By Feron Flo of BesosFeron

Is your hair not behaving how you want it to? Do you have bad breakage? Is it dry and brittle, or thin and sparse? Well, you may be in need of “moisture” or “protein”. Too little moisture or too much protein can and is one of the causes of breakage. The following is a condensed version of how you can tell if your hair needs more moisture or more protein by conducting a strand test. I regularly do strand tests on my hair to help prevent breakage, and to ensure the health of my hair. None of this is a secret, this info can be found from various sites online in more detail. This is simply the main points you need to know and what to look for to treat your hair.

Strand Test

To do the strand test, take one of your ‘shed’ hairs and wet it. (Note, the difference between a ‘shed’ hair and a hair that has broken off is the ‘shed’ hair will have a little white bulb on the end)

While holding each end of the hair and stretching it:

-If the hair stretches slightly and returns to its original length without breaking, you are balanced.

-If the hair stretches and continues to stretch or stretches a little more than it should and then breaks (snaps), then you need more protein in your regimen.

-If the hair has very little to no stretch to it and instantly breaks(snaps), then you need more moisture in your regime.

Now, other than conducting the strand test, you can also tell by how your hair feels.

-While wet, if your hair feels weak, gummy, very stringy, or limp, you need protein.

-While dry, if your hair feels hard, dry, tangly, brittle, weak or any combination, you need moisture.

If you find your hair needs protein, then you should do a protein treatment as soon as possible. I use Organic Root Stimulator Hair Mayonnaise once a month or every two months as needed, depending on my hair. I recommend doing a protein treatment once a month or less because having a protein over load will make your hair hard, tough and prone to breakage.

If you find your hair needs moisture, you should do a deep conditioning treatment. I do a deep treatment once a week using LustraSilk Shea Butter Cholesterol Plus. If you aren’t already, try doing a deep treatment once or every two weeks. Also, if you’re able to, invest in a steamer.

Hope this has helped and remember, your moisture/protein balance may be only one cause to hair breakage or the lack of health of your hair.  All hair types can benefit from this! If you have any questions, leave them below.

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