Brazilian Keratin Treatment Alternatives for Frizz Free Hair This Summer
It’s summer time, and you know what that means. It means you may be battling frizzy, big hair again. It’s time to break out the anti frizz hair products, or time to get a Brazilian Keratin Treatment.
Brazilian Keratin hair straightening and smoothing treatments have exploded in popularity across the US. However, many types of these treatments have been blasted for containing unsafe levels of formaldehyde, which is a toxic chemical to the human body.
There have also been reports of adverse reactions such as hair breakage, hair loss and dried out locks. So, if you want the smooth, frizz free hair, but you don’t want to risk the potential side effects, there are some highly effective alternatives to chemical straightening treatments.
First of all, you need to make sure you have a very high quality, ceramic plated flat iron.
You will need to spend good money on this essential tool in order to get the quality, long lasting straightening and smoothing results that you want. Look for an iron that goes up to 410 degrees also, as this is the temperature that really helps seal the cuticle and make the hair reflect light well.
Other features to look for which help to smooth the cuticle and infuse intense shine are tourmaline and ionic functions. Tourmaline and ionic features mean that the product uses the technology of negative ions to infuse the hair with more shine, and to cut the straightening time down dramatically.
If you buy the right iron, just one run over the hair, which is literally seconds, should straighten and shine that section for the entire day. It will also last into the next day if you use the right products after washing and conditioning the hair. This is the best part, as it makes maintenance easy in the summer when you need tame, smooth “skinny” hair.
Now, let’s talk about products to use in the shower which lend themselves to smooth, straight and frizz free hair. You will want to choose the most moisturizing products you can. Choose a moisture rich shampoo, and an intensive conditioner with a lot of ingredients that combat dryness. Just read the label, it will tell you if it is for dry, damaged hair.
The products that are labeled for dry or damaged hair contain the best smoothing ingredients. They saturate the hair, which means that there is less room for humidity to creep in and expand your tresses when you step outside. Dry hair soaks up humidity like a sponge, and that is why your hair gets “big” when you step out into a hot, humid day.
Be sure to completely wring your hair out of as much water as possible before applying your conditioner. This way, the conditioner can coat each strand, and work deeply into the cuticle. Try to leave it on for several minutes. The longer you leave it in, the better it can penetrate the shaft and coat the hair with moisture.
When rinsing, you don’t need to rinse until your hair doesn’t feel slick any more. You want a little of that slickness to stay, so don’t rinse any more than a minute. Have you ever noticed that salons don’t rinse you for very long? This is part of the reason your hair looks great when you leave a salon. They didn’t rinse all of the conditioner out of your hair!
Choosing the correct styling products is also of vital importance to getting those “Brazilian” results. Choose a thicker styling cream which offers smoothing and shine components. You can even combine this with a heat protective spray or cream. Stay away from styling gels and waxes, as those tend to make the hair stiffer, and contain more alcohol to hold styles and create texture.
Some great ingredients to look for in frizz reducing hair styling products are olive oil, argan oil, small silicone polymers, and keratin. These ingredients will all help with flyaways, and will reduce the rough look of frizz and dryness. Also be sure to minimize your towel use on wet hair. When the hair is wet, it is very susceptible to damage, and rubbing it with a towel can rough up the cuticle and make the hair appear frizzy.
Once you are done washing, conditioning and applying a styling product, there is another very important element to smooth, straight hair in the summer time. That is your hair dryer. Thermal ionic hair dryers are the best choice for smoothing down the cuticle and reducing frizz before your even touch the flat iron.
The right hair dryer will cut your drying time down dramatically with ionic technology, and will be gentler on the hair. Good hair dryers cause less damage because they reduce the time your hair is exposed to high heat. Also, choose a dryer with a cool blast option. This helps to seal the cuticle when you’re done using heat, which makes it harder for humidity to penetrate the hair shaft.
After you have dried your hair completely, it’s time for the flat iron. Make sure the hair is completely dry without an ounce of dampness before flat ironing. Turn the iron up to 410 degrees. Start with the bottom layers of hair, sectioning them off into one to one and a half inch wide sections. You will want to clip up the outer layers of hair so you can access the inner layers first.
Starting as close to the scalp as you can without burning yourself, run the flat iron in a downward motion along the length of each section. Repeat this until you have flat ironed your entire head of hair. If you take all of these steps, and choose only high quality styling tools, then you may enjoy this straight, smooth style for 2-3 days before you need to wash again!