HOW DEEP CONDITIONING WITH HEAT CHANGED MY LIFE

Helloooo beautiful people and happy new yearrrr💃🏼 I believe this year would be full of beautiful things for all of us 🙏🏼 We would make conscious efforts to blog as much as possible.
So, I was going through my phone and I saw two different photos of my hair at an interval of 4 months, ps; its really good to take photos during your hair journey, its helps you see the growth and progress.

So yeah, the major thing I noticed about my hair was the difference in volume and texture and I figured that it started right after I began to take deep conditioning more seriously after discovering my hair is low porosity by doing the following;

·         Adding a spoon of honey to my deep conditioner for that wash day (not directly pouring honey into my deep conditioner jar oh) The honey is just to add more moisture.

·         Placing my mixed DC and honey in a bigger bowl of warm water to heat up the mixture a little bit, I feel like this makes the ingredients more active.

·         Applying the mixture all over my strands and wearing a processing cap and also a shower cap to generate heat for 45 minutes .

Basically, deep conditioning is a process of treating the hair with a protein-based or moisture based conditioner over a period of time to restore or maintain the strength of the hair strands to better withstand day-to-day damage by penetrating the hair shaft .With the addition of heat it helps to enhance the deep conditioning process by lifting the hair cuticles and allowing all the good stuff be absorbed into the hair strands and also enhances the absorption of products.

There are various ways to incorporate heat during this process and they include;

·         Using a steamer

A steamer produces moist heat and this type of heat is created when water is heated using electricity and the steam is channeled into a hood. When using a steamer, a plastic cap isn’t needed and is best when using a moisturizing DC. An example of a steamer is a heat cap.  The major advantage of using a heat cap is that it saves a lot of time and you only need it for 15-20 minutes. 

·         Using dry heat

This is the type of heat generated from regular hooded dryers and it requires the use of a plastic cap so the hair isn’t left dry and crunchy. Dry heat vaporizes the moisture around and on the hair and lifts the cuticles which in turn allows the product to be absorbed. Although, dry heat isn’t as effective as moist heat.

·         Using body heat.

Our head naturally produces heat so we can trap the heat using processing caps. This method is cost effective and requires no additional tool. This is the method I personally use, I wear a processing cap and a shower cap over it for 45 minutes . I also heard that taking something hot, like tea can help generate more body heat.

 Some of us have also used shoprite nylon to deep condition, I SEEE YOUUU 👀

·         Using the hot towel method
                The hot towel method is a low heat method, it’s basically dipping a towel in warm water, squeezing it and wrapping it over your processsing cap to generate more heat.

The time duration of deep conditioning differs; for protein based DC, 15-20 minutes so as to avoid protein overload. For moisture based DC, I definitely like to go for 45 minutes- 1 hour because it takes longer time for the products to be absorbed especially if there is an oil base in the ingredient list.

I personally carry out a protein DC every 6-8 weeks due to my porosity level and I’ll be sharing that soon.

However, deep conditioning doesn’t directly help you retain length but it helps in little ways that contribute in length retention, for instance;

·         It promotes elasticity

DC promotes elasticity by strengthening and nourishing the strands which withstands breakage under tension.

·         It imparts moisture

Moisture based Dc help by combating dryness which in turn makes the hair break less and improves health.

·         It prevents damage

Regular deep conditioning can help prevent damage by imparting moisture, improving texture and penetrating the hair shaft which reduces split ends and breakage thereby, improving the hair’s health.

With these few points, I hope I have been able to convince you and not confuse you on why you, my darlings, should deep condition your hair with heat as often as possible. phewwwww 😅

Here’s a picture of three DCs I have used and my current favorite is the Aunt Jackie’s Coco Repair Coconut Cream Deep Conditioner.

Thank you so much for reading, always remember  to deep condition and uplift each other my lovelies💕💕