As my 4c hair grows out, in all honesty, it hasn’t been the easiest to detangle. This made consider a keratin treatment. It wasn’t my goal to change my texture so I can have some waves or spirals. It was done out of needing my hair just to work with me a tad bit more with tangles and breakage. I became so frustrated with my hair that I actually considered cutting it or going back to dreads. After realizing that I really didn’t want to do either of those options I took a leap and I tried keratin.
After seeing this article on Black Girl Long Hair: Why I Made the Controversial Decision to do a DIY Brazilian Keratin Treatment, this was another motivating factor for me.
So far I love the Keratin experience. It didn’t dramatically change my texture, my hair is easier to get through, and most importantly I don’t have icky straight pieces of damaged hair from heat straightening. What it did do is loosen those roots up a bit which I didn’t mind at all and has ,frankly, made that natural life a bit easier.
I ended up doing an at home treatment called You Be-Natural Keratin Treatment, that according to the company is formaldehyde free.
I absolutely loved the results and I would like to share the Pros and Cons of this experience so you can evaluate whether doing something like this is for you:
Pros:
Hair drying time is extremely fast (in fact cut down to 15 minutes for me)
Your hair loosens up a bit so getting through your detangling sessions will be much easier
It will allow you to transition between straight and curly styles
Reduces the amount of frizz you get even in the summer heat
Less tangles and Breakage
Cons:
If you take the route that I did it is a major time investment! It took me at least 4 hours.
Going to the salon for a Keratin Treatment can run you up to $100 or more.
If you do not like to use heat this isn’t for you, as heat is used to seal in the Keratin
It will alter your curl pattern slightly by temporarily making it looser. Don’t want your curls altered in any way shape or form? This may not be for you.
Things to Consider:
Women with badly damaged hair hold off from doing a Keratin Treatment until your get your hair’s health in check.
Avoid coloring your hair soon after, wait at least 2 weeks.
Those who decide to do at home kits follow instructions to the letter.
If you are expecting it to dramatically change your hair from kinks to curls, it won’t!
Have you had a Keratin Treatment? What was your experience?
Tell Us By Leaving a Comment Below
Thank you so much for this article. I want to grow my hair long, and I’ve had it naturally for about three years now. However, I end up cutting it because of how much effort it has taken to maintain it– the detangling, the everything. I do not want to spend a lot of time on my hair. I want to be free. I know locks are an option, but I’m not particularly interested in locks at this point in my life.
I’ve been caught about the keratin because I don’t want to alter my curl pattern for a ‘looser look’ when a large part of the reason I went natural was to reject the idea that looser is better and embrace my own pattern. This article has been a big help.
I purchased the TRUE Brazilian Blow Out treatment where you can wash your hair immediatly after the process and dont have to wait 48 -72 hours. I did research and the Keratin used in there process is much smaller and broken down to one 10th the size of the Keratin in other treatments meaning your hair can accept it and will accept it easily. Instead of blow drying just to dry, I took my time blow drying the product in my hair thinking the heat of the blow dryer should infuse the Keratin better this way instead of relying on the flat iron, I also only passed the flat iron on my strands 1x @380 degrees …. the minimum heat required, not the recommended 450 degrees 4xs, and it worked! The frizz is seriously redu ed and my ringlets have not changed…. so far I have not found a salon that would apply this way… they ALL insisted 4xs with the flat iron and that to me was the deal breaker. Anyway, I love the way my hair feels and looks and will have to do it again myself…. others need to know this.