“How to deep condition curly hair? How to use a conditioner for my naturally curly hair? How to make a homemade deep conditioner for my curly hair?
If you have all sorts of these questions then let me say this, ’Curly hair are the most difficult types of hair to take care of given their delicate and complex nature.’’
Furthermore, the stressors they go through like over-manipulation, heat styling, harsh shampooing, hair-coloring, tight binding, etc make matters much worse making them badly parched necessitating a dire need of some deep conditioning efforts.
Especially, at this stage, deep conditioning your curly hair could be a game-changer for your extremely dry, tangling, and frizzy hair. Why?
Because it would not only restore their natural shine and strength but would moisturize and nourish them from inside out to set them up for their long-term health & growth.
But you might be wondering, how can I properly deep condition my curly hair? what is the best OTC-homemade deep conditioner which can benefit my dry & frizzy curly hair?
So, if you urgently need answers to all these sorts of questions, then missing out on this post is not an option as you would be learning a wealth of information about deep conditioning your curly hair.
What deep conditioning does to your damaged curly hair?
Basically, curly hair types people suffer from extreme dryness and frizz mainly due to their texture & design i.e their curls act as an obstruction for the natural oil from your scalp to travel down the length of your hair.
Moreover, outer harmful agents like excessive heat styling, frequent color-treatment and use of harsh chemicals further aggravate their already-vulnerable condition and make them extremely poor in dryness and moisture.
This is where your deep conditioners come into play. They are packed with powerful deep moisturizers and much-needed nutrients that help revive your dead curly hair.
On one hand, powerful humectants in them help attract water and bind loads of moisture to make them soft and deeply hydrated.
On the other hand, strong ingredients in these deep conditioners help your curly hair to improve their overall damaged look and effectively treat any split to manage out-of-control frizz.
Proven Benefits of deep conditioning for curly hair
The following are some of the amazing benefits of deep conditioning for your damaged curly hair.
1. Protection from harmful surrounding
As explained above, your curly hair goes through a lot of stressors like over manipulation, heat styling, tight-pulling/binding and using harsh chemicals, etc which severely damages your curls.
A good deep conditioner can prevent this by future-protecting from such harmful factors because when your hair is deeply-moisturized and nourished, it reduces the chances of developing split ends and becomes less prone to breakage.
2. Repairing damage done by harsh factors
Over time, your curly hair suffers from serious damage like a decrease in elasticity and loss of curl’s texture & pattern making your hair very brittle and easily breakable.
A good deep conditioning treatment packed with moisture and essential nutrients can fortify and repair your curls to make them elastic, strong and shiny again.
3. Deeply moisturize to reduce dryness and frizz.
The fact that your curls are not curling right is because they are craving for moisture especially if you have tighter curls or your hair are highly porous
But you don’t need to worry as deep conditioning will hydrate your hair by infusing every strand with much-needed moisture and make them healthy & happy again.
4. Adds the lost shine back
An effective deep conditioning treatment can get your extremely curly hair their lost shine as strong ingredients in them can smoothen your hair shaft which, in turn, makes it look shiny.
DIY deep conditioning: how to do deep condition curly hair at home?
Deep conditioning can be done both at home or at a salon, however, in this post we are specifically focusing on deep conditioning treatment done at home from simple daily kitchen-usage ingredients.
We will discuss both some of the natural homemade deep conditioning recipes and a deep conditioner bought from the market but let’s first focus on some of the best natural deep conditioners for curly hair.
Best homemade deep conditioners for naturally curly hair
Here are some of the best DIY natural deep conditioners for curly hair. These Homemade deep hair conditioners would not only undo the damage done by harsh environmental factors but deeply moisturize your hair from within to give back the lost shine and luster of your beautiful natural curls.
Furthermore, these natural deep hair conditioners would only save you a handsome amount of money but would save you from damaging effects of market-based deep hair conditioning products.
