How to Pick the Right Conditioner for your Curl Type

How do you know if you’re using the wrong conditioner for your curl type? With so many options for curly hair products out there, it can be so overwhelming. 

I’m sharing exactly what you need to know about your curls to pick the best conditioner, including some of my product recommendations for both rinse-out conditioners and deep conditioners.

This is the last video in this series, so check out the entire series on How to Pick the Right Curly Hair Products after you watch this.

Signs you don’t have the right conditioner

• You find it extremely difficult to detangle even with conditioner in
• After rinsing it out, your hair doesn’t feel like you put anything in it or still feels brittle
• It feels greasy and weighed down
• You’re seeing a ton of wet frizz even after brushing through

How conditioners differ

Most conditioners are pretty much the same. They’re not like styling products where they’re going to vary greatly or impact how your hair turns out. However, there are a few things to know about conditioner formulas:

• They vary in weight or moisture level
• Some contain proteins for strength 
• Some have more slip than others for detangling
• Deep conditioners are higher in moisture and can be more penetrating when left on longer

How to determine the right type of conditioner

1. Determine your texture/strand width

Texture or strand width is the width or thickness of your individual strands of hair

Note: You can have multiple textures. Select products based on the most prominent texture or the most problematic.

How to determine texture: Pick up a single strand of hair and feel it between your fingers. Does it feel very thick, wirey or even have kinks in it when you run your fingers down the strand? If so, it’s coarse.

On the other hand, if you can barely feel it and can barely see it then it’s fine.

If it’s somewhat in between, it’s medium. 

Why it matters: Knowing your strand width will tell you how lightweight or how heavy your conditioner needs to be.

Fine hair:

✓Lightweight products with higher water content
✗ Heavy products, thick formulas, butters, and oils

Medium hair:

✓Light or mediumweight products, cream formulas
✗ Heavy products, thick formulas, butters, and oils

Coarse hair:

✓Heavy products, thick formulas, butters, and oils
✗ Lightweight products

2. Determine your porosity/damage level

Porosity is how damaged the cuticle layer of your hair is.

Types of porosity:

• Low porosity: tightly locked cuticle that doesn’t absorb product and water beads up. Gets weighed down easily. Not color-treated or bleached.
• Medium porosity: absorbs products and water, doesn’t dry out very quickly, and stays moisturized in between wash days. Healthy hair that has regular wear and tear from brushing, the sun, etc.
• High porosity: hair absorbs water and product easily. Dries very quickly after squeezing out the water. Hair often dries out in between wash days. Damaged from highlights, dye, and chemical treatments.

Note: You can have multiple porosities. Select products based on the most prominent porosity or the most problematic.

How to determine porosity: Think about how healthy your hair is and look for the symptoms mentioned. You can also test it by spritzing your naked curls with water and seeing how quickly it absorbs. Another method is to towel dry your clean hair and see how quickly it dries without product. Note, float tests are not accurate.

Why it matters: Knowing your porosity will tell you how much protein your hair needs. Protein can strengthen weak hair.

Low porosity: Limit protein
Medium porosity: Incorporate some protein, such as deep conditioner with protein 1-2 times per month
High porosity: Use a conditioner with protein ingredients and/or use a deep conditioner with protein 1-3 times per month

How to put texture & porosity together to determine conditioner weight and protein level

The finer and more high porosity your hair is, the more protein your hair will need.
The coarser and more low porosity your hair is, the less protein your hair will need.
The finer and more low porosity your hair is, the lighter weight your conditioner should be.
The coarser and higher porosity your hair is, the heavier your conditioner can be.

Product Recommendations

Below are some of my picks for the best conditioners and deep conditioners with and without protein and with various formula weights.

Light-weight Conditioners

Contains proteins:

Protein-free:

Medium-weight Conditioners

Contains proteins:

Protein-free:

Light/medium-weight Deep Conditioners

Contains proteins:

Protein-free:

Heavy-weight Deep Conditioners

Contains proteins:

Protein-free:

To view all of my recommendations, visit the shop page and use the filters to narrow down the results based on your needs.

Let me know if you’ve found this helpful or if you have any additional questions. Watch the full playlist to learn more about How to Pick the Right Curly Hair Products.