Keratin Straightening is a hair smoothing treatment that uses a specially formulated hydrolyzed keratin-based solution to restructure, fortify, and restore your hair’s natural brilliance — while reducing curl, wave, and frizz by 60% to 90%.

Your hair will retain some of its body and movement, while styling time and effort will be greatly reduced. Your hair will feel smoother, softer, shinier, and stronger than ever before!

The keratin works on both the cuticle and sub-cuticle layers of the hair for maximum effect. First, the keratin solution is applied to the hair. Next, the solution absorbs into the hair. Then a flat iron is used to drive the keratin deep into the hair’s cuticle, bonding it to the sub-cuticle layer. This bond fortifies and temporarily relaxes the hair at a structural level, greatly reducing the hair’s curl, wave, and frizz.

The keratin solution encapsulates the hair’s outer cuticle layer, thereby protecting it from frizz-causing humidity and reinforcing the smoothing action from the flat iron. The result is strong, soft, shiny, smooth, hair that feels healthier than ever.

As the Keratin gradually fades, your hair will regain its natural texture until its time for your next treatment, which is usually in 3 to 6 months.

Frequently Asked Questions

Keratin Straightening Aftercare (The first 72 hours)

  1. Do not let your hair get wet for 72 hours (3 days) after your straightening. This includes sweat, night-sweats, steam, heavy humidity, etc. If you do accidentally get your hair wet, blow-dry and flat iron immediately.
  1. Do not do anything that will leave a crease in your hair. This includes hats, headbands, hair clips, scarfs, rubber bands, and tucking behind the ears. If you accidentally leave a crease in your hair, flat iron it out.
  1. For best results, use Coppola Color Care shampoo, Color Care conditioner, and Infusion Therapy styling product. If you need deep conditioning, use their Vanilla Bean (deep) conditioner. You can purchase these products at www.keratincomplex.com.

Styling Your Hair

Your styling time will be greatly reduced with keratin treatments, and for maximum effect, use heat. First comb Keratin Complex’s Infusion Therapy through towel-dried hair. Then, simply blow-dry in a downward motion using fingers to smooth hair. Make sure your blow dryer has a nozzle to control the airflow. Finally, use a flat iron if you want your hair totally straight.
As daily heat styling can damage your hair, here are a few tips to follow:

  1. Use a heat protector before blow-drying and/or styling. We suggest Keratin Complex Infusion Therapy. Try to stay away from products that contain too much alcohol such as gels, sprays, mousses, etc.
  2. Invest in a quality flat iron, and make sure it has a temperature control. Irons without it often use really high temperatures. Make sure your iron has ceramic or titanium plates, as they distribute heat evenly.
  3. Make sure your hair is 100% dry before ironing. Water conducts heat at a higher temperature than air. This elevated temperature can damage your hair, especially if you iron on a regular/semi-regular basis.
  4. Turn the iron down to the lowest temperature possible, and iron in thick sections. This will help distribute the heat evenly. Iron with quick passes, and don’t let the iron set in the hair too long — it can cause the hair to retain too much heat.
  5. Iron with quick passes. To avoid your hair retaining too much heat, don’t let the iron set in the hair for too long.
  6. Refrain from using a curling iron, which can fry your hair because it stays in contact with the hair for an extended period of time.

How Long Between Treatments?

You can a keratin treatment every 4 to 6 weeks if you prefer, although most people go 3 to 4 months between treatments. If you want really smoothed out hair, come in sooner; If you want more body or wave, come in later.

One advantage to getting the treatment done sooner than later is that the keratin builds on itself — making the hair smoother with each treatment. Use Keratin Complex Products to prolong the treatment.

Recommended Products

The Keratin Complex product line is sodium chloride free and reinforced with keratin — both very important factors because sodium chloride (salt) will strip the keratin from your hair.

Sodium chloride (salt) will strip the keratin from you hair. It is in many products — particularly shampoos — so be sure to read the ingredient list before you purchase another product.

Keratin Complex shampoos and conditioners are also enriched with 10% keratin, and their Infusion Therapy Styling Cream is fortified with 35% keratin — which reinforces your keratin treatment with each washing.

How Long Between Washings?