1. DIY Olive oil-lemon juice-coconut milk hair conditioner
How it can benefit your curly hair?
- Coconut milk and olive oil are of the best known natural moisturizers that deeply hydrate your dryness-prone curly hairs and restores their mass & shine.
- Lemon juice, full of powerful antioxidants and quality vitamins nourishes your damaged curly hair from inside out and protects them from free-radical damage to tame your wild curls.
What Do You need?
- About 2-3 tbsp of lemon juice
- About 2-3 tbsp of olive oil
- About 2 tbsp of coconut milk
How to make this hair mask?
- Simply add the three ingredients together in one bowl and stir well to get a smooth consistency.
- Apply all over your head equally and leave it for 25-30 minutes
- After this much time, simply rinse off your head with slightly luke water and apply a good shampoo in the process.
2. DIY Egg – Olive oil deep hair conditioner
How it can benefit your curly hair?
- Rich in quality proteins, vitamins, and deeply moisturizing ingredients, the egg makes up for one of the best natural hair conditioners for curly hair types.
- Olive oil is one of the best known natural moisturizers that deeply hydrate your dryness-prone curly hairs and restores their mass & shine.
What Do You need?
- Just 1 egg
- About 1 tbsp of olive oil
How to make this hair mask?
- Simply mix the egg and olive together in a clean bowl and layer it all over your head evenly. Leave it for 10-15 minutes.
- After this much time, simply rinse off your hair conditioner with cool water and use a good cleansing shampoo in the process.
3. DIY Greek yogurt – Coconut milk deep hair conditioner
How it can benefit your curly hair types?
- Greek yogurt is not one of your favorite breakfast delights, it can have some amazing deep conditioning properties for your curly hair too thanks to its rich-moisturizing properties.
- Coconut milk’s intensive hydrating properties combine with deep moisturizing and nourishing properties of yogurt to give a new life to your dead curly hairs.
What you will need?
- About 1- 2 tbsp of greek yogurt
- About half a cup of coconut milk
- About 1-2 tbsp of honey.
- About 1 tbsp of honey
- About 2-4 drops of any available essential oil
How to make this hair mask?
- In the first step, simply add all the ingredients in a clean bowl and stir well to get an even mixture.
- Now, dividing your head into sections and using your fingers separation, apply this mask all over your head evenly, from roots to the tips.
- Now, cover your head and leave this conditioner over your head for 30-40 minutes.
- After this much time, simply rinse it off with slightly lukewarm water and use a good shampoo in the process.
4. DIY Avocado – baking soda + shampoo deep hair conditioner
How it can benefit your curly hair?
- Avocado contains richly-moisturizing fatty acids and nutrients that can help your dry frizzy hair to regain its moisture and shine. So, if you want healthy and bouncy hair, then please stop just putting avocado on toast, instead, start using it for your curly hair.
- Using baking soda and DIY shampoo can effectively cleanse your scalp build-up and open clogged pores to receive maximum benefits from your moisturizing efforts.
What you will need?
- About 1 ripe avocado
- About 2-3 tbsp of baking soda
How to make this hair mask?
- Simply finely mash the avocado and add baking soda into it. After that, add about 2-3 tbsp of water in the mixture. Stir well to get a smooth paste.
- Now when your hair is wet, evenly coat this mixture past thoroughly from root to tip and leave it to form 10 minutes.
- After this time, simply rinse off this paste with cool water.
5. DIY coconut milk – honey hair conditioner
How it can benefit your curly hair?
- Deeply moisturizing & nourishing properties of coconut milk and powerful hydrating and hair protecting properties of honey combine in this hair mask to restore your health, hydrated and smooth curls.
What will you need?
- About 1-2 cup of coconut milk
- About 3-4 tbsp of honey
How to make this hair mask?
- Simply add both coconut milk and honey together in a clean bowl and stir them thoroughly to get an even paste.
- Now, on clean/shampooed hair, evenly apply this paste all over your curly hair strands from roots to tips and leave it for 10-15 minutes.
