Keratin has created a lot of buzz amongst hair care practitioners and enthusiasts. It is almost everywhere, from social media platforms to magazines. No wonder Keratin Shampoo and Conditioner are the most well-known hair products used by many.
Many would have also got a suggestion from their hairstylists to use keratin hair products for getting smooth and straight hair. Though, you must be wondering what’s all the hype about keratin and what it is – how keratin hair products help, do they really work? & More.
So, here’s a complete guide on keratin for you.
What is Keratin?
Keratin is a sort of protein that builds up your skin, hair and nails. Keratin can be found in the internal organs and glands of the body too. When your hair undergoes loss of keratin, you can notice the change it brings. Keratin loss leads to hair strands that look damaged, weak and more prone to breakage.
Keratin protein makes up the internal composition and outer cuticles of your hair strands. So, in essence, keratin is the structural building block of your hair. Many believe that keratin hair products help repair damaged hair, strengthen them and make them look healthy.
What Leads to Keratin Loss?
Keratin loss can be due to several reasons. Natural elements like wind, salt water and ultraviolet rays can cause keratin hair loss. Except these, heat styling your hair and blow-drying them in excess can cause moderate and severe keratin loss.
All in all, avoid curling and straightening your hair with hot irons. You can reduce keratin loss caused due to styling by protecting and providing the hair with keratin regularly.
Moreover, people who use excessive hair products, dye their hair or use hair products that include harsh ingredients can lead to keratin loss, leading to dry hair, frizziness and easily breakable hair.
How Can You Use Keratin for Hair?
Keratin Hair Treatment
Keratin hair treatment is a time-consuming method of using keratin in many ways for reviving damaged and dull hair. Keratin hair treatments can be done only in salons by professionals. You cannot execute this intensive method at home. Keratin hair treatments mostly last for six months. After that, you need to maintain your hair with recommended keratin hair products.
Keratin Hair Shampoo, Conditioner & Serum
Keratin shampoo, conditioner and serum claim to repair dry, frizzy and damaged hair. Keratin hair products differ from keratin hair treatment. However, both works to strengthen, straighten and smoothen the hair. There are reports suggesting that keratin has turned out to be a promising ingredient for getting strong and healthy hair.
Keratin Supplements
Rather than going for a keratin hair treatment, many prefer to take keratin supplements. You can find keratin supplements at any health store or drug store, and they come in the form of powder or capsules. Many believe that consuming keratin in the form of pills or powder work well to make hairs and nails healthy, shiny and long.
How are Keratin Hair Treatments Different from Keratin Hair Products?
For ones who think both keratin hair treatment and keratin hair products are the same – no, that’s not true.
Keratin hair treatment generally claims to provide semi-permanently straightened hair, which can have some side effects on your hair. Whereas keratin hair products strengthen the hair and make them healthier.
Here’s what you need to know about keratin hair treatment:
As stated earlier, keratin hair treatments are semi-permanent straightening treatments that could be achieved in salons only. This treatment smoothens the hair cuticles of your hair. It’s a time-intensive process that can take hours and hours and is extremely costly. Keratin hair treatments are also known as Brazilian Keratin Treatment.
Firstly, a liquid or cream that contains an ingredient named formaldehyde are applied to the hair, and then the hair is blow-dried and straightened. When the treatment is done, you’re not allowed to touch or wash your hair for several days. Secondly, when you get back to the salon to get the cream washed, another treatment is performed to settle the straightening effect.
Here’s what you need to know about keratin hair products:
On the contrary, keratin hair products like shampoo and conditioner do not require application at the salon only. Basically, keratin hair products are simply keratin-infused and other hair-nourishing ingredients. Plus, keratin hair products are totally cost-efficient compared to super expensive keratin hair treatments.
Keratin products are safe to use at home and do not contain any harmful ingredients mostly. You can use keratin hair products in the comfort of your home without having to take trips to the salon and empty your pockets. Good keratin hair products help make hair less curly and frizzy, pretty easy to style and prevent breakage.
Where Does Keratin in Hair Products Come from?
Keratin comes from humans and animals. You get the best keratin from human hair. Many countries do not allow using anything from the human body in the products, so animals are the only source to get keratin. The keratin included in hair products and cosmetics come from the hair, feathers, horns and paws of animals. Keratin cannot be made synthetically.
Should You Invest in a Keratin Hair Shampoo and Conditioner?
Our hair is made up of 89% keratin. Keratin in human hair consists of 19 amino acids, and from those amino acids, one amino acid deserves a little extra care. Besides that, since keratin builds up hair structure, it’s responsible for hair’s strength and elasticity. So, when your hair lacks keratin, it will become dry and get damaged.
So, if you have a slight feeling that your hair looks weak, dull and damaged, you should use keratin-infused hair shampoo and conditioner. Keratin hair products undo the wreck caused to your hair, make them stronger and prevent breakage. Keratin-enriched scalp represents smoother hair.
Even if your hair is not yet broken or dull, here are some other reasons why you should invest in a keratin shampoo and conditioner are:
- You expose your hair to the sun every day for some time.
- If you have a practice of bleaching, colouring or highlighting the hair.
- You use heat styling products on your hair regularly.
- Swimming in chlorine or saltwater
- You have used chemical-based hair products or permed your hair.
Keratin Hair Products are Suitable for which Hair-type?
Initially, keratin hair treatments were intended for those with curly hair specifically. Such keratin hair treatments kept hair straightened and smoothened for roughly six months. In today’s time, keratin hair treatments can be taken by people with any hair type. The same way people with different hair types can use keratin hair products.
People with straight hair can also get their damage repaired and regain their shine with keratin hair products. Keratin shampoo and conditioner cannot bring the perfect straightening that keratin treatment would give, but still, they are more feasible to use. Since keratin can add more volume to the hair, keratin hair products serve well to define your natural curls or waves.
So, whether you have straight, curly or wavy hair, you can use a keratin shampoo and conditioner. However, it is believed that keratin hair products are best suited for hair damaged due to chemicals, heat styling or saltwater.
Do Keratin Hair Products Genuinely Work?
Yes, they do.
When you add some keratin to your hair, the result is soft, smooth and frizz-free hair. For dry and easily breakable hair, keratin can reverse the damage caused to an extent and protect and renew the natural keratin protein of hair. Moreover, keratin hair products work excellently to improve the strength and elasticity of the hair, make them look healthier and add a great volume.
However, you might be confused about what keratin hair products to buy, which type of keratin hair products will work and so on. After thorough research and understanding, you should buy the safest and effective keratin hair products. For ensuring safety and reliability, check the ingredients and read the reviews of the keratin hair products you’re buying.
You need to make sure that the keratin shampoo and conditioner you are buying is free from any chemicals banned by FDA. Also, choose shampoo and conditioner that are sulphate-free since sulfate can cause damage and dull the hair colour.
You should try Paraben & SLS-free Keratin Hair Shampoo and Keratin Hair Conditioner by The Men’s Lab. The Men’s Lab products are FDA approved, cruelty-free and free from any other harsh chemicals.
Overall, it can be considered that keratin hair products are safe to use and best for repairing dry and dull hair.
However, if you’re planning to go for a keratin hair treatment, you must understand the kind of chemicals used. Because many people have experienced that once they start getting a keratin hair treatment, the cycle continues to avoid heat damage caused by getting the treatment in the first place.
The perfect way is to use a keratin hair product sometime before you think of getting a keratin hair treatment so you can check whether it makes sense to go for it or not.
