Naturals. Can you over condition your hair?

[keepithealthy]

I know when I was relaxed if I left the conditioner on too long my hair would get too soft and mushy. I have a twa and have been co washing almost daily and I want to deep conditioning once a week. If I sleep with the conditioner on my hair overnight will my hair get soft and mushy like it did when I had a relaxer? Thank you

 

[msa]

The only way to find out for sure is to try it and see what happens.

 

[lusciousladie07]

Well I have a twa too and i co-wash and deep condition overnight and it doesn't mush my hair... BUT I have thick stranded dense hair so it would take alot to over-condition my hair.. Mine is naturally dry and corse...

Is your hair fine as a natural? Do you have moisture retention issues.... If your answers are yes and no respectively then it may happen... But MSA is right... you may have to try and see...

IF it does happen, just apply a light protien treatment to correct and get stronger protien treatments to correct as needed... HTH

 

[Mook's hair]

It has never happened to me. I'm not saying that it can't just that it hasn't.

 

[MissBCurly]

it can depend on ur hair type.
For me if I over-conditioner my hair my curls are like non-existent and yes my hair feels mushy and i dont feeling tis happened to me often when I had a TWA. As soon as i gave my hair some protein (ne it a light or a hard which depended on where i was in my regi at the time) my curls were popping and my hair felt like HAIR instead of mush

 

[RENIBELL]

i think this can happen, i noticed my natural hair has similar needs to my relaxed hair, i'm transitioning. if i overcondition, i get mushy hair and with protien, i get well defined curls. i guess you have to find out what your hair likes. Mine needs lots of protein

 

[NerdSauce]

Yep... Cos this happened to me. When I first went natural I was kind of just cowashing, slapping in some conditioner, and calling it a day.. and yeah that's exactly what happens. I'm still trying to figure out the best balance, though I upped my protein usage and that has helped a lot. Aside from when I went to far my hair actually did quite well with the cowashing though.. Like a previous poster said, it has a lot to do with the thickness of your strands and other similar factors. For me so that I'm not bouncing back and forth between too much protein and too much moisture, I like to use light protein and I love to use cholesterol (lustrasilk ftw)

 

[Jetblackhair]

It has happened to me, leaving the conditioner on too long or over moisturizing.

I'm natural with fine strands so over conditioned, over moisturized hair = breakage.

 

[that_1_grrrl]

It is possible.

It rarely happens to me because my hair is medium-coarse, so my hair actually enjoys being drenched in moisture. If it gets mushy, all I have to do is wait for my hair to dry again, and it feels normal again.

 

[Jenn22588]

I don't understand what people mean when they say their hair feels mushy. Maybe mine never has and that's a good thing. If anyone can explain, I would appreciate it.

 

[luckiestdestiny]

Not me

 

[Ronnieaj]

I don't understand what people mean when they say their hair feels mushy. Maybe mine never has and that's a good thing. If anyone can explain, I would appreciate it.

I've got dense and coarse hair, but I can't do baggying to save my life for the mushy feeling afterward. It feels TOO soft like a sponge and I'm almost afraid to touch it for fear it'll fall apart. It has no definition, no curl, just this very soft cottony texture that isn't my typical hair type. I HAVE to re-wet the hair and add protein to balance it back out. I guess that's what it means for my hair. My hair thrives on a good protein/moisture balance. It can handle an Aphogee treatment every 6 weeks with no problem and not feel hard or brittle, as long as I use moisture after. I alternate weekly moisture and protein DC treatments, but find that I can't use either overnight for the reason described above. HTH

 

[lusciousladie07]

I don't understand what people mean when they say their hair feels mushy. Maybe mine never has and that's a good thing. If anyone can explain, I would appreciate it.

To me mushy feels like over-cooked noodles or something to that effect... it doesn't bounce back when streched... Like when you cook pasta.. when its done just right.. if you strech a noodle it kinda pops right back to its original length but if over-cooked (over conditioned) it will stay stretched until it breaks...Thats the best analogy I could come up with...

If anyone has anything better, please chime in

 

[kblc06]

Most definitely! It usually happens when I consistently moisturize with a humectant that's too heavy for my hair like glycerin or shea butter. Or when I leave a moisturizing DC on for too long

 

[keepithealthy]

Thanks for the input ladies. I slept with the conditioner on my head on Sat night. Tada!! Sunday morning and my hair looked gorgeous. The curls were really defined even in the middle of my head which is usually coarse and puffy. I just used a little silk elements mega silk moisture creme mixed with shea butter and curl activator gel. Everyone was commenting on how curly and soft my hair was. This morning I just spritzed with my mix of evoo, conditioner and water and off too work. My hair feels so soft. So I think my hair needs moisture moisture moisture !

 

[GoingNatural]

if it can happen, it hasn't happened yet. yum yum

 

[Supervixen]

Using the baggy method for more than 15 minutes makes my hair feel yucky and mushy.

 

[mscocoface]

Never experienced this issue. I guess it could happen.

The Beast has a bottomless pit so far!

 

[fyb87]

I have medium hair and it has yet to happen to me. But, then I rarely deep condition! I'm getting ready to start though.

 

[suburbanbushbabe]

I know when I was relaxed if I left the conditioner on too long my hair would get too soft and mushy. I have a twa and have been co washing almost daily and I want to deep conditioning once a week. If I sleep with the conditioner on my hair overnight will my hair get soft and mushy like it did when I had a relaxer? Thank you

I truly don't think you can. My hair must keeps asking for more more more. But the best bet is to use a moisturizing conditioner that has a little protein. Lots of good ones out there. My hair loves conditioners and I've done a protein treatment maybe once this year.

 

[alanaj]

It definitely sounds like your hair is over-moisturized. You need to add a little protein in ur regimen to try and correct that.

 

[tkj25]

glad you tried this & it worked for you. that's really the only way to tell sometimes. my hair loves moisture & hasn't experienced being mushy from heavy conditioning, but i also have thick, dense, tightly coiled hair. your hair will always tell you what it does & doesn't like.

 

[Jenn22588]

I've got dense and coarse hair, but I can't do baggying to save my life for the mushy feeling afterward. It feels TOO soft like a sponge and I'm almost afraid to touch it for fear it'll fall apart. It has no definition, no curl, just this very soft cottony texture that isn't my typical hair type. I HAVE to re-wet the hair and add protein to balance it back out. I guess that's what it means for my hair. My hair thrives on a good protein/moisture balance. It can handle an Aphogee treatment every 6 weeks with no problem and not feel hard or brittle, as long as I use moisture after. I alternate weekly moisture and protein DC treatments, but find that I can't use either overnight for the reason described above. HTH

To me mushy feels like over-cooked noodles or something to that effect... it doesn't bounce back when streched... Like when you cook pasta.. when its done just right.. if you strech a noodle it kinda pops right back to its original length but if over-cooked (over conditioned) it will stay stretched until it breaks...Thats the best analogy I could come up with...

If anyone has anything better, please chime in

Thanks for the responses. I guess I've never had this happen and I condition overnight all the time.