- After this much time, rinse off this paste with cool water.
6. DIY mayonnaise-yogurt-egg white deep hair conditioner
How it can benefit your curly hair?
- Mayonnaise is one of the best natural remedies for calming down frizz and adding some definition to the tangling curls.
- Yogurt deeply moisturizes and nourishes your depleted hair strands to make them soft, smooth and healthy.
- Egg white not only provides some healthy proteins to your damaged keratin but its lutein can give your hair some lustrous look.
What you will need?
- About half, ½ a cup of mayonnaise
- About half, ½ a cup of greek yogurt
- One egg white
How to make this hair mask?
- Simply add mayonnaise, yogurt, and egg white together and stir well to get an even mixture.
- Take this mixture and apply evenly over your head from roots to tips and cover up with a shower cap.
- Leave this paste over your head for 25-30 minutes.
- After this much time, simply rinse off this paste with cold water and use a good shampoo in the process.
7. DIY Aloe vera – Almond oil deep hair conditioner
How can it help your curly hair?
- Aloe vera does not need any introduction as it is an industry-standard for deep moisturization, effective nourishment, and solid emollient properties. All these properties combine to give your dry, damaged curly hair a new life.
- Almond oil, on the other hand, has some powerful hair protecting agents and it gives shine & luster you dream about your damaged curly hair.
What you will need?
- About 2-3 tbsps of aloe vera gel
- About 1-2 tbsp of sweet almond oil
- About half, ½ a cup of clean water
How to make this hair mask?
- Simply mix both aloe vera gel and sweet almond oil together and add the water. Stir well to get an even paste.
- Now, evenly spread out this paste over your head and leave it for 25-30 minutes without touching with your hands.
- After this much time, simply rinse this off with slightly lukewarm water and use a good shampoo for this purpose.
8. DIY castor oil – egg deep hair conditioner
How it can help your dry curly hair?
- While castor oil has some excellent moisturizing properties, but it is best known for boosting your hair growth and giving your hair their lost luster and volume. This makes it hard to miss recipe for your dry and damaged curly hair types.
- Egg, on the other hand, while rich in hair-friendly proteins and nutrients, not only helps your curly hair to preserve their natural oil but gives much-needed shine and strength to your dry and damaged hair.
These all qualities make castor oil – egg, a very good DIY protein hair treatment for your damaged curly hair.
What do you need?
- Just 1-2 tbsp of castor oil
- Just 1 egg
How to make this mask?
- Simply beat both castor oil and egg in a clean bowl and stir well to get a smooth mixture.
- Apply this mixture over your head evenly from roots to tips and leave it for 40-50 minutes.
- After this much time, simply rinse your hair off with cool water and use shampoo in the process.
9. DIY persimmon-honey-essential oils deep hair conditioner
How it can help your curly hair?
- While it is quite an unknown fruit but it does have some serious benefits for your dry, damaged curly hair. Rich in quality vitamins like vitamins A, B, C which help nourish your nutrients deprived hair, stimulate hair growth and make them voluminous.
- On the other hand, the excellent hydrating properties of honey and some of the essential oils combine to give you a perfect deep condition for your curly hair that you would not be able to forget.
What do you need?
- About q persimmon
- About half or ¼ a cup full of honey
- About 2-3 tbsp of rosemary oil
- About 2-3 spoons of almond oil
- About 3-4 drops of essential oil like lavender
How to make this hair mask?
- First, peel and grind the persimmon well enough to make it fine.
- Now add the other mentioned ingredients and stir well to get an even paste.
- Now, apply this paste thoroughly over your head from roots to tips and leave it for 10-15 minutes.
- After this much time, simply rinse off your hair with slightly lukewarm water and use a good shampoo in the process.
So, always do a patch test by applying a little bit of the natural conditioner at the nape of your neck or on the inside of your arm and leaving it on for an hour.
If you see redness or irritation develops, do not go ahead with using it on your hair.
