Hair Masks: Moisture vs Protein

I like supplementing my day-to-day beauty routine with little extras. Partly it's because the routine of using face masks and hair masks is something that I enjoy, but really it's because my hair and skin benefit from having a little bit of extra attention throughout the week. 

When I was in my third year of University I hadn't quite learnt how to manage my stress and my body's reaction was hair loss. It wasn't extreme, but it was noticeable and it's had a lasting effect on my hair. Recently I had a hair consultation at Trevor Sorbie's flagship store in Covent Garden and a hair professional explained that my hair wasn't actually "frizzy" as I've been describing it for the last few years, the word she used instead was "fragile". All those little baby hairs (that are happy indicators that my hair is regenerating) may appear as frizz when in fact they're actually just short and delicate newly grown hairs that I need to look after rather than battle against. 

As part of this process I learned an important difference between moisturing hair masks and protein hair masks. Moisturising masks combat dryness and coarseness - they might help with lustreless ends or the dryness brought on by too much central heating or air conditioning. Protein masks, on the other hand, help restore hair by strengthening fragile new growth and working towards repairing the damage caused by heat.

For a long, long time I've assumed that slathering on a hydrating hair mask is all the hair treatment that my hair would ever really need. Well, if you have similarly fragile hair (for whatever the reason) what you might actually need is some sort of protein mask or treatment. When I want to rehydrate the ends of my hair I reach for A'kin's Gingko and Jojoba Intensive Moisture Masque*, but when I want to do an all over restorative protein treatment I've been reaching for KeraStraight's Protein Mask*. It's too soon for me to give this protein mask a full review but I can say that I'm really enjoying using it and I do believe that it will improve the overall condition of my hair.

Do you use a protein hair mask?