The Queen of Kinks conditioner can be used for full routine wash, that is, detangle + shampoo + deep condition + moisturize with a different product application at each stage.
 
Alternatively, if you’re pressed for time or if your hair isn’t that dirty you can detangle your hair, twist it to section, let it sit then rinse, moisturize and go in one easy step.
 
Because the detangler and conditioner are one product you save on time. It’s super convenient as you will see in the below video. Essentially, you are co-washing and deep conditioning at the same time:

You cannot deep condition your hair using a regular conditioner. That’s the first thing you need to keep in mind. A regular conditioner only acts on the surface of hair and does not have the ability to penetrate any further.

If your hair is damaged it means the cuticle layer is uneven. In this case you need a deep conditioner to penetrate through to the damaged areas for repair and maintenance. This repair and maintenance is not permanent, it only last a few days, that is why you need to deep condition at least weekly.

Overall, a regular conditioner:

• Smoothes down the cuticle layer of hair so that it lies flat
• Normalizes hair’s pH after a shampoo
• Provides a layer of protection against “trauma” from combing and styling until the next condition

And a deep conditioner also:

• Fixes areas of damage along the cuticle
  

What about if your hair is healthy? Is a deep conditioner still needed?

If your hair is healthy the cuticles are lie flat and don’t have holes and gaps of damage. This means that a deep conditioner will mostly act on the surface; however, as damage can’t be observed by the naked eye, any small areas of damage will be fixed.

With healthy hair a weekly deep condition is not vital but it will definitely help to maintain the healthy condition of your hair.

Deep conditioning healthy hair is similar to a person with a fabulous diet also taking a vitamin pill – it isn’t necessary but it ensures they are definitely getting everything their body needs.

I don’t normally accept guest posts, in fact, this is the very first guest post ever on this hair blog in over two years of writing.

Guest post from Allison Matthews, edited by Heather Katsonga-Woodward.

The Max Hydration Method (MHM for short) is, according to maxhydrationmethod.com, “a 5 step regimen that systematically increases moisture levels in the hair until Max Hydration is reached.”

This method, championed by Black Hair Media Forum VIP Member PinkeCube promises to turn the notion that wash and go’s don’t work on type 4 hair on its head. In addition to forum posts, and social media accounts dedicated to the Max Hydration Method, PinkeCube has launched a blog where everything about the method can be found — maxhydrationmethod.com.

So what exactly is the Max Hydration Method, how does it work, and are the results for real? Let’s explore:

Who is the Max Hydration Method for?

The Max Hydration Method is articulated as being designed for type 4 hair, specifically low porosity 4c natural hair.

What does it do?

PinkeCube, MissDeeKay, and other proponents state that the Max Hydration Method will transform dry, frizzy, undefined hair into coils and curls that clump — with or without product. Additionally, they claim that once your hair reaches max hydration, many of the issues that plague type 4 hair (dryness, styling, knots, length retention) will cease to occur.

What products are required, and how long does it take?

The Max Hydration Method initial period lasts for 7 consecutive days. You can stretch your re-wetting/styling to every 2-3 days, but daily is recommended for best results. As far as products are concerned, you’ll need:

• Pre-step: Cherry Lola Caramel Treatment
  
• Step 1: Baking soda rinse (baking soda + conditioner) or apple cider vinegar
  
• Step 2: Detangle and co-washing with a good conditioner
  
• Step 3: Clay rinse (bentonite clay + pure honey + olive oil + water)
  
• Step 4: Leave-in conditioner
  
• Step 5: Botanical gel

How do you do the Max Hydration Method?

As mentioned previously, the Max Hydration Method is aimed at being a 7-day cycle, but can be adjusted according to your time constraints and the needs of your hair. The method goes a little something like this:

1. Cherry Lola Caramel Treatment or Clarify: First-timers are to complete the Cherry Lola Caramel Treatment on Day 1 instead of clarifying. After the initial treatment, you can do the Cherry Lola Caramel Treatment every 2 weeks, monthly, or however frequently your hair requires. Days 2-7 call for a baking soda or apple cider vinegar rinse every morning, where the ingredients sit on your hair for 15-60 minutes.
   
2. Deep Condition Overnight: This step is optional, but recommended to facilitate increased hydration. If you skip the overnight deep conditioning session, simply condition your hair, allow it to sit for 15 minutes or so, then proceed to finger detangle your hair while rinsing it out.
   
3. Clay Rinse: After rinsing and detangling, apply your clay mix thoroughly to the hair and allow it to sit for at least 15 minutes.
   
4. Leave-in & Curl Definer: After rinsing the clay thoroughly, while hair is still soaking wet (preferably in the shower), the leave-in and curl definer are to be applied section-by-section from root to tip. If portions of your hair begin to dry out, simply re-wet them and move along. The Max Hydration Method allows for LCO layering of products underneath gels, but never LOC because oils are occlusive and will prevent water-based moisturizing products from penetrating and hydrating the hair.
   
5. Repeat steps 1-4 daily, or every 2-3 days depending upon your hair’s needs. After one Cherry Lola Caramel Treatment, the other days call for the baking soda or apple cider vinegar rinse.
   

Users of the Max Hydration Method are encouraged to use only approved/botanical products throughout this process. Although I am still trying to identify a consolidated list of products, the general idea is sticking as closely to the Curly Girl Method as possible (no sulfates, no cones, etc.). For starters, Miss Dee Kay outlines her list of Max Hydration Method-approved conditioners here.

