Protein overload hair can set you back in your natural hair journey. So if you have protein-sensitive hair or protein-overload natural hair, I will be recommending ten protein-free deep conditioners you can try in your natural hair on your next wash day.
How do I know if I have a protein-overload in my natural hair?
Protein-overload hair feels hard and stiff to touch. It will also dry out faster than usual. So even if your hair products have always given you the best results in the past, you will notice that they will suddenly start to give unexpected results.
To solve this problem, you may wash your hair with a clarifying shampoo to get a fresh start, and if this doesn’t work, it means that you might have protein overload. Since you can’t avoid hair products, you can use one of the products in this post to relieve your hair of the excess proteins in it.
How do I know if I have protein-sensitive hair?
If you have protein sensitive hair, you will notice that your hair often feels stiff and dry, no matter how often you wash and deep condition your hair. So if you find your hair feeling hard, after applying the best hair product, you should check the ingredients list to see if there are proteins in the product.
Why should I use protein-free products?
Even though our hair needs protein, and a protein-moisture balance is so crucial for healthy hair, the dangerous truth is that if there’s an overload of protein in your hair, it can cause more harm than good.
That’s because a lot of hair products are formulated with some form of protein. So by the time you’ve added the shampoo, deep conditioner, leave-in conditioner, styling product, gel, and serum, you might end up piling way too much protein in your hair without knowing.
Therefore whenever you can, try to use a protein-free product until your hair bounces back to health.
Can low porosity hair benefit from protein-free hair products?
Low porosity hair has tighter cuticles which means that ingredients in your hair products will take longer to absorb. When you use hair products with too much protein in them, you can experience hair that feels hard and tough. This is because proteins repair the structure of your hair, so it’s less susceptible to breakage and damage. Therefore, if you have low porosity hair, you should add some protein-free hair products to your hair regimen, so that you can maintain an adequate protein-moisture balance in your hair. may benefit from protein-free hair products once in a while.
What ingredients should I look out for when choosing protein-free products?
There are different sources a hair product company can source proteins from. To help simplify things, here’s a quick list of popular proteins found in hair products to watch out for.
- Amino acids
- Hydrolyzed keratin
- Hydrolyzed oat flour
- Hydrolyzed silk
- Hydrolyzed silk protein
- Hydrolyzed soy protein
- Hydrolyzed wheat protein
- Hydrolyzed collagen
- Quinoa protein
- Rice protein
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5 Best Deep Conditioners For Dry Hair
Ten Protein-Free Deep Conditioners For Protein-Sensitive Natural Hair
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1. As I Am Hydration Elation Intensive Conditioner
Product Claim: Moisturizes deep within the hair shaft. Smooths and aligns cuticle layer. Repairs split ends and strengthens weak areas. Promotes shine
5 Star Review: “This product made my hair so soft. It felt like silk! I love this product.”
2. Earthtones Naturals Curl Condition Hydrating Conditioner
SAVE 10% off your first purchase. Enter EARTHTONES10 at checkout. GO HERE to try it out.
Product Claim: Helps to increase the moisture content in the hair and reduce tangling and breakage. It will leave your hair soft, shiny and tangle-free.
5 Star Review: “This is one of the best deep conditioners I have ever used! It detangles my 4c hair effortlessly. I love that it’s a clean natural product, without the harmful chemicals that so many products with great slip have. Definitely a staple in my long hair journey.”
3. TGIN Honey Miracle Hair Mask
Product Claim: This luxurious deep conditioner contains raw honey for softer, shinier tresses and jojoba and olive oils, which nourish and heal strands in need of repair. The result is hair that never looked so good.
5 Star Review: “My hair was super moisturized and smelled so good. I love it.”
4. CURLS Coconut Sublime Organic Conditioner
Product Claim: Looking for a conditioner that provides maximum moisture and softness for your dry curly tresses? Look no further, Coconut Sublime Conditioner is guaranteed to soften the kinkiest curl, moisturize the driest lock, and detangle the most unruly tresses. Great for all curly hair textures especially dry, damaged, and chemically treated kinky, medium, or coarse curly hair.
