I've been natural since 2009 and I have just now realized that I am protein sensitive. I guess I had been fortunate in that I hadn't used any oils or protein products for the first few years of being natural. Later I realized I react badly to certain products but I was never able to attribute with anything until now. How funny is that, 7 years in the game and I'm still learning.

In the last two years or so I have been trying to use deep conditioners and oils; at the prompting of youtube. Since everybody was raving about coconut oil and jojoba oil I decided to try those at first as well as a Shea Moisture DC. Or should I say THE Shea Moisture DC; you know the one I'm talking about, the one in the yellow tub. Granted, I hadn't used a protein conditioner or any substantial oils, save Carol's tui oil, for about 5 years. So these DCs had brought my hair life, definitely noticed some more springiness and strength. However that was pretty short lived, within a few months I noticed my hair getting harder and harder to deal with, drier and more prone to tangles. I switched out to DCs with less and less protein that were more moisture focused (but still with coconut oil as a main ingredient).

So I haven't been using any protein intense DCs; protein is around the middle to end of the ingredient lists. After the DC I would seal my ends with what else but coconut oil. When the coconut oil started backfiring on me; my hair felt like a dry and fried mess, I moved on to jojoba oil. Had less of a reaction than coconut oil but it still wasn't great. After a while I stumbled upon protein sensitivity, literally not even a year ago. It doesn't get talked about much and on top of that when some does point it out there is a sort of backlash. Not anything aggressive but some people simply do not believe protein sensitivity exists. Somehow they think I don't know how to apply oil to my hair or that I'm mistaking oil for moisture. So if anyone with with these symptoms is reading this, know that protein sensitivity is something some people have with varying degrees.

So I've cut out coconut oil and jojoba oil from my routine. I now use grapeseed oil off and on; sometimes when I'm very very heavy handed with it I get a bit of that crunchy/friedness I get with coconut oil. Nothing major but still something to be mindful of. I have castor oil but haven't used it alone. Also can't use Shea butter too often, I think once a week or every other week is alright though. Trying to nurse my hair to healthy now that I've basically fried my ends.

TLDR; If anyone has suggestions for good Deep conditioners, I'm all ears.
Also there totally should be a protein sensitivity section/tag.