How to use a conditioner for deep conditioning treatment?
Before you even think of deep conditioning your curly hair, you need to first find out what is in a good deep conditioner?
What are its common ingredients to watch out for while buying one from the market and how to apply over your head properly so that you get the most bang out of your bucks?
Ingredients to look for in market-based deep hair conditioners
A good market-based deep conditioner must have the following key ingredients in balanced quantities.
- Moisturizers – A good market-based deep conditioner must have quality moisturizers in it to help your water-starved curly hairs get some deep hydration and make them soft and smooth.
- Proteins – This is another key ingredient you don’t want to miss out on some market-based deep conditioning for your lifeless curls. Hydrolyzed proteins, amino acids present in these deep conditioners can penetrate through the cuticle and absorb into the hair to help your hair grow as well as build, strengthen and repair keratin.
- Emollients & Humectants – A good deep hair conditioner must contain some emollients that help to soften the hair, seal the cuticle to avoid the loss of moisture and add elasticity to it to eliminate frizz and make them shiny and smooth.
These emollients & humectants become much more important when used with proteins as they tend to make hair very hard and brittle and these emollients can counter these side effects of proteins.
They often are in the form of oils, esters, or fatty acids. Other key ingredients in common deep conditioner are
- Plant oils
- Mineral oil
- Silicones (mainly dimethicone its derivatives)
- Esters like glyceryl stearate, isopropyl palmitate
- Fatty acids like coconut fatty acid, stearic acid, lauric acid
Beautywised tip!
If it already feels moisturized, then skip it. Don’t get carried away and over-condition. There is such a thing as too much of a good thing.
How to apply a deep conditioner on your curly hair?
Now that you have chosen your best deep conditioner, its time to apply it correctly over your head so that it works effectively for your dead curls.
- Deep condition after every shampoo.
- Add heat with a steamer or hooded dryer for at least 30 minutes to open your hair shaft to penetrate and increase the absorption rate (time depends on hair porosity).
- Rinse with cool water to close the cuticle and prep for styling.
Step 1: Clean up your hair and make them wet
This the first step for applying a deep conditioner on your curls. You need to first up properly clean up your with a good shampoo and make them wet enough to allow for the smooth application of a conditioner.
step 2: Section your hair and thickly apply all over your head
First, section your hair into separable parts and using a comb laden with your conditioner, apply all over your hair strands from roots to the tips until all your hair strands are thickly covered with it.
step 3: Get a deep conditioning cap to cover it up
Cover your head with a good conditioning cap as it would allow you to be protected from polluted surroundings and help your deep conditioner to heat up a little to help it spread easily throughout your hair strands without flowing out. Wear it on for 20-25 minutes.
Alternatively, you can use a plastic wrap or wrap a soft thick towel around your head.
Step 4. Help your conditioner by heating your head up
Heating up your hair strands by a blow dryer can help your cuticles to open up to allow deep penetration of all the useful ingredients in a conditioner to deeply repair your dry, damaged curls from inside out.
Don’t overheat your head, just spend your head for 3-5 minutes under a good table-top hooded dryer and you are good to go.
Different ways to use a deep conditioner
There is a one-size-fits-all strategy as far as using a deep conditioner is concerned. You can employ the following flexible ways to deep condition your curly hair.
1. Use it after you have used shampoo, conditioned, rinsed and detangled your curls.
You don’t necessarily have to stick to using it right after cleaning and wetting your hair. You can use it after you are done with your full hair care routine like rinsing, detangling after you have shampooed or conditioned with a light conditioner.
In fact, tangle-free hair makes the deep conditioner easy to apply & comb through. Then you can rinse it out & style as normal with your leave-in conditioner and gel.
2. You can deep condition and sleep-on for the night.
This is another option at your disposal just in case you are very busy. Just layer it off on your curls thoroughly, wear a deep conditioning cap and sleep on only to wake up in the morning and rinse it off.