5 Star Review: “I have type 4 a/b hair. I used this product to co-wash. After trying this product one time, I have thrown away all other conditioners. This left my hair so soft and my curls were so defined that it frightened me. I have never had a product define my curls like this. My hair was soft as butter.”
5. Curlsmith Double Cream Deep Quencher
Product Claim: Curlsmith double cream deep quencher is a deep conditioner created specifically for ultra-dry and dull hair. This nourishing mask has a thick, buttery texture, which will deliver intense moisture without weighing the hair down. It will melt onto every strand, leaving curls shiny, silky-soft and completely transformed.
Customer Review: “I love this line! Curlsmith makes great products and this mask is no exception. I have thick, slightly coarse, wavy hair and I am always looking for new products that make my hair soft and manageable. I only leave this on for 10-15 minutes and it makes my hair so soft and moisturized!”
6. Camille Rose Naturals Moroccan Pear Conditioning Custard
Product Claim: Moroccan Pear Conditioning Custard is a culinary cocktail blend of nourishing oils to soften and protect the hair’s moisture barrier.
5 Star Review: “Best conditioner I’ve used in a long time. Instantly smoothing. My hair is shiny, smooth, and hydrated from the inside.”
7. Alikay Naturals Avocado Moisture Repairing Mask
Product Claim: The result is moisturized hair that feels soft and is more elastic. Increased elasticity means less hair breakage, more length retention, and stronger healthier hair.
5 Star Review: “Really improved my detangling experience and made my hair feel soft!”
8) Kreyol Essence Haitian Black Castor Oil Deep Conditioning Hair Mask
Product Claim: Kreyol Essence’s moisturizing Deep Conditioner Hair Mask is specifically designed to replenish and soften curly or coily hair. This mask adds intense moisture to dry/damaged hair while smoothing the hair cuticle so healthy hair can grow.
5 Star Review: “After 30-minute deep conditioning under the dryer your hair feels so soft and smooth and it smells really good.”
9. Mielle Organics Mongongo Oil Hydrating Conditioner
Product Claim: This protein-free conditioner is great for softening and silkening your hair from root to tip. The perfect conditioner for those who are protein sensitive.
Review: “Love this product!!! It is so moisturizing and the slip makes for easy detangling. I look forward to wash days with this conditioner. I am a fan of all Mielle products.”
10. Jessicurl Deep Conditioning Treatment
Product Claim: This thick conditioner uses cocoa butter and shea butter to add some serious moisture to your hair.
5 Star Review: “Jessicurl deep conditioning treatment is the #1 DC that I have found in my 5 yrs. natural to give me soft and manageable hair.”
What deep conditioner have you tried for your protein sensitive or low porosity hair? Which one will you be trying? Let us know in the comments section.
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i’m confused, protein sensitive low porosity hair should stay away from coconut additives yet most of these contain cocnut oil??
Hi Nicky, coconut oil doesn’t have protein in it, so these products are good for protein sensitive hair.
Hello this isincorrect. I have a suffered severe hair loss as a result of coconut, aloe Vera, and avocados which all bindi proteins to your hair. Basically all the products mentioned are not protein sensitive apart from the mielle and shea moisture.
Wow Nina THANK YOU I too was experiencing breaking. I incorporated the coconut oil and avocado assuming I’m doing the right thing just to experience so much breaking. Everything is making sense
It is not the coconut oil that has protein and causing issues, it’s the AVOCADO . (any food source masks have protein in it) too much protein causes protein overload, leads to damage and breakage. Also, Aloe Vera is actually a great natural source to soothe inflammation on the scalp but should not be used on the hair strands because its a humectant and will encourage moisture loss.
