Keratin Treatment Support Thread

[caringangel]

Hello ladies,

I got my hair done last weekend and it is soft and smooth. The stylist used kera fusion, I've tried looking it up but I can't find anything about it, and she says she doesn't know how much formaldehyde is in it. I love the way it feels, the color looks darker, almost jet black, it is simply beautiful.

 

[MarieB]

Muse,
I'm sure you've had just about all the advice you can stand by now, but I have to throw my two cents in,too ! I think you said you were doing naked blow-drys during the BKT process. That's the one thing I quit doing because I felt it was too much. These days I air-dry to about 80 percent, then put the treatment on. HTH, and good luck with the DC!

 

[sheba1]

Muse,
I'm sure you've had just about all the advice you can stand by now, but I have to throw my two cents in,too ! I think you said you were doing naked blow-drys during the BKT process. That's the one thing I quit doing because I felt it was too much. These days I air-dry to about 80 percent, then put the treatment on. HTH, and good luck with the DC!

Thank you for mentioning this! I've never done the naked blow dry. My strands are just too fine to think it. I towel dry, apply, one blow dry and flat iron.

Thumbs up, MarieB

 

[Muse]

Hey ladybug, so sorry to hear about the breakage. Just wanted to chime in and let you know what I do. I BKT every 2 to 3 months now and I use 430 degrees. I run the iron back and forth 3 times at the root and down the shaft only twice. I do this even though I coat the entire strand of hair with the BKT product.

Because I do back and forth at the root, that gives me the equivalent of 6 passes at the root and only two passes on the rest of my hair at 430 degrees. I feel that's no more heat than a regular flat iron for the pre-treated BKT'd hair. This has been working well for me. Hope this helps, friend.

Denise

Sheba thank you so much! I missed you around here!! I have decided to spread the treatments out and you are right about the passes. I try to run it over the roots to get them straight but I pass the flat iron all the way to the tips even though the ends are bone straight. I will try this technique next time. Thanks a bunch!

 

[Muse]

Muse,
I'm sure you've had just about all the advice you can stand by now, but I have to throw my two cents in,too ! I think you said you were doing naked blow-drys during the BKT process. That's the one thing I quit doing because I felt it was too much. These days I air-dry to about 80 percent, then put the treatment on. HTH, and good luck with the DC!

Oh no girl I welcome ALL advice, lol! Yes! it is time for me to cut out the naked blow dry. I completely forgot how harsh that can be because there is NOTHING on the hair. So here's my plan going forward:

1. Air Dry after clarifying
2. Turn the heat down (Hopefully I'll have the Izunami iron by then)
3. Do less passes
4. Do treatments every 3 months instead of every month

I just realized that I have to have texlaxed texture to get anywhere but I prefer to texlax using BKT instead of a relaxer. I just need to tweak the heat part and I should be fine. Oh yeah and I did my first wash today and I had breakage but it wasn't anything too alarming so I don't feel that the damage is too bad but that it serves as a warning to myself that I had better change my technique before things get worse! Thanks so much ladies.

 

[Vintageglam]

Ladies just a few questions for you all. I am plunging in with the QOD tonight and so wanted to prepare myself by getting the benefit of exp from the board as well as just the instructions.

1. I have heard that QOD can be quite thick and concentrated and another member told me to dilute it down a bit. Is anyone else doing this with the QOD Gold?

2. I have also heard that QOD Gold is best applied to slightly damp as opposed to completely dry hair. Anyone have experience with this?

3. Also I can't flat Iron to save my little self so I am going to shampoo, air-dry and then apply the mixture myself and then take myself off to my friends house so that she can help me with the blow-drying and flat Ironing part. Would it be okay to therefore leave the mixture on my hair as I anticipate it could take me about an hour potentially to get to her house?

4. I have a 100ml (about 3.3 Oz) sample so how much of this will I need to use?


Many thanks in advance for your help ladies


x SG

 

[mstar]

mstar, I was extremely worried about reversion and it took over 3 months to get the curl back - even with trying to strip it. I've heard that it doesn't fully wear off until 5 or 6 months. When mine finally wore off, I could tell right away - all that easy detangling came to a screeching halt! I was like "What's wrong with my hair?" I was so used to the feel of it with BKT, I forgot what it was like without it.

I suppose it might protect your hair? Otherwise no not really as you will not be seeing your hair for a while so you might as well just let it be?

