JDandBeyond, what you were going through is exactly what I am going through. When I comb my hair, the ends are always popping and breaking. I see my hair all over the place. Using castor oil on the ends helps, but it's still more breakage than it's supposed to be. I think I actually have a moisture overload. My conditioner (Herbal Essences Rainforest Flowers) has hydrolized wheat protein and hydrolized wheat starch as the 5th and 6th ingredients, respectively, but that isn't enough protein. I have also been using mayonnaise (the supermarket kind) for 20-30 minutes on low heat. Last night, I did a mayonnaise treatment for 30 minutes on medium heat, and there's still breakage. There's less breakage because I combed my wet hair w/ my fingers instead of a comb, but there was still more breakage than there should have been. Maybe I need to use a treatment that is marketed as a protein instead of using mayonnaise as my protein treatment. Mayonnaise does work well on my hair, but maybe I need something more in terms of protein.
Having said that, I'm terrified of protein. All the ones I've tried before (Mane and Tail, ORS Pak) have made my hair hard. I know that's because I haven't really had a deep moisturizing conditioner. I've just used an instant conditioner or ACV after the protein. That's going to change, though. This week, I'm going to Karen's Body Beautiful for a deep moisturizing conditioner, and I'm going to pick up the Aphoghee 2-minute Keratin reconstructor.
So, fearfully, I say, Patricia, sign me up too.