So, I tried out MHM earlier this week. What I discovered was that while my hair does want and need moisture, it does not like getting all of that extra moisture by itself without protein first. I've done the Cherry Lola treatment a few times in about a month and a half time period. My hair absolutely loves Cherry Lola. I usually do a quick condition right after a Cherry Lola treatment. I've been alternating weeks between Cherry Lola and clay washing, and my hair has thrived with that regime. Since I had already done the CL, I figured that I'd jump straight into MHM with the baking soda/conditioner/water cleanse...My hair hates the combination of conditioner and baking soda. It absolutely hates it. I'm pretty sure the issue is the fact that for my hair the baking soda opens up the cuticle and lets in too much moisture all at once, and it makes my hair mushy. With the CL treatment, the baking soda is letting in some moisture but also a lot of protein, which seems to stabilize my strands. My roots were fuzzier after doing the MHM treatment than they've been since before I started doing the CL treatment.
I have 3c/4a-ish hair. I think that I'm sort of medium porosity. I haven't done any porosity test, but by the way my hair behaves, it seems that it's neither high nor low porosity. Baking soda in and of itself doesn't seem to be a problem for my hair. However, what I let pass through the cuticle once the baking soda lifts it makes all the difference in the world, apparently. My hair has spoken loud and clear. It wants protein. The clay washing keeps my hair from getting stripped of moisture in between protein treatments, but it's really the protein that it craves.
So for the time being, I'm backing away from MHM. My hair was doing just fine with my alternating between the CL treatment and clay washing. I'm going to continue doing that for a while. I think my hair should probably come to its own level of maximum hydration over time if I'm consistent with that. If I do decide to try MHM again, I'll probably opt for the ACV/water cleanse instead of the baking soda/conditioner cleanse. However, I'm starting to think that my hair just doesn't benefit as much from MHM in its entirety as it does from specific components within that method, which is fine. Everyone has to find what works for her own hair. I'm glad that I tried it out at least, because curiosity was getting the better of me. Also, I think I know a little more about my hair post MHM experimenting than and did prior to trying it.