hmmmmm I think you may have helped me figure out a big issue that I was having the first months to almost year of my journey! I use no lye. I think. soft and beautiful? and I never did many protein treatments, only moisture treatments. my hair would not stop breaking. that was from june 2010 to jan 2011. then I decided to switch up to only nexxus products and do protein treatments at every wash (every 2 weeks). still using soft & beautiful. april 2011 to dec 2011 no more breakage and more retention. the proof is in the pics! check the massive mess in my pic collage in my album.