ICure KeraCollagen Blowout - DIY Review

The last time I reviewed Keratin Blowout, I was full on demonizing the hair styling treatment. I have valid reasons for warning people. Because it's been proven that the original formula contains formaldehyde and you know, formaldehyde kills people.

I recently discovered DIY Brazilian. And look at the label:

0% Formaldehyde

0% Formaldehyde! Is there such a thing - a Keratin/Kerawhatever/Brazilian Blowout without Formaldehyde? There's no way for me to know. So if anyone with a lab decides to test this product let me know how it goes. It's rather disappointing how product labels can't be trusted. Marketers can claim just about anything: 90% straighter hair! Whiter skin in 7 days! 5x stronger nails! 0% Poison!

I fell prey to the promise so I ordered a sachet just to test if it works at all. Only after I've paid my order on Shopee that I decided to check online if people have tried it and if it even works. I was bored. 

Of all ICure KeraCollagen Blowout reviews on Youtube, this is the first I clicked on:

Tip: Visit the comments section of the Youtube video to see where she went wrong. 

So according to commenters, she may have used the wrong shampoo, failed to get the detangling product, or forgot to rinse. I panicked when I realized I needed to order more products. I was thinking I'd save money by purchasing this product (P250 over at Shopee) versus getting a Brazilian treatment done (P1,000 cheapest, and I wasn't really interested in inhaling Formaldehyde at a possibly Covid-19-infected salon.)

I searched some more and found this tutorial video from ICure:

This tutorial video made it look like DIYing won't be too hard. I mean, I DIY my hair color, cut, and treatments. What can go wrong? 

Upon actually DIYing though, I realized the first video was pretty spot on. This product is not user-friendly. What made it difficult to use:

1. The product is too runny. Its consistency is like that of jojoba oil or water. 

2. The product is clear-colored. There's no way to check which spots you missed because it's hard to tell.

3. The product takes a long time to absorb into the hair.

4. It did not sting my eyes or nose, but I spilled a few drops on my neck and arm and they itched. I did this in front of the mirror inside the bathroom so I could wash the spills ASAP. 

This is a product that requires professional guidance/application. Despite it looking like a moron-proof sachet of conditioner. 

As for effectiveness, I'm giving it 7 out of 10. I still haven't washed my hair since application, so as of now, all I can say is that my hair is generally smoother. Maybe a bit straighter (I ironed my hair.) It's not as straight as it would be with rebonding or with a professional Brazilian/Keratin/Keracollagen treatment. Just a tad bit straighter than usual. I still see a few kinks here and there. The demarcation between the previously rebonded part and the new growth is still there, though not as noticeable. 

What I don't like is that, like in the first video, it made my hair super dry. I can't run my hands through my hair. I can't run my brush through my hair. The only thing I can use on my hair is a wide-toothed comb. 

Now I'm not sure if this dryness is permanent. Or if this is only because I didn't use that recommended detangler. Or if it's because the shampoo I used was drying and my hair is really just this unmanageable without conditioner. Maybe it's my hair. Maybe the product is just poorly designed? It's probably effective. IDK. The only way to know is to find out after washing it 2 or 3 days from now. 

IDK. I don't think I won't be washing my hair for 3 days. I'll probably set an alarm for 48 hours. I can't stand dry hair. Dry hair makes me sad.

I'll be back in 48 hours. 

BACK.

Sorry it took me longer than promised. It's daaaay... 4(?) since the hair treatment. Let me make it up to you by doing a Day by Day review.

Day 0 - Day that I applied the product. Hair was nice because it was flat ironed. 

Day 1 - Hair was oily, which was normal after not shampooing for 24 hours. Hair was still straight and shiny. 

Day 2 - I couldn't bear all the oiliness and the chemical smell. So as soon as the 48 hours lapsed, I shampooed my hair. I used the SNAZZY hair mask that came with the package. It was a revelation. It made my hair super smooth and glossy, I'm ordering some for special days. Might review in the coming weeks.

Day 3 - Yesterday. The day of reckoning. I used my regular conditioner, Keratin Plus Gold, which was usually hydrating enough. It hydrated and smoothed my hair, but not as nicely as SNAZZY. Nonetheless, my hair was still nice and smooth. 

Day 4 - Todayyy. Hair is still nicer than usual. Way nicer than usual. My hair is usually dry and poofy at the demarcation between the rebonded part and the regrowth. There's still some kinks, which were there BECAUSE ICURE KERACOLLAGEN BLOWOUT WAS SO HARD TO APPLY EVENLY BECAUSE YOU CAN'T SEE ANYTHING WHEN YOU APPLY IT AND A LOT OF JUST SPILLS BECAUSE IT'S TOO RUNNY. 

