What is the best type of hair straightening?

Having smooth and soft hair is something that many people strongly desire. Fashions come and go, but these days, straightening reigns as a fashion again look attractive and impressive, especially for special occasions.

But the path to get there is not the same for everyone. It depends, for example, on where you live: if it is in a coastal area, where humidity predominates, it will be more difficult for your hair to maintain a straight board; On the other hand, in more mountainous or drier areas, it will be easier to obtain and achieve smoothing.

For each case there is an ideal treatment. How do I know if traditional straightening, photonic straightening or hair botox will work best for my hair? We will return to this below.

But before describing the best procedures that exist to achieve straight hair, it is important to know if your hair can handle them. Believe it or not, there are certain requirements that must be met before undergoing a straightening treatment. In responsible and professional beauty salons, at least, they will always give you a small assessment of the conditions in which your hair arrives.

“The diagnosis is very important,” he says. Catalina Madrid stylist at My website . “Sometimes we think that straightening our hair will immediately improve, but if it is extremely damaged, discolored or very sensitized, straightening will not be of much use; On the contrary, it can make things worse,” he says.

When the hair shows general and obvious damage, Madrid suggests doing massages and preparing it “so that in a few months the straightening can be carried out.” But people are very anxious and very often they don’t understand.”

If you iron your hair daily, or even more than once a day, you might be a good candidate for straightening. “With the iron your hair begins to be damaged mechanically, to become ugly. This is where I say: it’s better to go straight,” says Madrid. Once the treatment is finished, you will stop using the iron all the time and give your hair a rest. “Your hair will will improve, because they will not be subjected to this intense heat on a daily basis and will be able to regain their natural strength and shine,” he emphasizes.

• Girls and boys under 14 : in these cases it is better not to do it, because, according to Madrid, straightening produces a change in pH, “and at this age, girls and boys are still developing the ideal pH of their hair. To avoid intervening in this process, it is better to wait after 14″.
• If you are pregnant: “What we do is send the ingredients of the treatment products to the customer, so that she can consult and see if they may pose a risk to her health. In any case, in general, we do not recommend it for pregnant women,” he warns.
• If you are undergoing treatment for alopecia : “Straightening is very invasive, it modifies the pH, and can harm or be counterproductive to the effect of anti-alopecia treatments, which act on the scalp,” warns the stylist.

They are not the same, but they have a similar effect. “What they both do is reduce frizz,” says Madrid, so it’s a good alternative for those who constantly struggle with this problem or for those who have curls but are looking for more defined curls.

“Botox will fill in the damp areas and thus frizz will remain under control,” explains the Mon Site stylist. The main goal of hair botox is not to straighten, but to improve the appearance of the hair.

Straightening, for its part, aims to modify the structure of the hair so that, in addition to being straight, it remains so for weeks, even months.

“It’s very ’90s,” Madrid says. Today it is more difficult to find in hair salons and hair salons as it has become obsolete as the compounds used are very strong.

It was very fashionable when everyone wanted to have straight hair, at the time of Friends or the Spice Girls. “Japanese straightening changed the structure of your hair, to the point where you had everything prepared while your curls were growing. But this intense effect is no longer sought after today,” he emphasizes.

“In addition, it is a very toxic straightening, which is not good for the health of the client or for the professional who carries out the straightening; This can cause long-term illness,” he says.

“It’s much more intense and the result also seems more artificial,” explains the stylist. Juan Jo Sandoval , founder of Descarado Pelo. “I don’t really like it.” Generally, it is left on the head for 72 hours and requires several ironing cycles.

This type of straightening can, however, be an alternative for people with very frizzy hair who want a radical change in their appearance. This usually lasts between 3 and 5 months.

This treatment is a favorite of both interviewees. “We do a lot because it gives good results,” believes Madrid. “This is the one I like the most, especially because it doesn’t contain formaldehyde,” adds Sandoval. As Brazil is a very humid country, added to the fact that African-American genes tend towards curly hair, they have developed interesting innovations there to keep hair straight without harming hair health too much.

