After discovering keratin treatments and their frizz-reducing and sheen properties, I saw no reason to go back to my untamable North African mane; in fact, I haven’t seen my real hair since 2009. But after more than six years of highly aggressive treatments seemed to make my locks look more devitalized, I decided to resort to other hair-smoothing techniques.
Read on to see what works, what doesn’t, and what marketers are, well, lying to you about.
How Keratin Works
If you thought that keratin was the secret ingredient in your miracle potion, think again. It’s actually the less appealing and cancer-inducing formaldehyde solution that’s at play here.
The formaldehyde (the gas released after each hair straightener passage, which often triggers tears) locks the hair into a straighter position for one-to-three months.
However, the chemical suffered from a very bad reputation among cancer research scientists and health conscious consumers. And because marketing knows no limits, two types of products ended up on the shelves: the ones that still contain formaldehyde via the use of methylene glycol, formalin, methanal, and methanediol (ingredients that release formaldehyde when heated or mixed with water), and the ones that don’t really do anything to your hair, as straightening is not a natural thing.
But don’t get confused by the complicated words. The best way to make sure you’re using a good product is to check the label yourself, as hairdressers will too often not exercise due diligence. The good news is that a new generation of hair smoothing treatments has appeared on the shelves in recent years with a less aggressive chemical named glyoxylic acid. Unfortunately, it is also much less efficient than your run-of-the-mill keratin and acts as a good nourishing treatment only for a short while.
