Royal Beauty Bag : Keratin Hair Treatment

OK, now I’m veering slightly off the beaten path here as this was not one of the things that was clearly identified as a Kate treatment, but multiple sources (like here, here and here) all think that it’s pretty obvious she’s a devotee of the keratin treatment. If you’ve not heard of it before, the keratin treatment is said to control frizzy and unruly hair and turn it into sleek, and shiny, glossy locks. Sound like anyone we know?

Curly hair like Kate’s just doesn’t behave in rain. I now know her secret!

So as I went off to the hairdresser this past week, I was on the fence about my hair’s color. I knew the cut I wanted but had no idea what to do with my color. After thinking about it (and deciding on the way there, natch) I decided to not color my hair and stick with it’s natural color, but to finally give the keratin treatment that everyone raves about – and Kate is widely speculated to use- a go.

The Daily Mail interviewed Richard Ward, Kate’s stylist, about the treatment and he described it better than I could:

It begins with a wash using a special shampoo to open up the hair follicles. The hair is then rough-dried by a stylist and when completely dry, a keratin mixture is applied to the entire head with a small brush and combed through to ensure complete coverage. About 30 minutes later, the stylist will begin blow-drying the mixture to make it bond with your hair. When the hair is dried into your usual style with the hairdryer, it is divided into sections and a pair of ultra-hot miniature straighteners are used to seal the product into the hair shaft.

Hair must then be left for three days. It cannot be tied back, got wet or tucked behind your ears as this can ‘kink’ it. After washing at home, three days later, unmanageable hair is transformed into glossy tameable locks with no frizz. The treatment lasts for four months before it washes out.

So you see why I had to try this, right? Let’s start with the Pros of the treatment:

• My hair feels like a million bucks. It’s softer, shinier and lusher than it’s ever been. I even made several people I know only as acquaintances feel my hair. It’s that amazing.
• I left the salon into drizzly-rainy weather and my hair stayed as frizz free as when I left the salon. In the past, any amount of humidity or drizzle would immediately send my hair to dangerous afro territory.
• While at the swimming pool, I got my whole head wet. I ran my fingers through my hair as I was leaving and didn’t think anything of it until I got home and saw myself in the mirror: my hair was not perfect, but it was amazingly close- it had soft, kinky beach waves texture to it while being not frizzy.

Before, During, After

So do I love it? That would be an understatement. I love love love it. As a frizz sufferer for years, this has literally made my hair into a different animal; It’s like Kate hair – perfect, glossy and shiny.

Now, like anything, there are some cons:

• My natural curl is currently on hiatus, which I’m OK with but you might not be. It will come back when the treatment wears out (3-5 months)
• It takes f-o-r-e-v-e-r. It took close to 4.5 hours for a haircut, treatment and styling.
• It’s expensive, like stupid expensive. It cost me about $250.

But… This is my hair now. I’m going to see how it keeps up over the next few months and then plead the case to m budget as to why I need to do this. But in reality, if it saves me hours of hair styling time and looks better than it could even after that… It may be not only Kate’s secret anymore.