Thanks for the advice guys! Sipp, I think you're right that it hasn't worn off yet. It's just entering a new phase. This is what I love the most about BKT...the versatility it's given me. I've never had all these options with my hair before.

Stella, thanks for mentioning the protection angle. I am scared to death that this weave will leave me bald-headed (that's what happened last time I had a sew-in), and the keratin might help protect me from damage.

I will give it some more thought before deciding what to do.

 

[Minty]

I would definitely up The deep condition from once to 2x a wk using a product w/ceramides & other proteins. Silicone mix,Linange ceramide, I don't know if biolage has sodium but check. Okay Muse hth.

Stella, make sure u flatiron on very am sections 1/2" x 1".
Do not dilute the product, just be light handed w/ ur application, then comb thru in sections for 5min to distribute evenly.

On my phone but hth

 

[ChristmasCarol]

Hello ladies,

I got my hair done last weekend and it is soft and smooth. The stylist used kera fusion, I've tried looking it up but I can't find anything about it, and she says she doesn't know how much formaldehyde is in it. I love the way it feels, the color looks darker, almost jet black, it is simply beautiful.

This is one of the many things I love about BKT! My hair looks quite dark now - don't need a rinse. Check out my natural color in good light. The BKT seems to take the red away!

 

[loveisnthehouse]

For those of you that have used QOD Advanced (same day rinse). I read that it makes natural hair very straight the frist time. Is that true for all of you? Is it relaxer straight? Oh.. and what supplier to you buy from on Ebay?

After I do Softliss tomorrow with my relaxer I might try the QOD next.

 

[Vintageglam]

I would definitely up The deep condition from once to 2x a wk using a product w/ceramides & other proteins. Silicone mix,Linange ceramide, I don't know if biolage has sodium but check. Okay Muse hth.

Stella, make sure u flatiron on very am sections 1/2" x 1".
Do not dilute the product, just be light handed w/ ur application, then comb thru in sections for 5min to distribute evenly.

On my phone but hth

Thanks HijabiFlygirl

 

[AtlantaJJ]

Hi ladies,

I always said that if I was having issues with the BKT that I'd report it. Well I just did another QOD Gold treatment (2nd one), this is my 6th or 7th treatment overall. I have started to notice more breakage and the strands are LONGerplexed. It is strange because up until doing this last treatment I had no breakage. I was actually retaining and this is the longest my hair has ever been. I noticed that even before I put the flat iron on a section I'd comb it out and there were strands of long broken hairs. Breakage does not scare me because I think a little breakage is inevitable especially with fine hair but it's the length of the hairs that worries me.

So I was trying to figure out what I did that could have caused it and I think that the heat finally got to me. I always do the naked blow dry AND flat iron on 450 because I felt that I wanted a good strong bond between the keratin and the hair. I didn't watch how many passes either. I know many of you turn the heat down but for those who don't please do. It may come back to bite you in the butt later.

I am not ready to give up on BKT because I believe that when used wisely it can be a great help! I think what I am going to do is invest in that Izunami flat iron because it holds the temp and doesn't go over 400 degrees. Honestly if I don't BKT my hair my only options are natural or relaxed. Relaxing jacks up my hair and scalp and there's nothing I can do to tweak it so that it won't. Being natural, I lost a LOT of hair detangling. But until this past treatment BKT was perfect. So I will try the lower heat the next go around. I'm also going to put some more time between now and my next treatment to see how my hair's doing as far as the breakage. I'd like to chalk this one up to user error before I nix the whole thing. Hope this helps someone.

Muse, I'm so sorry to hear you are having breakage from heat damage. Same thing happened to me so I let my hair rest for a while and I have been doing protein/moisture DCs. I haven't done a BKT in over 2 months, so plan to do one by the end of the month focusing on my roots. I will not go above 400 degrees and I will use minimum passes, only one on my ends. It's the heat, we can't crank it up especially with our fine hair.

I'm not giving up on the BKT by any means. It's the best thing going, I chalk my heat damage to trail and error. I was aware of the risk. I'm excitied that they keep coming out with improved formulas!

I'm transitioning now, so I'll be focusing my BKT on my roots. Biolage CeraRepair pro (the little bottles, you can get on eBay) mixed in a good conditioner is working wonders for me!

 

[hothair]

I think i'm on my 6th or seventh treatment, my hair's doing very well, i'm retaining most of my length.

 

[soulfusion]

hothair how far apart have your treatments been, on average?