Thanks for the addition. Also these ladies might also be reacting to other ingredients in the hair product.
you really don’t need to be adding extra ingredients in your hair product. The extra stuff was probably conflicting with the ingredients in the product. Hence why you were experiencing breakage.
Yep and people will try to gaslight you like you don’t know your own hair. I dealt with this for years and learned to just keep things to myself unless people were in the same boat looking for help and taking care of my hair. I just got tired have issues with all the ingredients Nina mentioned. Tried them ALONE (individually) on clean hair and had the same response, instant dry and brittle hair, instant SSK’s so I moved on. Also I was able to do my mom’s hair and used coconut oil and was shocked at how different it felt in her hair, it made her hair like butter and I understood why people loved it. Literally the OPPOSITE reaction in my hair.
Anyway, there are products out there without coconut oil, aloe, avocado oil, proteins, amino acids, panthenol, etc that might make extremely protein sensitive hair feel brittle. You really have to test these ingredients individually to figure out what your hair can tolerate. My hair responds well to purely moisturizing ingredients, for oils and butters, it’s stuff like argan oil, emu oil, shea butter and JBCO but had to experiment to figure it out.
Anyway for protein free DC, I highly recommend Soultanicals Monoi Moisture Slip- Deep Conditioning, Fertilizing Dip to test out on your hair. It’s a bit pricey but a little goes a long way.
Thanks for sharing your story. you have to do what works best for you. In my course Moisture Retention Blueprint, i talked about factors that can influence how your hair reacts to products. one can be your environment and the water you use, as well as the other products you use in your hair. My hair used to be protein sensitive at one point, now it craves protein.
This isn’t scientifically proven. You shouldn’t have severe hair loss from adding protein to your hair, since your hair is already made up of proteins. You probably had an allergic reaction to those three items you mentioned.
She’s correct. Coconut oil is not good for protein sensitive hair. Even though it doesn’t contain protein itself, coconut oil reinforces the protein structure of your hair by closing the hair cuticles. If your hair has enough protein in it, it will make your hair hard and dry.
I’m having a hard time finding products for natural hair without protein or coconut oil :/
Actually coconut is not a protein and does not contain protein; what you are experiencing is build up, basically coconut is comedogenic because it is high in lauric acid therefore it clogs pores in your scalp and creates build up in your hair that in turn can lead to hair falling. However it depends on the product and how much coconut it contains and if you shampoo regularly and use a good clarifying shampoo every few weeks it will keep your pores clear and build up away.
well said Violet!
I agree that Coconut products are not good at all for protein sensitive hair. Found this out the hard way.
I have protein sensitive hair and when I use coconut oil and aloe vera my hair snaps for fun. All these products contain coconut oil and aloe vera its misinformation
May be i will do a coconut-oil free product recommendation post. it looks like your hair is sensitive to coconut oil.
Coconut oil helps in retaining protein that is why protein sensitive hair hates it. But its different for every hair. My protein sensitive hair breaks when i use coconut oil but has no problem with avocado as long as i use it twice a week or once a month
Yes please! Definitely need to find out what products dont use coconut or aloe. I’m also sensitive to them and they destroy my hair and leave it looking and feeling like protein overload.
will sure do. Thanks for stopping by.
#4 has hydrolized corn starch. Isn’t that a protein?
hydrolyzed corn starch is a conditioning agent that’s used in hair and skin care product. it’s not a protein.
Which oils are good for low porosity hair?
Light oils such as apricot oil, sweet almond oils are good for low porosity hair
I did a protein treatment yesterday and my hair came out extremely hard and matted. After reading about protein overload and hair porosity I am not really sure who to use for my matted hair. What do you guys think is the first step to get rid of the matting and knots. Made so much progress with my hair, dont want to lose it all. Please help
First, you may need a trim to get rid of damaged ends. Then stay away from protein treatments for now. Do a clarifying treatment to remove excess products in your hair. Then do a moisture treatment every week to help reset your hair. You can also check-in with me on my GI page @coilsandglory