To prolong the keratin in your hair, shampoo as little as possible. Washing too frequently can strip the keratin and natural oils from your scalp, keeping them from hydrating the mid-shaft and ends of your hair.

Consequently, your mid-shaft and ends can become dry, brittle, and in worse cases, break. If you have to shampoo every day, make sure to condition regularly, focusing on the mid shaft and ends.

Color Treated Hair

Keratin treatments work wonderfully on color treated hair, and actually prolong color by locking it in.

Because tint strips protein from the hair, it can cause weakness and/or damage. When your hair loses too much protein, the cuticle layer can blow open — causing more protein and moisture to escape. As your hair loses protein from constant coloring, highlights, heat styling, sun exposure, daily shampooing, swimming, etc., it can become weak, dull, rough, and in extreme cases, can break.

The keratin treatment works to counter your hair’s protein loss by replenishing the protein stripped by color/ highlights. The keratin fortifies weakened hair at a structural level and smoothes it out by encapsulating the cuticle layer — which prolongs color and locks it in.

Your hair will actually gain shine because the newly ironed cuticle layer will be laid down, sealed shut, and reflect light.

Henna color is not compatible with keratin treatments.

Highlighted Hair

Most highlighted hair can accept keratin treatments.

Highlights (particularly bleach) can strip up to half the hair’s protein, causing severe stress and/or damage to the hair. Assuming the hair isn’t too damaged to withstand the flat iron’s heat, the keratin treatment replenishes the weakened hair and helps restore its elasticity, integrity, and vibrance.

Because highlights create porosity inconsistencies throughout the hair, they can lead to a poor result. Hair with highlights that have been colored over several times may create more inconsistencies. A consultation would be necessary before proceeding with a keratin treatment.

When to Color or Highlight Around Keratin Treatment

It is best to color your hair the day of (or just before) your keratin straightening because it will lock in the new color. If this isn’t possible, color your hair no more than a month before the keratin to ensure consistent porosity from root to end. You must wait 2 weeks (14 days) to color after the keratin.

Keratin and Thermal Reconditioning Together

Proceed with caution! Many stylists think it is fine to do a keratin treatment between thermal straightening treatments, believing that keratin is temporary and won’t strip protein from the hair. However, our experience (in the form of hundreds of strand tests) has shown that keratin can indeed interfere with thermal reconditioning.

Keratin can prevent the thermal reconditioning solution from penetrating into the hair’s sub-cuticle layers, keeping it from breaking down the disulfide bonds that it needs to do in order to make the hair straight.

The result can be a rough, puffy texture commonly found in under-processed hair, another reason we always suggest doing a strand test prior to treatment.

Swimming and Keratin Treatments

Salt, or sodium chloride, will strip the keratin from your hair, meaning you may have to come in for treatments more often than someone who doesn’t swim.

Here are some tips to prolong your keratin straightening if you do swim:

  1. Rinse your hair with fresh water before you enter chlorinated or salt water.
  1. Use a silicon-based product or Keratin Complex’s Vanilla Bean conditioner to protect your hair before you enter the water.
  1. Wear a swimming cap if possible.
  1. Rinse your hair with fresh water right after your swim.
  1. Apply Keratin Complex’s Infusion Therapy.

Pregnant or Nursing

We always recommend the safest route, therefore we do not recommend Keratin treatments while pregnant or nursing. Come see us after you are done!

Health and Safety

We take the health and safety of our clients, fellow stylists, and ourselves very seriously.

We use Coppola’s Keratin product daily, and work next to big open windows with fans that keep the work area well ventilated.

Keratin Complex has always maintained the safety of their product, and states that it would have to be ironed at 8x’s the highest temperature we use to approach toxicity levels. OSHA (Occupational Safety and Health Association) confirms this, affirming that the solution we use is 8x’s lower than their own recommended safety levels.

Coppola’s innovative technology keeps their preservative from releasing into the air as harmful vapor or gas — a feature that is absent in other keratin smoothing treatment lines including the Brazilian Blowout systems, Cacau Cadiveau and Mark Teixiera, all of which use formaldehyde in their products.

Keratin Complex’s straightening produce is the most natural on the market —comprised of 85% keratin and water. The remaining 15% includes a shine enhancing agent, a carrying agent, and a small dose of preservative.