What You Need To Know About Hair Smoothing Treatments

Want stronger, longer, silky, frizz-free hair for up to six months?

Want to tame frizzy, unruly hair? Our smoothing treatments smooth all hair types, including straight, wavy, textured and curly hair. Unlike other smoothing treatments, ours are free of formaldehyde and harsh chemicals, require no downtime, and provide for multiple styling options.

Famed for its strand-softening and straightening abilities, keratin treatments have been trendy for the better part of the last decade, if not longer than that. But, what, exactly does the process entail? Here we provide the full breakdown.

First, a quick chemistry lesson: Think of straight hair as a ladder and curly hair as a spiral staircase. The steps on both are the hair’s bonds. If you break those bonds, you can rebuild the spiral staircase as a ladder — so curly hair becomes straight. Ammonium thioglycolate and sodium hydroxide permanently break the bonds — that’s how traditional relaxers and Japanese straightening treatments transform the texture of the hair. While these treatments last until your hair grows out, they can be damaging to your hair and can leave you subject to a very awkward growing-out phase. Some traditional keratin treatments (and the popular Brazilian Blowout) saturate the hair with a formaldehyde solution before it’s dried and flat ironed. The formaldehyde (yes, its toxic and a suspected carcinogen) locks the hair into that straightened position allowing it to stay smooth well beyond your next shampoo. Your natural texture then gradually returns over two to six months.

Now for clarification, no hair treatment technically contains formaldehyde (because — a little more chemistry for you — it’s a gas). What they can contain are methylene glycol, formalin, methanal, and methanediol — ingredients that release formaldehyde when heated or mixed with water. Unfortunately, haircare treatments don’t require FDA approval, and thus you need to do your own due diligence if you want to ensure a formaldehyde-free service. Ask your stylist if the treatment contains formaldehyde-releasing ingredients (if your stylists wears a mask while applying the treatment, it likely does). If they say no, then ask them what exactly will be smoothing your hair. If they say Keratin (or peptides or silk proteins) know this this is not an acceptable answer as Keratin is a protein, and one that can be added to strengthen hair, but it does not defrizz or smooth hair.

If a treatment is going to defrizz your hair for any length of time, it needs to contain an ingredient capable of changing the curl pattern of your hair, such as the new smoothing ingredient on the scene used in our Keratin Smoothing Treatments.

Formaldehyde-Free Smoothing Treatments

We never, ever use formaldehyde releasing ingredients in any of our products. Why? Because we refuse to risk the safety of our Columbus, OH hairstylists, our customers, or our planet.

Our hair smoothing treatments contain a proprietary blend of effective and unique active ingredients that are as safe as they are effective, delivering long-lasting results without the harmful ingredients of traditional treatments. Our smoothing treatment formulation is composed of sericin (a component of silk), aloe vera, keratin, glycolic acid, vitamins and botanical extracts. Glyoxyloyl carbocisteine serves as the active ingredient to smooth and lock the hair into a straighter position, while the other actives serve to strengthen, soften and nourish to restore the health of the hair.

The results of our smoothing treatments last up to six months, they do not have an unpleasant odor, and don’t require additional steps like an extra rinse, masque application or conditioning treatment.

Can a Keratin Treatment Help with Hair Growth?

Keratin helps to add shine, reduce frizz, and reduce the appearance of split ends by temporarily bonding the hair back together. All of these effects can help strands look and feel longer and stronger, but Keratin treatments don’t accelerate hair growth.

In other words, reducing breakage helps give the illusion of more hair growth. The treatment makes hair more manageable by smoothing down the cuticle and sealing it, helping to prevent frizz. This can make your hair seem to grow faster because the ends aren’t splitting, therefore allowing it to retain its length.

Can You Get a Keratin Treatment If You Have Natural Curls?

Our keratin smoothing treatments work well on most hair types. For curly hair in particular, it will completely smooth frizz and add more shine. Curly hair reflects light less easily than straight hair, so you’ll notice more shine after your keratin treatment.

Can You Get a Keratin Smoothing Treatment If You Have Color-Treated Hair?

Another added benefit is that it will keep freshly-colored hair vibrant. Getting your color refreshed right before your keratin treatment is a great option as the treatment seals in the color, making it last longer and appear brighter.

What Is the Process of Getting a Keratin Smoothing Treatment?

The treatment takes a few hours, though it varies based on hair length and type. Depending on the texture and density of your hair, you can anticipate your salon visit to be anywhere from two to four hours. Your hairstylist will first wash your hair, then apply the keratin treatment onto the wet hair, where it will then sit for about 30 minutes; however, some stylists might blow dry the hair first and then apply the treatment. Lastly, since the treatment is heat activated, the stylist will flat iron the hair in small sections to seal it in.

Can You DIY a Keratin Treatment?

The short answer is yes, but it won’t be as effective as a professional treatment. At-home treatments coat the hair, rather than penetrating the hair shaft, so results will only last about a week.

If you elect to try a treatment at home, only use treatments intended for at-home use. Do not purchase professional-grade products for home usage because they require an expert to apply them correctly, even when using a formaldehyde-free formula.

How Our Treatments Differ from Japanese Straighteners and Relaxers

Japanese straighteners and relaxers straighten the hair by breaking disulfide bonds. Our hair smoothing treatment uses a revolutionary low pH technology to restore bonds that are broken or damaged during thermal, mechanical or high pH chemical services. Simple hydration of the hair at a lower pH provides a gentler, less extreme cuticle lift that’s sufficient for our treatments small molecules to penetrate the cortex.

In addition to using toxic chemicals that are hazardous and pose a significant health risk to the client and the stylist alike, these treatments break disulfide bonds, are permanent, leave a line of demarcation and limit the client to a pin-straight look.

Our smoothing treatments are 100 percent free of formaldehyde and other toxic ingredients, they don’t break the disulfide bonds which can be damaging to the hair, they wear off gradually so there is no permanent change to the hair and no line of demarcation between treatments. More over, with our treatment the hair will also hold a curl if you try to curl it, and unlike formaldehyde-based treatments there are no restrictions and clients can immediately work out, wear clips and ponytails and shampoo their hair.

Advantages of our Keratin Hair Smoothing Treatment

• Semi-permanent hair straightening treatment that smooths, straightens, adds shines and eliminates frizz
• Strengthens hair and reduces breakage and split ends
• Keeps freshly-colored hair vibrant
• Formaldehyde-free
• Non-drying
• Customizable depending on desired results
• Can wash hair immediately post-treatment
• Natural ingredients
• Results last up to six months

PLEIJ Salon + Spa offers our standard Smoothing Treatment the results of which last up to six months, as well as an Express Smoothing Treatment with effects lasting up to six weeks. We invite you to schedule a Hair Smoothing Treatment today.