3 Signs You Need To Use A Deep Conditioner For Your Natural Hair

Hair treatments can make a huge difference in the overall health and appearance of your hair. From deep conditioners to hair masks, there are several different treatments available on the market to address your different hair care challenges.

This blog post will outline three reasons why you would use a treatment for your natural hair.

What Is A Hair Treatment?

A hair treatment, which can be done during your salon service or for at-home use, can be added within your regular cleansing routine to address specific hair challenges.

“Specific hair treatments include protein and moisture deep conditioners, hair masks such as K18 and hair bond rebuilders such as Olaplex.”

While hair treatments are a great option for maintaining and/or repairing your overall hair health, they can be fairly expensive and can be counterproductive if your hair doesn’t require the use of them.

1. You Could Use A Treatment After Coming Out Of A Protective Style

We would highly recommend reaching for a treatment after coming out of protective styles, or as we like to say alternative styles, such as braids, faux locs, crochet, sew-ins, etc.

While your hair is in an alternative style, we typically are starving our hair from proper hydration (regular cleansing sessions), are causing breakage from friction and allowing sweat/debris/skills cells to build up on the scalp, which can be a breeding ground for bacteria and fungi.

A good deep conditioner will help provide your hair with nutrients and add moisture back into your hair.

“Pro Tip: We’d like to caution naturals against what we call ‘extreme deep conditioning.’ It is not necessary or beneficial to leave a deep conditioner on the hair for hours. Product companies do research and development to understand effective timing for the usage of their products. ”

Overnight deep conditioning, which essentially leaves your hair wet with conditioner on it for hours can encourage the growth of bacteria, fungi, mold, and mildew and weaken the strength structure of the hair. Just say no!

2. You Could Use A Treatment If You’re Colored Treated

If you’re a color-treated natural, it’s imperative that you consult with your stylist to learn what type of treatment(s) you should be regularly using in your at-home routine.

Depending on your Essential Elements and the type of color that you have, you can experience tangling or dryness between cleansing sessions. These are examples of when we would recommend implementing a treatment into your hair care routine.

If you’re not partnered with a licensed professional near you, we would recommend joining our digital course community, The SeeSomeCurls Visual Library, that way you can upload photos in our discussion feed and describe your specific hair challenge, and we can troubleshoot with you more 1:1. It is very difficult to give a blanket answer to what your hair needs online without seeing your hair.

3. You Could Use A Treatment If You’re Experiencing Excessive Tangling

When your hair strands wrap around each other and intertwined, this can result in a tangle or knot. If you’re experiencing excessive tangling during wash days (especially if you have fine strands), are on top of your maintenance haircuts and are properly detangling your hair with a quality conditioner, this could be a good reason to implement a treatment in your hair care routine.

Deep conditioning treatments can help prevent dry hair strands from matting and snagging on each other.

Please note that the examples provided in this blog post are general and will vary depending on your specific hair challenge. Overusing hair treatments, especially if they’re not needed, can over-penetrate your hair strands and cause even more damage to your natural hair.

We highly recommend consulting with a knowledgeable hair stylist to learn which specific treatment(s) are recommended depending on your Essential Elements and how often you should use them in your at-home hair care routine.

If you need help finding a licensed curl specialist in your area, you can always browse My Style-List, a location-based directory created to help connect potential clients like you to qualified professionals. You can specifically filter by colorists to find and vet professionals for your next salon service.

Want professional recommendations on the best deep conditioners to use? You can subscribe to The Black Girl Curls Digest which is the perfect resource for the busy natural on the go. You’ll receive exclusive access to all things products, including first-hand insight of new product info, new wash and go combos, short styling video tutorials and styling tips/tricks. When you subscribe, you’ll get a free copy of our updated product list!