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Question of the Day

I have really dry curly hair. Will it damage my hair if I condition it every day?

The Right Brain responds

The answer depends on HOW you condition your hair. Rinse out conditioners are the worst – not because the conditioner itself does any damage but because of the processes of washing,  rinsing and drying.

Three ways the conditioning process can be bad

  1. If you used any shampoo prior to conditioning you may be stripping your hair of moisturizing oils.
  2. Just wetting and drying your hair (even without shampoo”> causes the cuticle to expand and contract which can be weakening because it creates radial cracks in the outer cuticle layers.
  3. Towel drying your hair always involves some degree of frictional abrasion that can crack and scrape off even more cuticle. 

Leave in conditioners can be less damaging

If you’re not washing and wetting your hair, leave in conditioners are just fine. At most they require just a little combing to smooth them through your hair. If you’re washing your hair anyway (or at least getting it wet for some reason”> it’s better to go ahead and condition. But if you can skip a shampoo-wet-dry cycle and use a leave in conditioner instead, you’ll avoid opportunities for damage.

CurlyNikki Approved Leave-ins and Moisturizers

How often do you condition, co-wash, poo, or otherwise wet your hair? What’s your process to minimize wear and tear?

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 This article was written by The Beauty Brains and published on CurlyNikki.

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