Question: Hello, I’ve heard that too much protein can be bad for hair and cause it to become dry and eventually break off. I have a conditioner called Abba gentle conditioner that has protein but when I use it my hair looks and feels great. So is there any truth to this?
TheBeautyBrains’ Response:
This notion that too much protein is bad for your hair comes up quite often. I’ve even heard the concern raised that you can have “protein-sensitive hair.” But when you look at the science, there’s no mechanism for topically applied protein causing hair to break. So what’s going on here?
I think this myth got its start from the relaxed-hair community. People with African-American hair often relax it which can be VERY damaging. The relaxation process breaks the disulfide bonds in hair, making the hair more porous. Hair that is extremely porous can soak up too much of the quats, fatty alcohols, and silicones from regular conditioners, making hair feel mushy.
Special conditioners were developed for relaxed hair which contain LOWER levels of these ingredients. Often referred to as “protein conditioners,” they contain (sometimes high) levels of proteins. Since the proteins don’t provide as much conditioning, it’s possible that the lower level of conditioning agents (not the higher level of protein) could result in more breakage because the hair isn’t as lubricated.
This confusion appears to be the origin of the “protein conditioners cause hair to break” meme. From there, it spread to the general population, so now we have a lot of people believing this and asking the same question. There is one area where proteins MAY be of legitimate concern: skin allergies. But that’s a different story.
Can Too Much Protein Really Cause Dry, Brittle Hair?
What say you? How does your hair respond to protein conditioners?
