Review: The Permanent Blow Dry - everything you need to know

Image from harpersbazaar.co.uk

I had a look through my Google Analytics report today, and the most new visitors to my site find me through questions about permanent or Brazilian blow dries. Regular readers will know that I am a veteran of this procedure, and it's absolutely revolutionised the way I approach my hair care routine. Since starting to have these treatments five years ago, my hair has grown stronger, longer and healthier, and the process has allowed me to cut down to three blow dries a week and eliminate the use of straigteners altogether. No mean feat for someone with naturally dry hair who's been heat and colour treating it for 13 years.

So, here are my top permanent/Brazilian blow dry tips - what to ask at the salon, what to expect, and how to care for it. I should add that I've never been asked to review a keratin treatment/Brazilian blow dry and my experience here is all self-funded, and I hope this impartiality helps you in making a decision. There's no doubt that this is an expensive treatment, and I want you to get good value for your money!

1. A permanent or Brazilian blow dry involves the application of a keratin solution to hair to relax waves and ease frizz. It won't give a poker straight finish to naturally wavy hair (that's Yuko territory), but it will make your hair much more manageable, and if you do heat straighten it, it allows you to create an incredibly sleek finish. Most importantly, it's not damaging and actually moisturises the hair, making it a win all round. The keratin treatment originated in Brazil, and goes under many names including the Brazilian, permanent and ever-lasting blow dry to name but a few. Despite the names of the latter two, it's neither permanent nor ever lasting (see point five) and unlike other straightening treatments, it causes little to no damage to the hair (I've had some dryness as a result of back-to-back treatments, but it's nothing a few months off won't solve).

2. The process take between 1hr-2hr, depending on how much hair you have. Hair is shampooed, and left to sit with shampoo on for 5-10 mins. It's then rinsed, towel dried, and the keratin solution is painted onto the hair and combed through. Hair is then roughly blow dried and straightened with irons in small sections to ensure that every strand is covered. The heat of the straighteners activates and seals the solution into the hair, making it an essential part of the process.

3. If you have lots of split ends, the treatment won't be absorbed as well in those parts of the hair, so it's best to have the ends cut off before you have your treatment. You'll be spending a lot, so your hair should look great: don't hold on to damaged lengths! The trim doesn't need to happen at the same time, so if your usual salon doesn't offer the treatment, go for a trim and then book in for your blow dry.

4. The process isn't cheap. Many salons offer the treatment from £150, but for shoulder length hair, you're looking at closer to £200, with the cost rising for longer hair - my last treatment was £260 for hair that's around three inches below my shoulders. Ask at your consultation so you don't get a nasty surprise. Websites like wahanda.com occasionally have a good deal, so keep your eyes open. My last blow dry was a Wahanda deal and came in at a lovely £89 (update - it was a crap treatment!). If you're still wincing at the cost, I make an attempt to justify it at point six! Experience, however, tells me that you very much get what you pay for, and I'm now exclusively a Daniel Hersheson girl.

5. With appropriate care, the blow dry lasts for around three months and unlike other hair treatments, it fades, rather than grows out, so you aren't left with annoying frizzy roots: hurrah! I'll come onto what constitutes 'appropriate care' in points 12 and 14.

6. Before you book, think about whether this treatment is right for you. If you step out of the shower and your hair dries into sleek, straight heavenliness, consider me deeply envious and go and spend your £200 on a nice new pair of shoes and a couple of cocktails instead. If you spend 30+ minutes blow drying your hair every other day, straighten your hair most days, are sporting heat-related damage, or if you try and find excuses to stay in during times of humidity or rain, then get yourself booked in. I consider this treatment to be an investment as it saves me several hours a week that used to be spent styling, it's left my hair in better condition, and it's stopped me from running madly to the salon to buy every product that promises miracles and never delivers. It's definitely not for everyone, but if you can afford it and spend a lot of effort on your hair, it's worth a try. Before I started having this treatment, I would spend about £60 a month on my Kerastase supplies, and still spend at least 30 minutes every other day styling. Over three months, that takes us to £180 spent and a whopping 56 hours (yes, over TWO DAYS) styling. Think about your time and financial investments, and it may get easier to see how this treatment is good value - that is, if you're as crazy as me to spend all that time and money.

