In my previous post on Moisture and protein balance, I explained how important it is to keep your hair well balanced with protein and moisture to achieve healthy hair and how to find out if your hair lacks any of the two.

Protein provides strength and shine to the hair and is necessary to keep the moisture inside the hair shaft. So, it becomes really important to do a protein treatment once in a while to replenish protein in your hair. You can go to a salon asking them for a protein treatment or can do it at home.

Let’s see how we can do it at home. For this homemade protein treatment, we will be using unflavored gelatin which you can buy from a grocery store . Please note that gelatin is hydrolyzed collagen which is derived from various animal by-products. So, if you are a vegetarian and are no comfortable using products derived from animals please stay away from using it.

Start with less amount of gelatin or you may first try it on one section of hair and see how your hair responds to it. You can use this treatment once or twice in a month depending on your hair condition. Damaged hair (from heat, bleached or chemical treated hair) needs more protein than normal hair. Coarse hair needs less protein than fine, porous hair (Porosity is the hair’s ability to absorb moisture. Highly porous hair tend to absorb more moisture and also lose it fast, more on porosity in a future post).

Gelatin protein treatment recipe

1 Sachet of gelatin. In the video Knox sachet has been used which equals to 7gm of gelatin and it is equivalent to  2 and half teaspoon (measuring spoon).  So, if you buy a packet without sachet then use 2 to 3 teaspoon (measuring spoon) of gelatin in 1 cup of water. If you do not have measuring spoon then you can use around 1 big spoon of gelatin. 
1 cup hot water
1 Teaspoon of apple cider vinegar
Use a deep conditioner once you rinse off protein treatment from your hair.

You can also add your regular conditioner or some oil with gelatin mixture before applying to your hair.

Direction
1. Stir in gelatin in hot water until completely dissolved.
2. Add apple cider vinegar and mix.
3. Store mixture in fridge to make it cool while you shampoo your hair. No need to store it for longer.
4. Wash your hair with shampoo before applying the treatment to remove any product build up.
5. Apply treatment on hair section by section and keep it for around 10-20 minutes. In the video, she brushes her hair but I wont recommend that because hair feels kind of rough when you apply it and there is no slip so combing might lead in breakage. 
6. You can use a blow dry with diffuser to set the treatment and heat aids in to bond the protein to hair.
7. After 10-20 mins, rinse your hair with water. Do not touch your hair until water softens it. Once it gets soft, gently massage the treatment out of your hair with fingers.
8. Apply a deep conditioner treatment to soften your hair and keep it for 10 minutes and rinse it off. It is very important to apply a deep conditioner after a protein treatment to balance the moisture and protein inside the hair shaft. So don’t skip this step.

Here is video tutorial on how to use gelatin protein treatment. I do not brush my hair while it is on as per the video.

We do not get the Knox brand here in India. So, check in your local stores and get the unflavored version of gelatin. I got this gelatin box from a local store. Here is my experience with Homemade gelatin hair mask.