For someone who loves to travel and explore new places, it is important to maintain healthy hair. After long publicity to the sun or heavy stress, or if you’re touring the seashores of Canada at some point during your prolonged vacation, your poor hair can show symptoms of dullness and frizziness. So, I recommend you get a keratin treatment. It is like walking with a shiny and silky waterfall that we have always wanted. It transforms your dull hair into a glossy and frizz-free mane within an hour. Keratin is a protein found in the hair, nails, and skin. Keratin treatments are a semi-permanent smoothing treatment that makes your hair smooth and boosts its shine. And I am not saying this just like that. In fact, I have also used and benefitted from it.
It helps strengthen my hair, reduce frizz, and make them manageable and healthy. Over time, your hair gets frizzy when the cuticle—the outermost layer of the hair lifts. It leads to swelling up the hair and makes it thick due to the moisture locked and other environmental factors. I think Keratin treatments are the best solution. They smoothen down the cuticle and seal it to straighten hair without changing the hair structure.
What Are The Types Of Keratin Hair Treatments?
Actually, there are different types of Keratin hair treatments. I must tell you this so you can easily pick the most suitable one. It depends on your hair type and condition. So choose wisely.
Brazilian Keratin Hair Treatments
It is the oldest type of keratin hair treatment that originated in Brazil in 2005. If you have natural curls and are vulnerable to humidity, you can choose this hair treatment. It involves cocoa butter and essential oils that help condition your hair deeply while keeping the hair volume intact.
Cezanne Keratin Hair Treatments
If you want some natural type treatment it’s Cezanne keratin hair treatment; as it does not alter your hair texture. It is best suited for people who have wavy, curly, and frizzy hair and need hair smoothing treatments. The best part about this treatment is that it is formaldehyde-conscious and does not break the disulphide bond of the hair cuticle, giving you damaged, free, beautiful, and smooth hair. But you should not apply this treatment if you just coloured your hair as it might mess with blonde hues. This treatment usually lasts up to three to six months.
Keratin Express And Soft Keratin Hair Treatment
Keratin Express is a short-term keratin hair treatment if you have straight or wavy hair that turns frizzy due to the humidity. The application involves using keratin in serum form and finishing it with a blow-dry and flat iron. Although this treatment is not long-lasting, you can extend its effectiveness for up to six weeks by washing your hair with a keratin-based sulphate-free shampoo on alternative days instead of daily.
Trisolla and Trisolla Plus Hair Treatment
One of the best treatments is theTrisolla and Trisolla Plus. These are the strongest and quickest to apply. It is perfect for women having thick and curly or damaged hair and want it shiny and manageable throughout the humid and hot summer. This chemical process can soften up the curly texture depending on how good your stylist is, and this keratin treatment is suitable for coloured hair, too.
Let Me Tell You the Benefits of Keratin Hair Treatments
Keratin hair treatment helps smoothen down the cells, aka cuticles that overlap to form hair strands. The function of the cuticle is to absorb the keratin and make your hair glossy while maintaining its elasticity as well. But with time, hair loses the keratin due to exposure to chemicals and other environmental factors—that lead to developing porous spots. Keratin treatment helps to fill those porous gaps in hair strands and brings back their original texture.
Apart from this, keratin hair treatments have some other benefits that will improve the appearance of your mane in the following ways,
- Help to fix the damaged hair.
- It can keep the volume intact.
- Shorten the blow-drying time.
- Help to strengthen your hair.
- Adds shine to the coloured hair.
- Make them manageable and easy to style.
- Not causing side effects like hair fall.
- Prevent tangles and frizz while making them smooth and shiny.
What I Need to Do Before My Keratin Treatment
Check my tips that will help you if undergoing thus treatment:
- Keratin treatments involve several chemical processes. So, this treatment should be done by a professional, and make sure you follow the directions before you apply it.
- If you are sensitive to formaldehyde, make sure it may cause itching, stinging, runny nose, burning eyes, and throat irritation.
- Before going through the treatment, do your research on different types of keratin treatment and select the one according to your hair type, length, and texture.