7. Always, ALWAYS go to the salon for a consultation before having the treatment. Not only will this allow them to assess whether you have the right hair for the treatment (Daniel Hersheson, for example, recommend their treatment for people with hair that's naturally quite difficult to manage, whereas other salons offer it for any hair type), but you can also get a sense as to whether this is a salon you're happy with. If you feel under pressure, or that it's not the right environment, this allows you to take your custom somewhere else. Read reviews of your local salon to find out about others' experience. When I lived in Manchester, I used to travel to London specifically to get my treatment done with Daniel Hersheson, such is the quality of their service.

8. Many salons recommend that you should wait at least a week after colouring your hair before having a permanent or Brazilian blow dry, and even then, the treatment can lift the colour. All round, it's a much better idea to wait until after your treatment if you're planning to colour your hair.

9. Sodium Lauryl Sulphate in your shampoo: is it ok? The recommendation from salons is very much, 'no, it's not.' I have stuck pretty rigidly to the command of 'no sulphates' throughout my five years of having this treatment, although I've occasionally used regular shampoo when I've run out of SLS-free. I can assure you that the odd 'normal' shampoo won't lift the treatment instantly, but it should be kept to a minimum. When I had my first keratin treatment, I wasn't recommended to switch from the Kerastase shampoo I was using at the time, and the treatment very definitely faded more quickly as a result of the SLS in the shampoo. Pureology is a great option (I am a big fan of the Hydrate range) but a cheaper alternative is Liz Earle haircare which is also excellent. See the bottom of the page for links to SLS-free shampoo reviews.

10. Following on from this, when you go to the salon, check what their house range is, and if it's not SLS-free, don't be swayed by the heavy marketing. Remember, when they wash your hair pre-treatment, it doesn't matter so much as the SLS is not coming into contact with the keratin solution. It's just your home routine that counts. I would genuinely be concerned at the expertise of the stylist/salon if they were pushing products that didn't help the longevity of the treatment, so make sure to ask about aftercare at your consultation.

11. The longer the shampoo is left on when your hair is washed at the salon, the better the keratin solution is able to penetrate the hair shaft and therefore, the better the treatment works. Shampooing opens the cuticles on each strand of hair, so a good salon will leave the shampoo for 5-10 minutes. Ask them about this when you go in.

12. In the words of Elle in Legally Blonde, "the rules of haircare are simple and finite" and this applies very much to your blow dry. You will get some instructions at the salon, and you should ignore them at your peril. In the first three days following the treatment, do not tie or pin your hair back, or wear anything that could leave a wave in your hair (headbands etc), try not to touch it, don't wash it or get it wet. If you leave the house without an umbrella, no matter how late it makes you for work, go back and get one. The thought of getting caught in a rain shower with nothing more than a newspaper for protection is a really crappy way to lose £200! I also avoid wearing lip gloss as unexpected gusts of wind have a habit of planting your gorgeous hair right on top of your goopy lips, which happened to me 10 minutes after my first blow dry, and caused me to scream loudly during lunch hour on Conduit Street. And yes, everyone turned around and clearly thought I was mental (but who cares? My hair looked hot!) Sweatiness is out too, so you'll be happy to hear you get a three day holiday from the gym: another reason to get a blow dry!

13. You can now get keratin treatments that can be washed on the same day. In my experience, they're nowhere near as effective as the treatment that needs three days to 'set'.

14. Invest in a shower cap for bathing, and have luke warm baths so there's no chance of the steam messing with your tresses. If, like me, you're used to hour long soaks reading a stack of fashion mags, bathing becomes depressingly functional at this time! If you do get your hair damp, make sure to blast it with a hairdryer asap,

15. If in the first three days you get a kink in your hair, don't panic. Just run over it with a straightening iron until it's flat, leave it to cool and get on with your day. No biggy.

16. After three days, you can wash your hair and if you're like me, you'll be straight in the shower on the strike of 72 hours (albeit with frantic calculations to make sure 72 hours have passed!). Use your SLS-free shampoo, any conditioner and your usual styling products and then properly blow dry your hair. It will look like it does after a trip to the salon. Stand in front of the mirror swishing, run to family, friend and loved ones and ask if they can believe that you've upscaled from tumbleweed barnet to hair that Jennifer Aniston would be jealous of, and then go jump in a waterfall, leap around in a field, and pretend your in your own hair commercial.

17. Enjoy the next three months.

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For more information on SLS-free shampoos I've reviewed, click the links below:

Rahua
Pureology
Liz Earle
Tara Smith
Macadamia Natural Oils