Today, I am going to talk about the Brazilian Blowout or the "keratin treatment". There is tons of info on the web that is there precisely to sell you on the service, but today I will talk about the negatives and positives without trying to convince you to come in and get the service.
First of all, What is a Brazilian Blowout or keratin treatment?
The Brazilian Blowout or keratin treatment is a hair treatment designed to make your hair more manageable and get rid of frizz. Sounds great right? What woman doesn't want to get rid of frizz? I can't think of one.
The treatment takes about an hour and a half at the salon and it lasts up to 12 weeks depending on the person. It slowly rinses out of the hair, so the person isn't left with curly roots and straight ends like what one would get with a regular straightening service. The cost is anywhere between $150 to $450 depending on the salon and the length of the hair.
It all sounds great and there were a lot of hairdressers making a lot of money, and a lot of clients looking great until a hair salon decided to sue one of the biggest companies that provided this treatment. The claim was that the chemicals in the product where hazardous to one's health, and that the company placed false statements on their packaging concerning the quantities of the chemicals. After several studies, the keratin treatment company won the case.
The concern was that the product contained high amounts of formaldehyde. According to merriam-webster.com:
Formaldehyde : is a colorless pungent irritating gas CH2O used chiefly in aqueous solution as a disinfectant and preservative and in chemical synthesis.
I did some research and it looks like all of these hair treatments must contain some form of this chemical to work.
So after all of this what do I think? I use chemicals in my line of work every day. It's just part of the cosmetology industry. Everything I use has chemicals, so I leave it up to the FDA to make sure that these products are safe to use, and then I use them. Like everything else, I have the common sense to use things in moderation, and when it comes to the Brazilian Blowout, I do it in moderation. I make sure the salon is well-ventilated when I perform it. The smell is somewhat irritating, so I don't do more than one per day. As for the clients, if they decide to start getting these treatments they only have to do it a maximum of four times a year. Do I recommend it to everyone? Absolutely not.
You shouldn't get it done if:
- your hair is thin
- you can't afford it
- you are sensitive to smells
- you like to wear your hair naturally curly sometimes
You should get it done if
- you have frizzy hair
- you have thick hair
- you like to wear your hair straight most of the time
- you can afford it
So, in conclusion, I will leave it to everyone's discretion.
This is not a miracle service that will make it so one can get out of bed and have perfect hair. That does not exist. One has to work a little to have manageable hair. Like most new things in the beauty industry, I always try it on myself before I try it on my clients, and I can tell you from personal experience that It definitely helped me every morning by cutting down on the time I had to spend on my hair. That does not mean it will help or work on everyone else.
So that's it. No miracle formula yet :)
If anyone has additional questions feel free to ask. I will be brutally honest.
Till next time!