 

[Vintageglam]

got it done... the QOD got my very fine 4a/b transitioning hair BONE straight! She concentrated heat on the roots more than my relaxed ends. My hair was also dry at the end from the blowdry and flat iron so we added some keracare leave in at the end.

Btw one thing which occurred to my friend was that it might be easier on afro hair to use a pressing comb before the flat iron step. This would also cut down the number of passes to seal in the BKT and get the hair straight? :scratchch

Anyone tried this before?

 

[loveisnthehouse]

got it done... the QOD got my very fine 4a/b transitioning hair BONE straight! She concentrated heat on the roots more than my relaxed ends. My hair was also dry at the end from the blowdry and flat iron so we added some keracare leave in at the end.

Btw one thing which occurred to my friend was that it might be easier on afro hair to use a pressing comb before the flat iron step. This would also cut down the number of passes to seal in the BKT and get the hair straight? :scratchch

Anyone tried this before?

Am I correct in assuming you had the BKT done that you leave in for a few days and you haven't done the first wash yet?

 

[Amari]

BKT is bad!!!I had it done,and all I want to do is flat iron and wear my hair down now!No protective styling lol!I showed my new growth in my Joico Kpak Flat Iron thread.I used Softliss and it laid it ooout!It looks like a fresh relaxer!The fumes were horrible though,they were very difficult to deal with.

While getting it done the fumes were so bad I was like never again!After it was all done,I fell in love.THIS LOOKS BETTER/HEALTHIER/SHINIER/MORE MOISTURIZED THAN MY FRESHLY RELAXED HAIR EVEEER HAD!I had the swang goin!

Now I'm on a quest to find a BKT that wont suffocate me while applying...I'm doing my next one in a month!

 

[Vintageglam]

Am I correct in assuming you had the BKT done that you leave in for a few days and you haven't done the first wash yet?

Yep that's the one I got done (QOD Gold). I am washing out and having a steam and roller set on Tuesday. Will see how it really turned out then and hope the roller set gets my roots straight.

Hair looks great. I have fine hair tho so it got bone straight. Hope it thickens up in time.

 

[Muse]

For those of you that have used QOD Advanced (same day rinse). I read that it makes natural hair very straight the frist time. Is that true for all of you? Is it relaxer straight? Oh.. and what supplier to you buy from on Ebay?

After I do Softliss tomorrow with my relaxer I might try the QOD next.

I never knew that QOD made an advanced formula. Are you sure you're not thinking of Marcia Teixeira Advanced?

 

[Muse]

Muse, I'm so sorry to hear you are having breakage from heat damage. Same thing happened to me so I let my hair rest for a while and I have been doing protein/moisture DCs. I haven't done a BKT in over 2 months, so plan to do one by the end of the month focusing on my roots. I will not go above 400 degrees and I will use minimum passes, only one on my ends. It's the heat, we can't crank it up especially with our fine hair.

I'm not giving up on the BKT by any means. It's the best thing going, I chalk my heat damage to trail and error. I was aware of the risk. I'm excitied that they keep coming out with improved formulas!

I'm transitioning now, so I'll be focusing my BKT on my roots. Biolage CeraRepair pro (the little bottles, you can get on eBay) mixed in a good conditioner is working wonders for me!

JJ,

The bold is exactly how I feel. I see when some people are having trouble with relaxers they come here to get advice on how to tweak it so that minimal damage is caused: stretching, basing the scalp, etc. That's how I feel about BKT-no need to toss it out completely but I need to tweak it to fit MY hair. I have chosen to stay at 400 degrees as well. In the meantime I will be babying my hair until the next treatment which I plan on doing in 3 months. I trimmed my own hair for the first time ever last night and I must say it was so freeing! I mean yeah BKT can make even the nastiest ends look great but now my ends feel even better! Eventually I'll cut out the damage caused by the heat and going forward there shouldn't be anymore now that I'm being very cautious.

That CeraRepair sounds GOOD! I like the fact that I can add it to my conditioner (I don't wanna let my Matrix Sleek Look go ). I am going to purchase some. Thanks JJ!

ETA-JJ, is this it? http://cgi.ebay.com/Matrix-Biolage-...emQQptZLH_DefaultDomain_0?hash=item45f18aa270

ETA (again)-Ok I see that they have different ones. The Forte Therapie CeraPro looks good.

 

[Dove56]

BKT is bad!!!I had it done,and all I want to do is flat iron and wear my hair down now!No protective styling lol!I showed my new growth in my Joico Kpak Flat Iron thread.I used Softliss and it laid it ooout!It looks like a fresh relaxer!The fumes were horrible though,they were very difficult to deal with.