- You should not use any heavy shampoo or oils two days before the process and need to condition your hair one week before the treatment.
- Finally, book your pre-consultation appointment with your hairstylist to know the other things before the treatment.
Just a little heads up—this process can take two to four hours, depending upon your hair length, type, thickness, and porosity. So, make sure you have enough time to make your mane shinier and healthier.
What Should I Do After My Keratin Treatment?
Post-hair care treatments include some hair products and a few changes to your hair care regimen. If you don’t follow those steps correctly, this may lead to excess hair shedding or hair thinning issues. I often see that people don’t take care of their after-treatment. In fact post-treatment care is very essential to experience the best results.
- You should not wet your hair for at least three days, and also you need to avoid sweating, swimming, and rain.
- Let the keratin blend with hair, so try to leave it untied and don’t tuck it behind your ears for three days, as it may leave dents in your straight hair.
- Try to wash your hair with some dry shampoo and avoid exposure to saltwater, chlorine, and UV rays.
- Try to use some sulphate-free shampoos and conditioners, especially the formulas develop for keratin aftercare, to increase the long-lasting effect of keratin.
- Don’t use heat styling, as it can break the disulphide bonds to your keratin-treated hair. If you want, you can oil your hair with pure argan oil or olive oil with no added chemicals.
Can I Do Keratin Treatment At Home?
The answer is yes, you can. But you will not get that salon-quality result. I will tell some essential points to consider:
- First, don’t go with any professional-grade product as it needs a professional to apply them perfectly.
- Many products use the word keratin, but it does not mean they are for keratin treatments. You need to check the ingredients list properly before purchasing the product.
- And don’t forget to check the instructions carefully—they should include extensive guidance on how to wash, dry, and straighten the hair. If it does not have the proper guidance, it’s just a hair conditioning product, not a keratin product.
However, if you buy a keratin treatment, it won’t last long—as home straightening treatments only coat the hair instead of penetrating the hair shaft. Where a salon treatment will last for three to six months, it’s just a few weeks for the home version.
Are Keratin Treatments Different From Japanese Treatment Or Chemical Relaxers?
Yes, obviously. Keratin treatments are not permanent and wash out after some time, but the relaxer is permanent and harsher than the keratin treatment.
The main difference between traditional relaxers and the keratin treatment is how long they can straighten your hair. A keratin treatment can loosen up your curl pattern and get back to its natural state after some time. But in the case of a relaxer, it is a permanent hair straightening treatment that will break down the hair’s bonds. This traditional relaxer or Japanese straightening uses sodium hydroxide, potassium hydroxide, ammonium thioglycolate, and other chemicals—far more effective, especially for curly hair, but damaging.
In the case of relaxers, the awkward growing-out phase is more intense than keratin treatments, as it will show a line of demarcation when the natural texture comes back.
So, Is Keratin Treatment Safe?
The main concern related to this treatment is it uses formaldehyde exposure. A strong-smelling, colourless gas that helps lock your hair into a straight position for months. Keratin treatments don’t contain formaldehyde in its actual form, but the chemicals involved, like formalin, methylene glycol, and methanal, release formaldehyde when they are heated during the process.
So, getting a keratin treatment is harmful to you and the stylists. Although to perform this in a well-ventilated area—according to the CDC, a long time exposure to formaldehyde may cause problems like skin irritation, watery eyes, and throat infection. And in severe cases, respiratory illness and cancer.
Some products are claimed as organic. However, according to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), this is not entirely true. They advise people to read the level carefully and ask the professional for the ingredient list to report any bad reactions. If you have super-fine or damaged hair, try to avoid keratin treatment as it is a heat-activated process to lock your hair.
And if you are looking for a formaldehyde-free formula, ask your salon to use glyoxylic acid—it may not straighten your hair in a super-fine way, but it will give you frizz-free and shiny hair.
Last Updated on April 13, 2024 by Pragya Chakrapani
My girlfriend is talking about this hair treatment and honestly I was so bored of listening to her. I thought let me check what this treatment is actually about and this article has provided me with good amount of knowledge.