The Keratin Guide Nobody Gave You
Keratin – it’s a natural protein. Your hair is mostly made up of keratin. So when keratin hair treatments came along using something that was already part of you – the idea made a lot of sense.
But here’s what doesn’t make sense: The term “keratin treatment” is an umbrella term covering a confusing spectrum — from wash-in/wash-out coating treatments to those that achieve deep cellular bonding. Then there’s a cacophony of terms and labels – some intentionally meant to deceive you, others (like Hair Botox) that just add to the confusion. What’s needed is a map of the territory,
This 4-post series will be the guide nobody in the industry has been eager to write. We’ll go over:
- What separates a gentle keratin gloss from the industry “superstar,” the Brazilian Blowout.
- The lowdown on misleading labels designed to hide a potentially dangerous ingredient.
- The marketing terms that tell you nothing.
- Safer treatments that genuinely work – provided they’re matched to your hair type (Post 3).
But first, you need to understand the ingredient the industry would rather not talk about.
An Honest Look At Formaldehyde
On the one hand, it’s the industry’s “dirty secret” – a known carcinogen after long-term exposure – yet it remains the standard against which alternatives are measured. And, despite whatever scandals surround it, it still might be right for you.
Formaldehyde (or some form of it) can do what no substitute has been able to match, at least not completely. Formaldehyde creates “molecular bridges” between the proteins that make up your hair and those in the treatment formula – thus locking in resilience and smoothness that survives humidity, washing, and time.
It works so well for the same reason it is used as embalming fluid — formaldehyde locks up protein structures and keeps them in place. Great for repairing hair. Not so great when you’re breathing it. And hard to replace, which is why the industry has been struggling to find a substitute ever since the FDA started paying attention.
The Brazilian Blowout Scandal
The formula came from Brazil and was hailed a “hair miracle” – finally a treatment that worked! For millions who’d been struggling with un-repentant hair, it seemed to be a bonafide quality-of-life upgrade.
Then starting around 2010, complaints from professional stylists came flooding in: nosebleeds, eye irritation, breathing problems (also cancer statistics, but those came later). Some brands actually reformulated. Others found a more elegant solution: don’t change the product, change the label. Out went “formaldehyde.” In came “methylene glycol” — which is formaldehyde in another form, not quite formaldehyde while in the bottle, but becomes formaldehyde when flat-ironed. The new labels claimed “Formaldehyde-Free.”
By 2011, regulators weren’t buying it. The FDA issued a formal warning letter to Brazilian Blowout, the leading brand. NIOSH (the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health) – the agency that sets workplace chemical exposure limits — tested the product independently and found it was nearly 12% formaldehyde. At those concentrations, the product belonged under a laboratory fume hood with workers wearing protective gear, not in a hair salon.
California’s Attorney General sued GIB LLC, the manufacturer, under the state’s Safe Cosmetics Act, settling for $600,000 in fines and a requirement to stop the “formaldehyde-free” advertising. A separate class action — filed on behalf of both stylists and clients who had been exposed — settled for $4.5 million. GIB LLC’s CEO told the New York Times the settlement would be covered by his insurance, so they’d get to “sell the product forever without reformulation.”
NOTE: Five other “Formaldehyde-Free” brands were tested – and all five exceeded recommended limits, some as much as 5x over.
What This Means For You When You’re Sitting In The Chair
For clients, the risk is real but proportionate — one treatment with proper precautions (see Post 2) in a properly-ventilated salon is one thing. The complaints we mentioned were from regularly-exposed stylists, and we don’t know what precautions they took, if any, and we don’t know their salon environments (see Post 2).
To be clear, wanting great hair isn’t vanity. How you look effects your mood, your confidence, stress levels – and stress isn’t good for you either.
The goal here is for you to decide what’s right on your own terms – which starts with knowing your product. But wait: what product are we even talking about?
Your Keratin Treatment Says “Formaldehyde-Free.” It Might Be Lying
Walk into any professional beauty supplier today and you’ll find keratin treatments labeled “Free,” “Zero,” “Zero+,” “Natural,” “Botanical”… then there’s “Hair Botox” (using various spellings) — a marketing gimmick with no owner, no accountability, zero medical bonafides.
Keratin labels run the gamut from genuinely clean to gobbledygook to actively misleading. Some brands are honest about containing formaldehyde, others contain it but call it something else, and still others use altogether different chemistry — milder, less permanent, but for some hair types they do the trick.
How are we to know what’s what? Turns out the most reliable answer isn’t always the label. Hair-maven Peter Abramov, of Ladies’N’Gents of Manhasset, can always tell when a keratin label is lying.
His method doesn’t require a chemistry degree. It can’t be faked by a marketing department. And it’s what he does before any product gets near a client’s hair.