Quest for the Perfect Curl

I’ve received some questions about keratin treatments, so I wanted to address them. Now, before I begin this post, I want to make it clear that I have never done a keratin treatment on my hair, and I don’t plan to. Why? Because if I want to wear my hair straight, I’ll just flat iron. Secondly, I don’t trust stylists with my hair unless they are doing an intricate style on it that I can’t do. Otherwise…girl bye.

So, let me start off by saying that naming the treatment a Brazilian Keratin Treatment or Keratin Straightening Treatment, you’ve already been misled. These names make one think that it’s the keratin in the treatment that actually straightens your hair, which couldn’t be further from the truth. Keratin does NOT straighten your hair – your hair is mostly made of keratin. If keratin is actually in your straightening treatment, its purpose is to strengthen and protect your hair (which is good, but making it the primary name is pretty misleading). According to reports, the keratin helps the formaldehyde bind to your hair, and smooth and straighten it.

Most of these treatments use formaldehyde in the formula (the aldehyde is what creates the smoothing), and honestly – I won’t even touch on the potential effects to your health, because I’m going to tell you…unless you are getting several and excessive treatments, you really won’t inhale enough formaldehyde to get cancer – that’s why the stylists were gloves and masks, not you. But either way, if you think the treatment is simple and healthy, you are most likely mistaken.

The part that is most damaging to your hair, in my opinion (and based on my research, but please chime in with additional insight), is the high heat that stylists often use to “seal” in the treatment. Come on, let’s be real – if  high heat will give you heat damage alone, why would high heat with a CH2O solution be any different? So, if your hair is prone to permanent heat damage with straightening, it’s also prone to damage with a KT. Remember, hair apparently begins to melt after using flat iron temperature above 420 degrees F, and often the stylists doing keratin treatments use 450 degrees.

Although the smoothing effects of the treatment are apparently temporary, I have seen several posts and articles from women who have seen their curls never come back (again,  I cannot speak from experience). If you love your curls, I do not recommend them. Heat damage is permanent, so even if the treatment solution does not damage your hair, heat can.

Unfortunately, I have not seen the ingredients to the salon versions of this treatment, but before you decide to get one, I HIGHLY advise doing a Google search and checking out others’ posts on their experiences. If your goal is to continuously wear your hair straight, you MAY be okay, but it’s not guaranteed – as seen in this post where a woman said her hair was falling out (but it also seems like she was flat ironing her hair a lot). If you want to go back to curly…I’d skip them and opt for regular flat ironing with proper heat protectants.

Again, I’ve never gotten one – so if you love them, great! I am not knocking them. All I am encouraging is for people to do their research and know how much heat their hair can take before the damage is permanent.

Tags: flat ironing, hair keratin, natural hair, straightening