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.