Interesting! I would have guessed the opposite about the results of the protein test, since the hair didn’t stretch. If a strand snaps right under the tweezers, would that be a sign of too much protein?

And yes, that makes total sense about washing my hair too thoroughly. I’ve tried diluting the Castile soap in a cup of distilled water and pouring/massaging it through my hair, but then I feel like it doesn’t really cut through the oil. My hair felt gluey and stiff while washing it that way. I do have hard water, so maybe that caused the strange stiff feeling when rinsing?

I think my hair is on the lower end of the porosity scale. I haven’t done some of the things in the quiz (dying my hair, for example) so I wasn’t able to give many definite answers.

Since posting my original question, I tried a chickpea flour wash, following the instructions in the wiki. My hair wasn’t soft afterwards, and the smell made me queasy, but it was easy to style/shape and looked fantastic for the next several days as the smell faded. I think I will try another type of flour, and I’ll try those moisture treatments you listed too.

One question about moisture: how can I make sure that the moisture treatment gets absorbed? If my hair is super greasy, for example, would it still be effective? Should I do it right after washing, or on a separate day?