What Is a Keratin Treatment?
For those that lust after having smooth, frizzy-free hair, you might have heard people talk about keratin treatments — and possibly you’ve even tested the favorable salon service.
A keratin treatment can decrease the time to blow-dry your hair, reduce the frizz, smooth your hair cuticle and enhance shine. However, for some people, keratin treatments could damage their curl pattern, and it can be a costly and timely process.
What Is a Keratin Treatment?
Keratin is a kind of protein that makes up the outside surface of your hair, nails and skin.
As you get older, you lose keratin. It breaks down or gets damaged. After a while, factors such as environmental triggers, UV chemicals and heat, breaks down keratin. Those aspects basically cause the protein to alter its natural structure.
And as the shape and configuration of keratin changes, its operation changes. Meaning that your hair is not going to have the same strength, flexibility or shine.
That’s the time in which a keratin hair treatment comes into play. These treatments are a chemical process in which the outside layer of the hair shaft gets smoothed.
Keratin treatments may be used on any type of hair. Those usually with long or curly, frizzy hair could be more possible to have it carried out. However, even when you have shorter hair and you are unhappy with its volume, you can use a keratin treatment for making your hair look a little more full and more radiant.
How Is the Treatment Applied?
The process can differ by salon, but usually, a hairstylist is going to begin by washing your hair two times with a clarifying shampoo.
Following that, a keratin treatment gets applied to your dampened hair and brushed through thoroughly. The solution is going to rest on your hair anytime between 2 and 4 hours, subject to the quantity of hair you have and its structure.
Lastly, your hair stylist is going to dry your hair and then utilize a flat iron for sealing the treatment into your hair. This phase is vital.
This treatment is not shampooed out. It coats your hair, and it smooths it all out. And the heat cures it, for helping to restore that outside layer to a vibrant, shiny, smooth texture.
How Long Is a Keratin Treatment Going to Last?
A keratin treatment pre and post may astonish you with how shiny and slick your hair is. And that outcome can last around 6 months if you do not wash your hair too often.
You are going to want to wait a couple of days before your first wash after your keratin treatment and then try to decrease the number of times you shampoo. Additionally, utilize sodium chloride-free hair products, that are free of stringent chemicals that can be detrimental to your hair.
Are Keratin Treatments Actually Safe?
Some keratin treatment mixtures could contain formaldehyde, a powerful-smelling chemical that can be the cause of watery eyes, wheezing, coughing, skin irritation and a burning feeling in your nose, eyes and throat.
Regrettably, formaldehyde is in just about everything around us. It is in hand-soaps, shampoos and the foods that we eat. Clearly, you don’t want to be putting that into your body in large quantities. Therefore, if you can stay away from exposure to formaldehyde, it can be helpful to maintain skin health and general health. There are still questions concerning whether there are links to cancers and other negative impacts on our general health.
Whereas there are formaldehyde-free keratin treatments in the industry, those mixtures don’t work as well. Therefore, make sure you do your homework and weigh the pros and cons of keratin treatments.
Additional Precautions
Keratin treatments aren’t recommended for women that are pregnant. And if you have sensitive skin or allergic contact dermatitis, you are going to proceed cautiously.
Those people should simply be careful. You are going to want to look for mixtures that may be fragrance and preservative-free.
You may also want to think about the cost of a keratin treatment. You could spend more than three hundred dollars on each treatment.
DIY keratin treatment bundles are available in stores and on the web that could work better for your budget. However, it’s vital that you read through all of the instructions thoroughly beforehand and adhere to them closely.
Be sure you wash your hair well using a nice shampoo. Spread the keratin treatment on your hair, allow it to soak in and then activate it using a source of heat. Professional heat sources could be more effective over a shorter period of time.
Looking for hair treatments in Mesa or Scottsdale? Hair by Nassi can help! Contact us today for a free consultation.
