.  Color treated natural hair and relaxed hair can suffer from more cuticle damage.

1. Does coconut oil contain protein

No it does not.  I repeat, no coconut oil does not contain protein. Oils are pressed out of seeds, in the case of coconut oil, heating up the flesh and straining it out. The oil is very easily separated from the flesh once heated using a sieve.

The straw like feel some people find with coconut oil is usually related to using too much product because coconut oil is not as viscous as other oils . Hardening of the hair is related usually to temperature because coconut oil solidifies at a fairly low temperature so a cold winter breeze can stiffen hair very fast.

Some people (like me) love coconut oil, other people just do not. It is a bit like marmite, if you find that even using less does not help ( see the fingertip tip ), just leave it!

2. Does coconut milk contain protein?

Yes coconut milk does contain protein. Coconut milk is made from suspending the flesh in water and may contain bits of the flesh. However this protein is usually not hydrolysed (yep hydrolysed again). Pretty much like eggs, it is unlikely to be as effective as a hydrolysed protein.

It is the marmite story for coconut milk – if you like its effect use it, if you don’t just leave it!

3. Do protein treatments stop hair shedding?

No,  there is a difference between hair shedding (i.e hair with a bulb coming out of the follicle) and breakage (i.e hair breaking off  due to handling). At times you can confuse the two but looking for a bulb is always the way to tell the difference. Hair shedding is a programmed event it is not changed by protein treatments. Breakage on the other hand can be stopped temporarily.

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