While getting it done the fumes were so bad I was like never again!After it was all done,I fell in love.THIS LOOKS BETTER/HEALTHIER/SHINIER/MORE MOISTURIZED THAN MY FRESHLY RELAXED HAIR EVEEER HAD!I had the swang goin!

Now I'm on a quest to find a BKT that wont suffocate me while applying...I'm doing my next one in a month!

Amari,

I did Softliss about three times (going back to Softliss) and if you apply it *very* lightly you won't have ANY fumes.

 

[Dove56]

Yep that's the one I got done (QOD Gold). I am washing out and having a steam and roller set on Tuesday. Will see how it really turned out then and hope the roller set gets my roots straight.

Hair looks great. I have fine hair tho so it got bone straight. Hope it thickens up in time.

Stella,

My mom is a 4a/b with VERY fine hair and OK Keratin got her hair BONE STRAIGHT even after the we washed out the treatment. She loves it!

 

[Dove56]

Ladies,

If any of you all are experiencing heat damage, OK Keratin's 1 day formula recommends you use 380-415 degrees to flatiron.

 

[Vintageglam]

Stella,

My mom is a 4a/b with VERY fine hair and OK Keratin got her hair BONE STRAIGHT even after the we washed out the treatment. She loves it!

See this is what got me thinking that maybe with AA hair we can turn the heat down...:scratchch

My reasoning for this is because type 1 - 2 and maybe type 3 hair has more cuticle layers and therefore protection and is thus more resilient to heat and therefore is likely to need more heat to seal in the BKT.

Type 4 Hair however (esp fine type 4 hair) has fewer cuticle layers (hence why it curls up on itself) and therefore I feel that we could probably get away with less heat. My BKT got my hair straight at 200 with 4 -5 passes (UK metrics don't know what that is US???). I also did not do the naked blow-dry and dried under my bonnet dryer instead on low. Next time I think I will just air dry.

So next time I may experiment at 190.... :scratchch

Ladies let me know if you have had exp of turning down the heat and still getting good results. I am sure that as time progresses there will be BKT on the market just for our hair with lower heat settings....

ETA: I think I will also use a pressing comb lightly to get the roots straight first which I hope will also decrease the number of passes needed.

 

[soulfusion]

Stella, I think you're on to something ..

One of our members here with past BSL, BKT'd hair responded to my PM about heat damage concerns. She told me that she rarely goes beyond 350 degrees and only does 1-2 passes. Her hair is GORGEOUS!

 

[Vintageglam]

Stella, I think you're on to something ..

One of our members here with past BSL, BKT'd hair responded to my PM about heat damage concerns. She told me that she rarely goes beyond 350 degrees and only does 1-2 passes. Her hair is GORGEOUS!

Cool I think I will turn it down to 180 (UK metrics) next time and report back. If all goes well and I like this treatment I will do another treatment at the end of April.... I will also incorporate the use of a pressing comb to get to my roots and new growth so that I can cut down to just 2-3 passes...

 

[Amari]

Amari,

I did Softliss about three times (going back to Softliss) and if you apply it *very* lightly you won't have ANY fumes.

Thanks for telling me that.I didn't apply it,my beautician did.She used my whole damn bottle,but I'm not mad.Now I have an excuse to get a different kind.

 

[loveisnthehouse]

Last night I did my texlax and BKT and I am a little dissapointed in the results. My hair didn't turn out straight like it was supposed to. I'm wondering if maybe I need to process the relaxer a little longer (I justed Mizani BB for fine/color treated hair and life it in for 10 minutes), I prolly need to smooth my hair a little bitter as well. Also, I think a culprit could be that I didn't completely following the directions for Softliss. You are supposed to wait 15 minutes after combing the product through the hair for 5 and I forgot all about that step so I skipped it.

I am thinking about doing a corrective in a couple of weeks, making sure the hair is processed a little longer and following all the steps. What do you all think?

 

[Dak]

I know you spent some time on your hair yesterday, sorry to hear it didn't come out as straight as you would have liked.

Give it some time, wait till you wash again, doing the BKT again in a month should be fine.

 

[soulfusion]

Amari, you mean she used an entire 8oz bottle? If so, that's a lot from what I've read. Had she ever done one before? You've got me curious now ...

Thanks for telling me that.I didn't apply it,my beautician did.She used my whole damn bottle,but I'm not mad.Now I have an excuse to get a different kind.