Or you can do this for your nap hours during the day time and rinse it off after you wake up.
Also, warming up of the body in the sleep can help your conditioner to go deep as the cuticle of your curls tend to open up and thoroughly absorb its ingredients to make-for an effective deep conditioning treatment.
Just use an old pillowcase and sleep on it that night. Note: Some curlies love this and others hate it. Exercise caution; if your hair is thin and easily over-moisturized do not attempt.
3. You can use it before using a shampoo
This can also be done with a normal conditioner too. This is particularly useful if you have to use a medicated shampoo designed for dandruff because otherwise it can thoroughly clean up your scalp but render it extremely dry.
Just simply apply for your product protection on the length of your hair and leave it as it. Then if you would simply use a shampoo and rinse, it would save your curls from getting extremely dry.
Common mistakes people make with a deep conditioning treatment
Many people still make a lot of mistakes while doing a deep conditioning treatment for their troubled curls, but you don’t have to after reading these below.
The best way to find out what works best for you is to follow these product instructions first and then tweak your routine once you see how your curls react.
1. Using a wrong deep conditioner for your curls
This is one of the most common mistakes a lot of curly people make while making a choice for their deep conditioners.
Look, your curly hair needs a balance of both quality proteins, emollients & moisturizers. If you pick a conditioner that is tilted/biased towards one of these conditioning ingredients, obviously you would have poor results.
While Moisture is needed to hydrate your hair and prevent dryness and protein is needed to strengthen the protein bonds in the hair and improve elasticity and tensile strength.
Think about it, what will happen to your already-troubled curls when you are giving it moisture when it badly needs proteins. Of course, they would feel frizzier, mushier, and bounce-less.
Similarly, if you deep condition your curls with proteins when it badly needs moisture, your hair would although be bouncy but more dryish, stiff, and frizzy.
In the same vein, if your deep conditioning agent is more of quality emollient, but lacks adequate proteins or moisture, you would get lustrous curls but you would not get soft, elastic, and bouncy curls.
So, the whole idea is to give a balanced dose of all basic deep conditioning ingredients, not just bent towards one ingredient. Otherwise, you would waste both your time and money while at the same aggravating your already-troubled curls.
2. Not cleaning up your head of any scalp build-up
So, you have chosen a high quality, balanced deep conditioner but what if you are using it on your head with a lot of scalp build-up, a mistake a lot of people make while using a deep conditioning treatment.
When you apply a deep conditioning treatment over your scalp build-up curly head, it is unable to go deep into your hair shaft and moisturize/nourish from inside out to make your curls smooth, soft and shiny.
So, it is pertinent that, on your deep conditioning day, make sure you use sulfate-free shampoo capable of removing buildup from product residue, vegetable oils, and butter. (the stuff you keep using for a lot of hair concerns).
Also, it is a good practice to stick with a monthly deep cleansing hair session with a clarifying shampoo to remove all of this, plus the hard minerals (if you have relatively hard water) from your water.
3. Not doing it regularly
Just like in your normal life you have to be disciplined with your efforts to achieve something, the same is the case for taming your curly hair with deep conditioning.
How can you expect your already-complexed curls to get out of their dryness and develop stronger, lengthier, shinier, bouncy by just a random or occasional hair care practice by you?
So, if you are really serious about your curly hair, then you have to stick to a routine ( be it once a month/week or fortnight. Choose whatever suits your hair best). Yes, It is perfectly okay to be lazy sometimes, but just don’t be too lazy to skip it for months or years.
4. Deep conditioning daily or too much
While some people might make the mistake of occasionally using a conditioning treatment, some people, on the other hand, can do it too much and sometimes do it on a daily basis.
I know you would be thinking, “If deep conditioning is the holy grail for my kinks and curls, why shouldn’t I deep condition every day?”.The simple answer to this interesting question is an interesting answer too.