Additional reference: The Max Hydration Method Detailed Regimen

Heather’s Opinion

This all sounds very interesting and I love that the natural hair community is always trying to come up with new solutions to dryness, however, whilst I haven’t yet tried the method I think there are four very important issues with it that will probably stop me from ever trying it: 

1. There are A LOT of heavy products involved but no shampoo mentioned anywhere in the process. For my hair, I see shampoo as a very necessary step to remove dirt and build-up which all these products will inevitably lead to. My hair loses its gloss if I don’t shampoo build-up out. Importantly, I am a very regular swimmer and the max hydration method doesn’t seem to be too compatible with that. 
   
2. Conditioners and other chemical ingredients are absolutely, 100% not supposed to sit in your hair for more than 30 minutes let alone over night. Some people who do this will get negative results, e.g. one fan wrote to me saying that she woke up with a bald patch when she slept with conditioner in her hair - ouch. Ask any qualified trichologist or cosmetics formulator about sleeping with rinse-out products – I doubt they will approve.
   
3. Baking soda and Apple Cider Vinegar have completely different pHs (Baking soda pH = 9.0, ACV pH = 3.0) so it doesn’t make any sense at all that they can be substitutes for each other. I personally disagree with the use of baking soda on dry hair types but ACV is alright as it is acidic like hair.
   
4. Last but certainly not least, is this a step too far in trying to achieve “the perfect curl”. As someone who has been sharing various images of natural hair for over two years now I know for a fact that the kinkier the hair, the fewer the likes it gets. Are 4Cs such as myself finally succumbing to the pressure to convert a kink into a curl or do users of this method just see it as another option. One of the reasons I love being natural is that I don’t have a laborious regimen such as the Max Hydration Method, I embrace the kink and the afro and I will continue to do so.
   

What I would really love to know is: 

• Have you used this method exactly as recommended for two months or more?
  
• What was the impact on your hair? 
  
• Did you observe any negative consequence due to not shampooing?

Yes, but not indefinitely!

Most of the benefit of regular conditioners comes from the stuff that coats your hair. These ingredients are designed to coat hair so that it looks more shiny and strengthens hair from the outside.

That said, many products that are designed specifically for natural black hair recognise the fact that our hair is weaker so they include more ingredients that adsorb (penetrate) into hair and strengthen the hair fiber from the inside.

This is especially true of deep conditioners. That said, this penetration process will happen within 20 to 30 minutes. Keeping the conditioner on for more than 30 minutes will have no added benefit whatsover.

Let me explain it another way: you know when you have wilted salad leaves in the fridge? When you immerse the leaves in cold water they water goes into the leaf and it starts to look more solid again. They look fresher and can be served.

After that point (when the leaves are "turgid") keeping the leaves in the water for longer has no benefit whatsoever. In fact, if it's a hot day those leaves will start rotting right there in the water!

The key with using a conditioner is to make sure that it is evenly spread over all your hair. 

• If you are doing a quick wash you can rinse the conditioner off immediately. What I do is deal with my hair first, leave the conditioner on, then wash my body before rinsing the conditioner out. That way, even with a quick condition it sits for about five minutes. 
• For a deep condition, I leave the product on for 20 to 30 minutes then wash it off. I'll do my hair, come out the shower to clean or use the computer then go back in to wash my body and rinse the conditioner.

In summary, if you leave your conditioner on your head for hours and hours there is no added benefit whatsoever. If you're like "but it feels softer" that has nothing to do with the conditioner, it's just the moisture. If you rinsed all the conditioner off and put a shower cap back on you would get the same result!

I know some co-washers will start reading this blog feeling very irate that I would even suggest that co-washing is a bad idea but hear me out for a second before you get annoyed with me.

Now, I am not totally anti-co-washing, in fact, I think if you want to wash your hair more than once a week it is far better to co-wash between weekly shampoos.

A few people I know have found that after co-washing only their hair gets drier and more brittle and they think that it's the co-washing that is to blame.

The answer is: NO. Co-washing does not make your hair more dry in itself but it is EXTREMELY restrictive in what products you can use. 

Some ingredients in conditioners and leave-in moisturizers stick to your when applied so that they can keep your hair conditioned and moisturized for a while after the conditioning or moisturizing session.

Some of these ingredients, will not wash off without shampoo. So when you re-apply your products these ingredients continue to build up and build up until your hair is indeed brittle, dry and starts breaking.

Most co-washers are not educated enough about ingredients to know what they need to avoid. In fact, although I know a fair amount of what's a no-no for co-washers I would need to take a list when I go shopping because I wouldn't remember everything off by heart. Importantly, no list is exhaustive. This means no list will list everything and no list can because new ingredients are coming out all the time.

So, what should co-washers avoid, in general:

• Petrolatums
  
• Non-soluble Silicones (water-soluble ones are completely fine)
  
• Mineral oils
  
• Go for oils high in saturated fats and monounsaturated fats as listed in THE Best Oil For Natural Hair. A Mega Summary! because these will penetrate into hair whereas other oils mostly sit on the hair cuticle. The best oil is Jojoba, second best is coconut oil, third best is avocado oil.
   

Note that if you are a co-washer you shouldn't use a product with the above ingredients even if they are listed lower than 5th (this is the rule of thumb that lets you know that there isn't much in the product). Why? Even these little quantities will build up on your hair over time. 

In summary, co-washing can work if you make an effort to learn everything that must be avoided, however, in my opinion a co-wash only regimen is not worth it because shampoo does have an important role to play in healthy hair management: A clean, pliable and healthy scalp is essential for natural hair growth and clean hair is need to moisturise and condition hair effectively.

​You might also like:

• Why Should I Avoid Petroleum/Petrolatum/Mineral Oils On My Hair
• Water-Soluble Vs. Non-Soluble Silicones Found In Hair Products

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