“Brazilian straightening, generally speaking, consists of three steps: first using a special shampoo, then applying the treatment with the product – which is essentially keratin – and finally ironing to seal and fix it in the hair », Describes Madrid.

“I still prefer Brazilian straightening: despite the presence of chemicals, its ingredients are more natural and the appearance of the result is too,” explains Sandoval. Madrid warns that some may contain formaldehyde in small doses, others contain acids, and some may be more organic. The price of the product will often depend on this.

“It is a straightening that does not contain formaldehyde, which is why more and more people are doing it,” explains Madrid. Sandoval explains that the effect it produces is similar to botox: it fills out your hair.

“But instead of doing it with a substance, photonic smoothing does it with heat,” he explains. “It connects links so to speak, filling in damaged spaces, which in principle makes hair look healthier,” he says, but with less intense straightening. This treatment is ideal for those who suffer from frizz or very unruly hair. “I feel like it works more on damaged hair, as a restructuring agent, than on curly or wavy hair,” warns Sandoval.

Products containing formalin could fall into this category, a chemical compound that is very effective for straightening, but at the same time can damage the hair cuticle and weaken its structure. If used long term, it can make hair brittle, dry and prone to breakage.

In these cases, a good sign is to look at the price. “If you go to a place and chemical straightening costs 30,000 pesos, then they are not using the best products, the ones that surely contain formaldehyde,” Sandoval warns.

Other red flag What raises the issue is when you are told that the product must be applied for 72 hours: this most likely means that the straightening product contains formaldehyde. “If you come home with your hair ready, washed and without product, it means the product is more natural,” he explains.

In his early days, Sandoval did formaldehyde straightening until he had an episode that left his mark: “The chemical was so strong that the capillaries in my nose were bursting and the bleeding wouldn’t stop.” Since that day, I have never done chemical straightening again; only Brazilian cocoa.

“The first thing is to have a sulfate-free shampoo, which I hope to buy at the salon and not at the supermarket,” says Madrid. “Sometimes on the label they say they don’t contain sulfates, but if you start reading the ingredients, sodium or sodium chloride comes up; that is to say, they have salt”, points.Your Second tip: don’t wash it every day, because “the more you wash it, the quicker the product will come off.” The ideal is to wash it twice a week,” he suggests.

The last recommendation is to always dry it well. “If you don’t dry it well, you won’t get the salon result. There are people who sometimes say, “Oh, that didn’t go well!” And that’s because they skip drying,” Madrid explains. Drying and brushing should be done downwards, in order to maintain the smooth effect.

“Smoothing is activated with heat,” adds Sandoval. His recommendation is to always use the mouthpiece, so that the air is directed downward. “This way the hair cuticle will also be in that direction and it will look perfect.”

“There are many counterfeits on the market,” says Sandoval, so you have to be very careful. “The original Brasil Cacau costs around 220,000 pesos per kit, while the counterfeit costs no more than 30,000 pesos,” he says. What seems like a big savings can turn into a real headache when you apply unknown and harmful chemicals to your hair.

In Sandoval’s experience, for very curly clients, she applies Brasil Cacau, while for wavy clients, her option is Coffee Premium, which is less strong.

“The question we should ask ourselves is how we want our hair to look,” says Madrid. “If you want things to be very clear, you can do something more intense; If you want things to be gentle but less controlled, botox is advisable.

If your destination includes beaches or swimming pools, straightening up before leaving may not be the best option. “The treatment will probably last less than a month. You’ll think the product is bad, but that’s not all: you just washed too often, got into the water several times – with chlorine or salt – and then all the product will disappear.” , explains Madrid.

“Not every client who wants straight hair needs to straighten it,” says Sandoval. Often, frizz can be solved with just a good shampoo and oil. “It’s better not to make money and not lose a client and damage her hair; The most important thing is that they are happy. If it’s not necessary, it’s better to do nothing,” he says.