Can I use Skala as a deep conditioner or a mask?

How do I deep condition with Skala?

Skala's instructions are the same on most tubs:

1. Wash your hair with shampoo.
2. Smooth the cream through your lengths and ends, avoiding the roots.
3. Cover your hair with a heat cap and leave it for 15 minutes.
4. Rinse.

For a quick treatment, skip the cap and rinse after 3 minutes. You can also use it straight after shampoo in place of your normal conditioner.

Skala also lists a pre-poo: apply it to dry hair in sections, wrap it for 15 minutes, then shampoo. That's a deep treatment that happens before you wash rather than after.

Is a treatment cream the same as a mask?

Close enough. Skala calls these tubs creme de tratamento, treatment cream, and the 15-minute heat-cap method is how you'd use any hair mask. The difference is that most Skala tubs also work as a conditioner, a co-wash and a styling cream, and a 1 kg tub goes a long way. For a deep treatment, use enough to coat your lengths without it dripping, and comb it through so every strand gets some.

Which tub should I use?

Pick by what your hair needs. Skala tags its tubs with a step from the Brazilian hair schedule, the cronograma capilar:

• Hydration (H), for dry hair that wants moisture: Mais Cachos (the blue tub) or Babosa.
• Nourishment (N), for hair that wants oils and butters: #MaisCrespos (the orange tub) or Fru-Tastic Coconut.
• Repair (R), for weak or breaking hair that wants protein: Crespo Divino (Divino Potão in the US) or Divina Cor.

If you're not sure, start with hydration. Repair tubs are the protein step, and some hair doesn't like too much of it. More on that in which Skala has protein.

Which tubs don't show how to use them?

For a few tubs, Skala's page doesn't show the instructions at all: Fru-Tastic Avocado, Passion Fruit, Mango and Cocoa, and Bomba de Biotina. They're still treatment creams, but read the label on your tub before you use one. For leave-in use, see is Skala a leave-in or a rinse-out.