Homemade Moisture DCs Do NOT Work!

So lately I've been looking into making my own products for home use. I'm pretty lazy so this is purely because, until local brands have more of a presence, it is hard to come by natural-friendly products locally that are affordable.

My foray into DIYing led me to sites that broke down the chemical composition of conditioners etc. Although I have had to shelve the idea of homemade water-based products as the chemicals simply aren't available here, my research has given me a better understanding of how different conditioners are formulated to do different things.

In order for something to be considered a conditioner, it has to have a conditioning agent/emulsifer (among other things of course) like any -ium chloride coupled with a fatty acid, for example. Leave in conditioners have the smallest percentage of these, at only about 1%, followed by rinse-out conditioners (like Tresemme), which have an average of 3-4%. For Deep Treatments, that percentage rises to 7-9%. Based on this, it stands to reason that mixing a rinse-out conditioner with oils and humectants to give it extra oompf only serves to dilute the percentage of what little conditioning agent it has in the first place, meaning not only are you NOT deep conditioning, you're not even regular conditioning. Technically, the same reasoning should also apply to mixing a purpose-made deep treatment.

I'm no expert, I'm just a blogger after all, and I welcome debate on my theory, especially from those more in the know than lil' ol' me. I'm sure many will say that oils and butters have some conditioning properties but I question whether they are sufficient for long-term use. Shea Moisture's Deep Treatment Masque, for example, has no conditioning agents, just oils and butters and humectants and fragrances and extracts. In comparison, all their other masques have conditioning agents.

In conclusion, I now believe that, in order to get a proper deep condition, you have to buy a purpose-made deep treatment and use it as it is. A sad and expensive truth but one that I think will gain you healthier hair.

Note, I haven't covered protein DCs because Natural Haven said it already here.