Sorry. I just had to release my pent up frustration. So it's generally an EFFECTIVE product. But it fails at some important points. I guess the remedy is to either use 2-3 packs just to be sure that all strands are covered to make up for the unavoidable spillage OR write ICURE a letter and tell them that they have an awesome product that needs to be improved.

So there. If you're looking for a cost-effective alternative to rebonding or keratin straightening, this is a good product to try. I've seen reviews and other people seem to be satisfied that they use this monthly. I'm still waiting to see how long this smoothness lasts.

Nonetheless, I'm still giving it 5 stars out of 5. I was expecting it won't work, but it did. I'll just apply it more systematically next time. I'll update this when I do. 

~UPDATE~

It's now January 7th - 3 weeks after trying ICure KeraCollagen Blowout. My hair is back to how it was. It's been this way for maybe 10 days now. Making it roughly less than two weeks of straightened, tamer hair from the procedure.

I'm not too keen on repeating the procedure. The inconvenience of application and days of no wash don't seem to be worth the few days of good hair. I stay mostly at home though, so I'm not really all that interested in keeping my hair pretty. 

Human Nature Natural Shampoo Bar Review

Human Nature has been providing my hair care needs for years now. I've tried everything on their hair care line from conditioners to shampoos to oils. My favorite has always been their Clarifying Shampoo. Oh hey, why don't we do a quick run down of their products?

Clarifying Shampoo - Love. This tends to be stripping but I love how it stays true to its name, it clarifies. My hair can be crazy oily. I don't really sweat a lot, but my hair tends to be oily after a long day, even in a temperature-controlled environment. So I use this shampoo at least 5 days a week. It does not dry my hair even when it strips it clean. It leaves my hair feeling fresh and light.

Professional Salon Care Shampoo - This is from their premium line. It's more expensive and I tend to have biases for more expensive products. I force myself to like stuff just because they're expensive lol. I mean, I am a scrooge and when something costs more, I convince myself it's worth every cent just to get rid of the guilt. This is more moisturizing than the clarifying shampoo. It's also recommended for salon treated hair. I just don't order this as often because... I'm a cheapskate. Also because I need thorough hair goop cleansing every day. 

Strengthening Plus Shampoo - Okay. I can't exactly vouch for the strengthening bit. I tend to lose a lot of hair for reasons I am yet to understand. So, I can't really say much about strengthening properties. This is an okay shampoo, nothing remarkable, but still overall better than regular supermarket brand shampoos.

Moisturizing Plus Shampoo - Like the Strengthening Shampoo, this does not foam so much. It takes a while to get used to shampooing without the suds. Nonetheless, this is overall better than sulfate-laden shampoos. This is more moisturizing than the Clarifying variant but you'll still need a separate product for conditioning. 

Anti Dandruff Shampoo for Men - My usual supplier had no other shampoo but this and I was in a hurry so bought this and then regretted it. This can be drying, heck what do I expect from a dandruff shampoo? I guess I was expecting this would work somewhat like the Clarifying shampoo. But no, this leaves residue and does not clean as nicely. As for dandruff, I discovered mine is triggered by product build up, which thank goodness, the Clarifying Shampoo solves perfectly. So this isn't something I recommend.

Treatment Products & Conditioners - I still go for supermarket brands. My hair can be unruly and Human Nature conditioners still lack the right balance of smoothness and lightness. I use their sunflower oil, which makes my hair smooth, but it can be too heavy. Actual conditioners in all variants tend to not get absorbed, they don't coat the hair so they're pretty ineffective. The mask and the daily treatment products work fine, almost at par with popular brands, BUT they can get expensive for hair as thick and long as mine. So. I'm still waiting for HHN to release something awesome for their hair conditioning line. 

Now that I've outed myself as an HHN hair care addict, let's finally review the Shampoo Bar.

I've been meaning to switch to eco-friendly shampoos. And while Human Nature is already doing an amazing job with its environment advocacies, I was still bothered by the thought of all the plastic bottles I've thrown away the past years. 

I had the chance to use a shampoo bar from some fancy brand that my sister uses. (Forgot the brand, sorry.) And it was life changing. My hair didn't need conditioners, nor major combing efforts. My hair was tame and smooth right after shower, which was honestly strange. It was a little scary, to be honest because I've never seen my hair behave that way. I was expecting all my hair will fall off in one go. It was too good to be true. I was convinced to finally switch to shampoo bars, but I decided I'd try other *cheaper* brands before I made a commitment. 

