Hey Protein, wanna be my friend?

First off, I want to say I've been on a moisture rollercoaster! So much fun. lol

Before the journey (and even during), my friends & fam know my hair is dry... always and forever. When I first started the hair journey, I read about baggy-ing, and gave it a try. My hair loved the extra moisture.

Somehow, I forgot all about baggying. My hair has been pretty dry since my last relaxer in May, even though I co-washed 1-2x a week and moisturized frequently. Then randomly I remembered baggying! I looked it up on one of the hairboards to make sure I had the info right and got to it.

I mostly do full-head baggy's. I apply a dime-sized amount of NTM Leave-in throughout my hair and cover with a baggy. The only rule I have is that I only baggy previously moisturized hair. The reason I baggy is not to moisturize my hair but to maintain the moisture. I love to leave the baggy on for 2 hours during the day when I'm at home. Leaving it on overnight is just too much, considering that I do 2x a week pre-poo's as well. After the 2 hours is over, I take the baggy off and my hair is usually damp. I seal with extra virgin coconut oil and wrap with my silk scarf.

So, all this moisture has been wonderful. My hair is soft to the touch and glowing.

But, it got me thinking... is my hair balanced (moisture vs. protein). It hadn't gotten to the point where my hair was mushy (a common side effect of imbalanced hair) but it was breaking off just as bad as when my hair was dry.

I was reading Sunshyne's blog about the Protein BFF challenge. Now, I'm currently trying not to join challenges in an effort to keep it simple. But it seemed as if that's exactly what my hair needed... some good ol' protein.

So I joined :)

1. Must condition with a protein 1x a week.

Simple, right? Well, because I've had bad protein experiences in the past, I was kind of hesitant.

Last night, I prepooed with VO5 Moisture Milks Conditioner, 1 tsp honey, 2 tsps of coconut oil, 1 cap of EVOO, 1 cap of castor oil (oils were warmed in microwave). When I woke up, I rinsed the pre-poo out, I shampooed my scalp 1x with Keracare dry and itchy poo. I then used my Fantasia IC Deep Penetrating Creme Moisturizer. I left it on for 5-10 minutes (per instructions) while I showered.

When I rinsed it out... ahhhhhhhh! My hair had definition again! I had gotten so used to the soft, undefined hair that I've been rockin' for the past few weeks.

I dried my hair off, used Aussie Leave-in as a detangler (hate it as a leave-in) and detangled my hair. There was still a lot of breakage and shedding but 1/3 as much as I've been experiencing in the past few weeks. I then applied NTM Silk Leave-in and EVOO and currently airdrying under my scarf!

So, protein, you think we can make this a long term thing? :)