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When it comes to curl care, there is a lot of information out there. Some of it is great and some of it not so much. It can be tricky to navigate the influx of information. When it comes to deep conditioning , there is some question as to whether or not it’s actually necessary for healthy curls.
It seems that people are confused about how to use their deep conditioner. Do you leave it on for 5 or 10 minutes? Do you use your deep conditioner alone or with another product? Do the ingredients actually do what they promise?
While most products promise to deeply penetrate the shaft of your curls, in truth there are very few natural ingredients that actually are capable of that. Water, coconut oil, hydrolyzed protein and olive oil are amongst the only ingredients can work through an open or closed cuticle. So when you’re picking a deep conditioner, you should look for one containing these essential ingredients, or opt to use coconut oil.
When it comes to time, it doesn’t really matter how long you leave it on. Some curlies choose to deep condition for 5 minutes, whereas others might leave their conditioner on for upwards of thirty minutes to an hour.
Finally, when considering whether or not you actually want to deep condition your curls, you’ll need to think about how your hair works. Curls are made up of three parts; the cuticle, the medulla, and the cortex. If your cuticle is closed, it will be much harder for the ingredients of your deep conditioner to penetrate and do their work. You can open your hair’s cuticle by applying heat. Once you’ve deep conditioned, make sure you close the cuticle back down with cool water.