I ordered from a local brand which claimed to sell handmade soaps and shampoo bars. I checked the reviews and most of them were singing praises. Except for one which said the shampoo bars were actually soap and warned people not to order. Long story short, the shampoo bar I ordered turned out to be just soap. I now use my second bar as a hand soap. The couple of times I tried them on my hair, I'm reminded of that one time in my childhood when my nanny used body soap on my hair and I ended up crying because I couldn't brush it after showering.

Fair warning: don't buy from nondescript brands with no labels. Shampoo bars are formulated differently from soap bars.

I then ordered from a trustworthy looking store on Shopee. The shampoo bar turned out to be a real shampoo bar, thankfully. Foamed nicely, cleaned my hair, and didn't feel like detergent. The problem was, it melted too quickly. The P50 bar only lasted for a week. That's P200+ for a month. Compared to my go-to Clarifying Shampoo in a bottle worth P320 that lasts for 2-3 months. 

After trying several other cheap brands, I finally gave up and checked the recommendations from snooty beauty enthusiasts. They were recommending shampoo bars worth 4 digits and were said to last at least half a year for their shoulder-length hair. There was no way they'd get me to buy their shampoos. 

I don't now how I missed Human Nature. They of course, of all brands, would carry shampoo bars. Affordable shampoo bars that last a decent amount of time and are not detergent pretending to be shampoos. So I ordered. 

I just got out of the shower and I'm a happy customer. The end.

Human Nature Natural Shampoo Bar clarifies as nicely as their bottled shampoo. I was lowering my expectations and was thinking it could at least be like the poorly foaming variants, but no, this bar foams up thickly. There's a technique though. What I do is wet the bar a bit, bubble it up on my hands and then apply the suds on my scalp. It takes more time than using liquid shampoo from a bottle. And I don't recommend it for people who are always in a rush.

My hair is not as tame and nice as it was when I used the shampoo bar from the fancy brand. But it's also nowhere near the broom-like mess that it was after using fake shampoo bars that are in reality just soap. It feels and looks clean. No overpowering smell. No heavy residue. No sticky after-feel.

I'm definitely going to commit to this product. After the pandemic though, if or when schedules no longer feel like a never ending Sunday morning (am I the only one who actually enjoys the no-rush-ness of this extended quarantine?) I'll probably go back to the bottled Clarifying shampoo. Or stock up on both and use the bar for lazy days and the bottle for crazy days. 

10/10 recommend. Price: P250 for a 70 g bar. They only have 1 variant at the moment, Zesty Vanilla Delight. Oh, they also have an anti-dandruff shampoo bar for men, I'm not trying that though. 

Brazilian Keratin Kerasmooth Blowout Treatment

Ha. That's a mouthful. The treatment was originally called Brazilian Blowout but because of controversies regarding its safety, enterprising hairstylists decided they'd play around with its name to confuse salon goers and make them believe what they're getting is definitely NOT that thing on the news.

Shall we start with the scariest bit or do I review the treatment first? Oh, I know, let me tell you my hair story before I go full on hair nerd.

Photo by Element5 Digital on Unsplash

Obviously, that's not my hair. But that's how it used to look like before pregnancy, stress and that thing called life destroyed it. I probably need to take half the blame. My hair had in at least the past ten years been through rebonding, perming, coloring, bleaching, heat styling, salt spraying, dry shampooing, sulfate cleansing, chlorinated pool swimming, etc. sometimes getting colored three different colors in the same week. I'm a horrible human being and I deserve the unhealthy, fragile, dull mess on top of my head.

Everything you could possibly do to your hair, I've done it. Except getting it shaved clean a la Britney Spears in her momentary case of emotional wreckage. I've been through a wreckage countless times, but I guess I knew somehow that I needed my hair to pretend I'm pretty. My best look, the one that received gazillions of praises and second looks, the one that's sent at least half a dozen people to the salon with a description of my hair, is this:

Obviously not me again. But at the peak of my hair's career (LOL), at its best, it was this thick and long and shiny and glorious. It was straight on top and it curled at the ends. I'll let you in on a secret. Come closer. To get this hair, all you need to do is to skip rebonding for years, like 3 years at least so hair would have grown around 12 inches since last chemical process. Snip out the driest parts, get a layered cut, let it grow loooong. Skip brushing it and get a wide toothed comb for a rare primp. Shampoo only at the scalp, shampoo the ends like twice a week only. Condition your hair like crazy so it gets crazy soft. Comb hair DURING shower. Do not towel dry hair. Air dry indoors or inside an air-conditioned vehicle during your morning commute. Finger comb a few times while drying. Et voila - mermaid princess Barbie hair. For tighter curls, wait for hair to dry completely, put it up in a bun, wait for an hour, and untie hair.