That is, just as you can have curls that are TOO dry, you can also OVER condition your hair. It just varies from person to person and you need to find a sweet spot for yourself. The best way to figure out is to experiment up a little bit and find what works best for you.
Try starting off once a week and check out the reaction of your curls. If you find that your hair is picking and revitalizing while maintaining their bounce during your normal washes, it means you can extend your conditioning period i.e you can put off for once in two-weeks.
Again, listen to your troubled curls and do accordingly as there is no one-size-fits-all remedy.
5. Not sectioning your hair
If you are not sectioning your hair during the conditioner application, then you would probably not be able to distribute it well all over your moisture/nutrients deprived curls.
If you really want to get the most out of your deep conditioning efforts, then you have to spread it evenly all over your scalp and sectioning your curls to take control of any rambunctious ringlets can help a lot in this regard.
6. Not detangling your curls before deep conditioning
It is that simple. Don’t forget to detangle before you have applied your deep conditioner, unfortunately, which a lot of curly hair people tend to ignore.
Always remember that most hair products work best only if they are able to coat and penetrate deep into hair strands. In the case of tangling and knotting in curly hairs, you run the risk of missing sections of hair due to knotting with each other.
So, for the best interest of your troubled curly hair, If your curls are tangled, set aside a few minutes to detangle beforehand, and then proceed with any sort of deep conditioning effort.
7. Not leaving bad curly hair habits
You chose a good deep conditioner, you are doing it regularly and you are applying it correctly on your curls but you still might not be getting the results you might be expecting from your deep conditioning efforts.
If this is the case with you, then there is probably something wrong with your overall curly hair care habits.
Most often than not, if you are using any sort of heat-styling tools or color treating already damaged hair, then how much deep conditioning you do, you would never reap the results you desire.
So, it is high time, you have a look back at any of these bad curly hair habits and just stop doing them from undercutting your curly hair repairing process.
Otherwise, you would waste both time & money while getting nothing while striving for the betterment of your dry, damaged curly hair.
FAQs
Q: What can I use to deep condition my hair?
Ans: You can use the following simple homemade ingredients to deep condition your hair.
1. Olive oil-lemon juice-coconut milk hair pack
2. Egg-olive oil hair pack
3. Greek yogurt-coconut oil hair pack
4. Avocado-baking soda-shampoo hair pack
5. Honey-coconut milk hair pack
6. Mayonnaise-yogurt-egg hair pack
7. persimmon -honey hair pack
Or alternatively, you can look for a market-based deep conditioner rich in the following elements.
1. Moisturizers
2. Proteins
3. Emollients
4. Fatty acids
5. Glycerin
6. Castor oil
7. Extra virgin oil
Q: Does deep conditioning help curls?
Ans: Yes good deep conditioning can help your curls in the following beneficial ways.
1. It protects from harmful surroundings and keeps pollutants away.
2. It repairs the damage done by harsh chemicals on your curly hair.
3. It deeply moisturizes and combats extreme dryness & frizz.
4. It makes your hair lustrous, smooth and soft.
5. It makes your curly hair bouncy, strong and healthy
Q: Is it bad to condition curly hair every day?
Ans: Yes, it is bad to condition your curly hair every day. Doing it daily can do more harm than good and aggravate your dryness and frizz. Remember, just like not doing it at all is bad for your curly hair, similar to doing it on daily is bad for your curls too.
Q: How often should you deep condition your curly hair?
Ans: Short answer. It depends. It depends on the extent of damage to your curly hair, your curly hair types and the type of conditioner you use.
However, as a general rule of thumb, you should deep condition your hair whenever you feel your curls are limping and are extremely dry & frizzy.
Moreover, it should be frequent if you undergo a lot of color-treatment for your curly hair, use a lot of heat styling products or use a lot of different products on your head (especially if they have harsh chemicals).
For most of the curly hair people, deep conditioning treatments are best to be limited to at most 1-2 times per week. However, there is no one-size-fits-all, and you would have to experiment with different routines to find a sweet spot for yourself.
