Before you scroll down, let me describe first about hair smoothening. Hair smoothening is a chemical treatment which is also termed as a Brazilian blowout, Keratin treatment or Cysteine treatment.
The process embroils drenching your hair with formaldehyde solution, followed by drying it out and then using a flat iron to straighten your hair.
The effects from the treatment last from 2 to 5 months and it is primarily recommended for hair that is wavy or ridden with frizz.
This is because it doesn’t so much alter the structure of your hair so much as it aligns it. The treatment is not likely to be as effective with hair that is extremely thick or curly.
Lets begin to the side effect of hair smoothening. Scroll down please.
- Stress
Let’s be real – hair smoothening requires a lot of commitment. A ton of effort needs to be put into maintaining smoothened hair and making it look flawless.
The stress caused in perfecting every strand might take a toll on you. Not to mention, the big bucks you will need to spend on special serums and shampoos to ensure the smoothing effect does not fade away.
As the old saying goes, healthy hair is a sign of perfect health. To have perfect hair, you need to find a balance between natural and artificial hair care treatments.
There are always alternative natural options to treat your hair instead of keratin smoothing. ALSO read how to use egg hair mask for damaged hair
- Health Hazards
People with sensitive skin need to be extra careful while undergoing hair smoothing as these chemicals can cause itching, redness, and breakouts.
- Dandruff
Dandruff can appear after the hair smoothening. It happens to a lot of people.What happens is that nobody goes around talking about how in life they have dandruff, and definitely not after they’ve just done such an expensive treatment.
The damage caused by flat irons comes from two main sources:
- The heat generated by flat irons can dry out your scalp
- The heat and pulling motion of using straighteners can harm and even strip hair’s cuticle.
Heat from flat irons close to the scalp can damage its moisture barrier, allowing moisture to escape. This in turn can cause the scalp to become dry and flaky. Read more side effects of using hair serum
- Split ends
Split ends happen when the ends of your hair become dry, brittle, and frayed. They may resemble the end of an unraveled rope.
Exposure to extreme weather conditions, and hair care techniques such as blow drying, straightening, and curling may cause split ends. They’re also caused by chemical hair products. With so many people using hair products daily, split ends are common. Almost everyone will deal with split ends at some point.
- Hairfall
Applying heat on a regular basis damages not only your hair but also the hair follicles. The chemicals used in permanent hair straightening also unleash untold damage on your roots. And what happens when you have weak roots? Your hair starts falling out, of course!
- Chronic Dryness
Have you ever noticed smoke rising out of your hair when you’re straightening it?
Well, it pains me to tell you that that’s not smoke. It’s actually steam. Basically, a straightening iron works by seeping all the moisture out of your hair to straighten it and secure the style in place.
And the only way that the moisture from your hair can escape is by evaporating and turning into steam. This is why your hair goes back to its natural state after you wash it because moisture is restored into it.
However, using heat styling tools and chemical treatments regularly over a long period can rob your hair of its natural oils and make it extremely dry and brittle.
- Itchy Scalp
The death of your hair follicles also leads to underproduction of the natural oils that keep your scalp moisturized. This, in turn, leads to dryness, flaking, and itchiness on your scalp that can even spread to your forehead and neck.