Keratin on Very Curly Hair- My Experience

I have extremely curly hair and I love it. What I don’t love is the frizz. I live in South Florida, where the humidity can reach 90% for many months out of the year. Over the years, I have tried relaxers, texturizers and every gel and product on the market to tame the frizz. And nothing really worked.

Between the gym, the rain and the humidity, women with any hair type can struggle with frizz. But not everyone desires stick straight hair.

Whether your hair is straight, curly, wavy, or kinky no one wants frizzy hair. Keratin is the newest craze promising to smooth hair, even if it’s damaged, color treated, or relaxed. People are willing to pay $200 and up for the treatment that can last 3 to 5 months.

Tired of the frizz, I decided to give it a try. Below is picture of me in Santorini, Greece, on a day, which believe it or not, was more humid than Miami and the only way to avoid frizz was to have about a half-dollar size worth of extra hold gel and two or three other styling products mixed in.

Then I decided to try keratin. I researched the experience of other curlies on www.naturallycurly.com and took the plunge. I used the De Fabulous keratin brand, and admittedly, did not allow my stylist Alina, from Glow Salon in Miami to use the required level of heat on my hair or keep the product in for more than 12 hours because I was afraid to lose my curl. But my results were amazing. I did have a looser curl (although it can be tighter if I scrunch it more), and I have no frizz no matter what the weather. My hair is incredibly soft. I went to the Miami Beauty Show three days after I had the treatment and several beauty experts stopped me to comment on how nice my hair looked. No one believed I had had keratin because my hair wasn’t stick straight– which is what people expect, including those in the industry, from keratin.

Many people mistakenly believe that all keratin treatments will completely straighten or relax the hair. This is simply not true. The treatments rely on keratin, a protein, mixed with a minute amount of formaldehyde (try to get one with less than 2%) to reconstruct the hair. The keratin fills in holes in your hair. Some manufacturer’s claim that their treatments can repair 70-80 percent of the damage in in your hair.

The formaldehyde helps it last longer. There are many new products out that do not have formaldehyde but they may not last as long as the three to five months as most keratin treatments.

Stylists apply the keratin treatment to the hair and use heat with a flat iron. The purpose is to reduce the frizz and add smoothness, and therefore it is critical to follow the stylist’s instructions carefully. Some formulations require that you don’t wash, wet or pull your hair back from anywhere from 24-72 hours. Others allow you to wash the product out right away. You must also use shampoos that do not have sodium sulfate. Sulfate-free shampoos are a good idea in general to protect color-treated, damaged, dry, relaxed and all other hair types in general, and are increasingly available among salon and drug-store brands.

I had the keratin done the day I had my color done, which is recommended to seal the color. Otherwise you will need to wait two to three weeks to color your hair, depending on the advice of your stylist.

At the beginning of the post is a picture of my hair flat ironed. Since I love my curls, though, I tend to wear it curly.
My hair has never been softer or smoother. I continue to get compliments several weeks later and I use much less gel, and sometimes none at all. I have heard of people who have had had problems or breakage and it’s important that you find an experienced stylist who examines your hair, uses the right amount of heat and provides you with detailed after care instructions. Paul Mitchell has come out with a new Awapuhi Wild Ginger Keratin Intensive Treatment that does not have formaldehyde but is meant to complement other keratin treatments and can be used every 30 days. It has natural ingredients and I plan to try it next week.

In our next post we’ll talk more about keratin and the controversy over the ingredient formaldehyde, the do’s and don’ts of dealing with keratin, as well as some other methods to smooth hair such as the Brazilian Blowout, Japanese Straightening (thermal reconditioning), Texturizers and Relaxers.