I Tried: Keratin Express Brazilian Smoothing Treatment

Over the past few months I've been hearing the buzz around the Brazilian Blowout - a famous all-natural hair treatment that stars like Jennifer Aniston, Nicole Ritchie, Salma Heyak, and Halle Berry use to smooth out frizzy and damaged hair.  Haven't heard of it?  Check this out:



As my hair grows longer, it always gets more dry, frizzy and lifeless - especially if it's coloured or highlighted.  Sitting at my mid-back, this is typically the point where I get so fed up I decide to chop it all of in an attempt to revitalize the frizzball it turns into.  After I heard the Brazilian Blowout could cost upwards of $175, I thought I was in a chop or settle situation.  Luckily, it was just a few weeks later that I was informed of a salon near my house that was offering the blowout for just $70.  I was thinking of cutting some bangs anyway, so I decided to make an appointment for blowout + bangs combo - wouldn't hurt to try, right?  Right.

I was so pumped for the treatment that I must admit, I was disappointed when I got there and realized it wasn't the celebrity-adored Brazilian Blowout I would be getting.  Instead, this salon used the Keratin Express Brazilian Smoothing Treatment.  What?  I know.  Turns out some places use the words "Brazilian Blowout" to market other similar treatments out there.  Now that I've done some research, I found that this Keratin Express treatment is VERY similar to the Brazilian Blowout, just seems to be different brands of pretty much the same thing (please correct me if I am wrong).  So take note: If you're signing up for a treatment, make sure you clarify which treatment you are actually getting!

Okay, well, I was already in the salon so I figured I'd try it out.  The hairdresser, Holly, walked me through the process.  We'd start off by shampooing the hair twice with a clarifying shampoo, then blow dry to 90%.  Next she'd apply the treatment, then trim my hair and cut bangs while it sat in my hair.  After 20 minutes she'd blow dry the hair completely, and finish off with a once-over flat iron.  Seemed easy enough to me.

As we went through the process she explained some of the benefits of this treatment:

• Our hair is made up of protein and keratin.  As we style, blow dry, flat iron, etc. it, our hair loses it's keratin and becomes dry and damaged.  This treatment would replenish the keratin for 3-4 months, leaving it in a much healthier state.
• It will significantly reduce frizz
• It will reduce styling and blow drying time by 50%
• The hair will be left shiny and radiant

Those were the elements of the Brazilian Blowout that I was looking for, so it sounded great to me.  By the time we were done I had new bangs and my hair was thick with the keratin treatment - I had to leave it in for 48 hours (good thing I had all my runs/workouts for the weekend taken care of!).  The best part of it all?  THE TREATMENT SMELLS LIKE CHOCOLATE.  Sweet.  I got the treatment done on Saturday so it wasn't until Monday night that I could wash my hair and test this magic out.  The result?  AMAZING!!!!

Here's a picture of my hair on the Monday night.  I just washed with my regular shampoo, flipped my head over and blow dried.  No round brush, no extra product, just a few finger combs...and voila:

YES!  My hair blow dried this shiny, radiant, and straight without any effort!  I realized that it was probably that fabulous because I had just gotten the treatment done...so I took another picture last night, 1 week later.  Same thing, just washed (probably the 3rd wash since I got the treatment done) and blow dried without any styling tools or extra products.  Here's what I got last night:

It literally took me 15 minutes to get my hair from soaking wet to this.  Isn't that fantastic?  Throughout the week, I was still able to style and curl my hair as usual, the only difference is now it's shinier, less frizzy, and much healthier!  I love that this is non-damaging, and in fact, perfectly healthy for the hair!  As I get closer to the 3 month mark, my hair will start to go back to it's original state, so I'll try to document the progression on a weekly (or bi-weekly) basis to show you how it's holding up.  For now, I'm loving it :)  Your thoughts?