Should you try a protein treatment?
Look for easier detangling.

Protein is one part of the formula

Hydrolyzed proteins are proteins broken into smaller fragments and used as conditioning ingredients. The rest of the formula also affects how your hair feels. Compare the finished product with your usual conditioner, looking for easier detangling or a softer dry finish.

Check whether the treatment hardens

Some protein products are conditioning masks. Others harden during use and require a specific rinse and follow-up moisturizer. Check the complete directions before starting. If yours hardens, leave the hair still and follow its removal instructions before combing.

Your hair feels stiff after washing

• Use your familiar shampoo and conditioner at the next wash, leaving that treatment out.
• Check that you completed its rinse and any required conditioning step.
• Review these steps before buying another product to fix the stiffness.

Your hair still tangles

• Use conditioner that lets the strands slide apart.
• Support a small section above the knot and ease the tips apart first.
• Stop if it hurts or tightens.
• For a mat you cannot gently release, ask a stylist for hands-on help.

Treatments are making wash day harder

• Try one optional treatment at a time, keeping other products and styling familiar where its instructions allow.
• Compare detangling and dry feel with your usual wash.
• Leave it out if there’s no useful improvement.
• Rinse off a product that stings and stop using it.

Keep the conditioning that helps

For rough or tangled lengths, choose conditioning that makes gentle detangling easier without leaving hair heavily coated. A mask may replace your conditioner, while another treatment may require conditioner afterwards. Check before buying so you know which products you’ll need.

Browse rinse-out conditioners. For conditioner recommendations, share where your hair tangles and which products you have tried.

Check the mask’s preparation and finish

Read whether to apply it before or after shampoo, how wet the hair should be, where it goes and how long to wait. Check the rinse and any follow-up conditioner. A hardening or heat-assisted treatment needs its own method.

Browse masks and treatments. For mask advice, share your treatment history and where your usual conditioner falls short.

For a rinse-out conditioning mask

Choose this method for a cream or lotion mask used on wet or damp lengths after shampoo. It covers application, waiting and rinsing. Hardening treatments, scalp treatments and products requiring heat or an overnight wait need different instructions.

When your routine calls for conditioner

For a rinse-out conditioner used on the lengths and ends, use this method to reach underneath each section. If you’re also using a treatment, check whether conditioner belongs before or after it, or whether the treatment replaces it.

Detangle when the hair is ready

For ordinary conditioning, detangle curls while damp with conditioner for slip. Let straight hair partly dry first. Support each section and begin at the tips. For a hardening treatment, finish its removal instructions before using this combing method.

Compare the dry finish

After completing the required rinses, blot gently with a towel and let the hair dry using your familiar styling products. Compare softness and heaviness with your usual wash. The linked method shows how to arrange damp hair and leave it to dry.