Thanks for the mention,
@Sharpened. How are you, lady?
Hi,
@snookes!
I'll share my experience, but it may not inform you much, as all of our heads of hair are and behave so differently and idiosyncratically.
Does putting too much product on your fine strands cause you breakage?
Putting too much product on my hair has never caused me breakage. I'm pretty sure I've only gotten breakage from having my moisture-protein balance UNBALANCED.
And what is this weighing the hair down I hear off??
NOTE: Weighed down hair was more of a concern for me and my fine hair when my hair was relaxed. Now that I am natural, I am fine with having my hair weighed down.
To answer the question:
My wash-and-go's will be light and bouncy after drying if I have NOT applied too much product to each section. If I apply too much product to each section, then my wash-and-go dries and feels product-y, and the curls are not bouncy and light and fluffy and everything.
But . . . I like my hair weighed down, because my hair is very fine. Fine hair separates easily from sections, resulting in what is called frizz. My hair frizzes very, very easily, so I apply an ample amount of product to weigh it down. One time I used a gel that was super, super light and my hair was fluffy and not weighed down like usual and it did not frizz! I prefer my hair weighed down, however. When I say weighed down, I just mean heavy with product which for me then means product-y feeling and not bouncy after drying.
Also how much product do you use when you moisturise/if you moisturise?
If you watch at 3:06+, the amount of product the lady applies is about how much I apply to each section, maybe a little more.
What do you use to moisturize? Do you do it daily?
My hair is naturally highly porous (meaning, not from damage). So keeping my hair moisturized has been a challenge for me.
However, for the first time last week I tried a slight tweak of Chime's recommended DIY moisturizing spritz. I used it as my L in an L-C-O. For the C I used
Soultanicals Cotton Candy Hair Fluff Leave-in Softerizer. I skipped the O and applied Uncle Funky's Daughter's Curly Magic gel.
WOW!!! My hair has been SUPER moisturized for 5 days or so. I have not reapplied any product. I have simply let the shower steam remoisturize my hair. You know the difference between dry, crusty brownies and moist, fudgy brownies that you have to use a spoon to get out of the pan? My hair is like moist, fudgy brownies right now. I've been wearing it in a puff, so I really, really, really haven't cared that it's weighed down. If I were wearing it down in a wash-and-go, it would be weighed down with little movement, and I would be fine with that.
Here is the recipe for the spritz I made, based on Chime's recipe:
- 60% water . . . 120 ml
- 30% glycerin . . . 60 ml
- 5% aloe vera juice . . . 10 ml
- 5% penetrating oil (I used grapeseed oil for the ceramides) . . . 10 ml
I do use products that contain both moisture and protein . . . because my hair is naturally highly porous. It's pretty hard to over-proteinate my hair.
I leave in DevaCurl Decadence's One Condition (contains protein), and my hair loves it. I condition and deep condition with products that contain protein.
Here is a video that discusses how to maintain moisture-protein balance based on whether your hair is lowpo or hipo.
I have the video set to start later in the video where a helpful chart is, but like usual if you pull the slider button back to the beginning of the video, the whole video will show.
. Thanks, sweetie!
Although I will say even my hair doesn't suffer breakage from product build up it will look limp or weighed down. I like to wash 2X's weekly to keep that problem at a minimum. Lack of protein and moisture is what caused my breakage several months ago and beyond. I moisturize daily with a water-based mist that has oil in it as well. I think it also seals cause it keeps my hair from getting frizzy and gives it a sleek look (my strands are low porosity anyhow now that I keep up on protein). 