Unfortunately, this did not sit well with my husband. While the rest of the world thought my "natural" hair was lovely, my husband preferred neat, straight hair so I had it rebonded often enough to damage it beyond hope.

I had the pleasant-est surprise of my life when I found out about Brazilian/Keratin/Kerasmooth/Blowout/Treatment. While I still can't go back right away to my mermaid gloriousness, after my treatment, my hair has improved so much from unnaturally straight at the ends and sharply crooked at the demarcation between the regrowth and the rebonded parts. What I love about it is that according to my stylist, you can still curl, clip, tie, and style hair unlike after rebonding.

What is Brazilian Blowout / Keratin Treatment / Kerasmooth / Kerabond, etc.?

First, the monicker. As mentioned above, the reason behind its ever changing brand name is the stigma. Originally called Brazilian Blowout, it replaced Traditional Rebonding after the powers that be in the fashion and beauty industry decided that pin-straight hair wasn't pretty anymore. So hair magicians decided they'd invent something that could straighten hair but not make it too straight that it flattens the shape and thins the volume. 

Brazilian Blowout was born and it got too popular that random groups of pessimists decided to go look for something wrong with it. What they found out wasn't just wrong, it was deadly. Apparently, the original formula contained formaldehyde.

Not only is it proven to cause cancer, it also irritates the skin, eyes, nose, and lungs, triggers asthma and allergic reactions. What's shocking is that even after treatment, the fumes stay in the air for hours, to be inhaled by everyone in the room. Imagine being a hairstylist and doing one Brazilian treatment a day, or even one a week, imagine the accumulated exposure for an entire year. And you don't even have to be the stylist doing the treatment, you can be an unknowing frequent salon goer inhaling all that fumes for hours during a haircut and color.

Because manufacturers can't do without formaldehyde as it is what binds keratin to hair (and smoothen the strand to make it less frizzy and wavy), they decided to go the sly route:

1. They claimed that their products contained very little formaldehyde, which were still too high to be considered safe amounts;
2. They stopped including formaldehyde in product labels, even when it's included;
3. And when that didn't work, they pretended they invented a new treatment which produced the same results as a Brazilian Blowout without the health risk.

Of course, all of the treatments with names like Keratin Straight, Kerabond, Kerasmooth, Brazilian Straight, Brazilian Treatment, etc. they are still all pretty much the old formulation with the same old health risks.

I saw one blog post where the original formulator, apparently, claimed that there's a huge difference between original Brazilian Blowout and the ones that came after it. Of course they claimed that they have minimized formaldehyde and that their formula is the safest in the market. They also claimed that the original formula can be washed off right after the treatment while the fake ones need to stay on the hair for 2-4 days.

What's funny is that my hairstylist told me that if it doesn't sting the eyes, it's not real Brazilian. Hah. Mine had to stay on my hair for at least 48 hours. I paid a tenth of what big name salons charge for Brazilian. So I can't really tell for sure if mine was original formula, all I know was that it stung, it smelled horrible, and I thought I'd die from all the fumes I was inhaling. I was worried the entire time because I felt like wherever I went, I was polluting the air and poisoning everyone I was in an enclosed space with. I had a snake plant in my home office, but it was only a couple of inches tall. You'd need 6-8 waist-high snake plants to filter the air in an enclosed space for one person. Imagine planting dozens of those inside a salon just to make sure the employees don't die of cancer in a few years. Yikes.

Was it worth getting cancer for? 

It depends on how badly you want your hair to get pretty. I mean, if rebonding is not for you because you think pin-straight hair is neither fashionable nor flattering, and you REALLY REALLY need to smoothen your hair or straighten it a bit, I say go for it. We'll all die sooner or later anyway. 

However, if you value life, yours and everyone you stay in enclosed spaces with during the treatment process, then just get your hair rebonded, it will get volume when it regrows in a few weeks anyway. Do as I do and put your round fat cheeks on a diet for an entire month prior to hair rebond, so you won't look like a lollipop after a rebond.

Now, I know you have one question for me:

I knew all the risks, why did I still get a Blowout? 

I don't know. I guess we're all just a little stupid sometimes. Same reason we still eat tuna even if we know it has high levels of mercury that our bodies accumulate and do not flush out over the years. Same reason we skip sunblock and eat barbeque. I don't know. Probably just a momentary case of emotional wreckage? I needed a rebond but could not diet lol, I couldn't also stand being ugly for the few months I need to wait so I can get rebonded again. 

I don't know. I guess I know I want to get my mermaid hair back again, but I need to compromise somehow because my husband wants my hair neat and straight and Brazilian Blowout looked like the perfect solution to get both.

It's been 2 weeks now and my hair is still smooth, shiny and bouncy. It also still smells a bit like cancer.