Weekend Rehab: At-Home Keratin Treatment

GoodForLadies - My hair is naturally pretty curly, and even though I don't always wear it that way, I've been afraid of the full-on commitment of having it chemically straightened. I was curious about all the different keratin treatments that hit the market over the last few years...but then the scary truth that many of them contain formaldehyde was revealed (check out our April issue for more info on the toxic treatments). Plus, the in-salon versions are expensive! (We're talking hundred and hundreds of dollars.) And you can't wash your hair for three days, which is just too gross for me considering you're not supposed to hide the greasy mess in a ponytail or fix it with dry shampoo.

So when I heard about Keratin Earth, an all-natural, 80-dollar, at-home keratin kit, I had to give it a try. It was simple and very quick: I washed my hair with their shampoo, combed in the treatment, let it sit for 10 minutes, washed it out, applied some of their leave-in conditioner and then blow-dried and flat-ironed as usual. Because my hair is fine, I only left the treatment on for 10 minutes (instead of the recommended 20 for very course/curly tresses), and I didn't go nuts with the straightening. I couldn't give up my curls completely—I just wanted to smooth/de-frizz them. And that's exactly what I got: It was another drizzly morning here in NYC, and my hair totally held up. It's wavy and still has plenty of volume, but the crazy, wispy curls around my face (they drive me crazy) have been tamed! You can use Keratin Earth every 30 days, and I'm definitely putting it on my regular weekend rehab schedule.