Say Goodbye to Breakage: My Must-Have Strengthening Products

As someone with fine porous hair, I’ve struggled with breakage my entire life. My hair is naturally weak, and without strengthening products it breaks easily. I use these products for my curly hair, but they work with all hair types from curly to straight. These products do contain protein, and products labeled “strengthening” typically do. It’s very important to note people with low porosity hair tend to have a bad reaction to protein, I have porous (med/high porosity) hair. If you have fine low porosity hair you still may benefit from using protein, just proceed with caution.

Another thing, if you don’t wash your hair on a weekly or biweekly basis, chances are your hair is dehydrated due to lack of consistent moisture and hydration. When your hair is dehydrated you need to be using moisturizing or all-purpose products not strengthening products. If you add protein to dehydrated hair, it’ll become brittle and dry. Strengthening products work best on hydrated hair, I make sure to use my non-protein products most wash days.

Without further ado, here are my favorite strengthening products:

“The Kure” Collection by amika

I absolutely love these products! I use the Shampoo, Conditioner, and Mask 1-2 times a month. When I do use the mask, I use the shampoo + mask only OR I use the shampoo, conditioner, and after I’ve detangled my hair, I let the mask sit for 5-10 minutes before rinsing. Love this stuff!

“Extreme” Collection by RedKen

RedKen is one of the first salon-quality haircare brands that I used, and I love them! The Extreme collection is great for strengthening hair, I used the Shampoo and Conditioner. At the time I was buying this, I was struggling financially, well let me just say girl I was broke! I couldn’t afford to buy the full-size bottles, but thankfully they have samples that last 4+ washes for only $7 each! If you’ve been following my hair journey, then you know that I also use RedKen’s clarifying shampoo, which is amazing BTW.

THATS IT…

I would love to recommend more brands and products, but these are all I’ve tried. I’m not someone who likes to overindulge, I don’t think it’s necessary to have multiple products of the same use. If you’re searching for more options within your budget, search for products that say “Strengthening” then look up any reviews on the product, I like to check Amazon reviews! TikTok and YouTube are also great for finding affordable product reviews. Here’s to stronger healthier hair all 2023 and beyond!