Hair Care How To: Deep Conditioning Your Hair at Home

It's not only those with brittle, unmanageable or dry hair that could benefit from a deep condition. Every hair type could do with some extra TLC, and this guide will let you know exactly what you'll need and what's involved in giving yourself a professional treatment in the comfort of your own home!

What You'll Need:

• Deep Conditioner
• Comb
• 4 - 6 Hair Clips
• Plastic Shower Cap or Plastic Wrap
• Shampoo
• 2 Towels

Deep conditioning is a great hair habit to get into because it treats the outer layers of your hair strands. These are the layers that make your hair look dull or frizzy when they are damaged from styling, wear and tear and outside elements. When you deep condition the outer layer of your hair, especially if you do it regularly, you temporarily repair the damage and your hair becomes healthier, smoother and shinier looking.

Hair tip: while deep conditioning your hair goes a long way to improving the look and strength of your hair, it cannot cure damaged locks. Truly damaged hair can only be cured by cutting off the damaged strands and letting new, healthier growth take its place.

If you're not sure what a deep conditioner is, or what to buy, here are some tips…

Look for the words “Deep Conditioner” on the bottle and ensure that's what you get. Using just a normal conditioner, a crème rinse or a hot oil treatment will not give you the same benefits that a true deep conditioner will.

Check the label to see what the treatment time is. All individual products have their own suggestions, but generally, a deep conditioner should be left on for around 15-20 minutes. If the product you're looking at says only 5 minutes, it's not a true deep conditioner.

How to Deep Condition Your Hair

1. With your supplies on hand, comb your locks to get out any tangles.

2. Wash your hair with shampoo to ensure it's clean and then towel dry it.

3. Comb your hair and then section it into 4-6 sections, depending on the length and thickness of your strands. Clip away all sections except for your starting section.

Hair tip: sectioning your hair will allow you to work with smaller areas of hair at once, ensuring you'll cover all strands equally.

4. Apply a thin coat of the conditioner to your first section of hair. Start at your scalp and go all the way to the ends. Remembering to cover your scalp as well as your hair will give your scalp (which can also get dry) some TLC too. Once your hair is covered, lay the section back against your head.

5. Repeat in each section until all of your hair is covered in deep conditioner.

6. When all sections are complete, put a plastic shower cap or plastic wrap around your hair, ensuring every strand is tucked in.

7. Next we apply some heat. If you have a hood dryer, set it to medium and sit under it for the treatment time (around 20 minutes). If you don't have a hood dyer, throw a clean towel into the dryer or the microwave to heat up, and then wrap it around your head for the suggested time.

Hair tip: heat will help to open up your hair shaft and allow the deep conditioner to penetrate as far as into your hair layers as it can.

8. When your treatment time is over, remove the towel and plastic cap/wrap from your head and then use cool water to rinse your hair. The water needs to be cool (the cooler, the better) so that your hair shaft closes and leaves as much moisture from the treatment trapped in your strands as it can. If you use hot water, all you'll do is open up your hair shaft and lose all the great moisture you've just added.

9. Once the deep conditioner has been removed completely from your hair (it may take a few rinses to get the treatment completely out, but it's worth it), towel dry your locks gently and then style your hair as you normally would. Your locks should now be super soft and shiny!