Beating Summer Frizz With A Keratin Treatment In Riviera Del Sol

August on the coast is beautiful, but let us be honest about what it does to our hair. The humidity, the sea air, the pool, the endless sun. You wash, you dry, you style, and within twenty minutes it has puffed up and gone its own way again.

This is the time of year my chair is full of clients from Riviera del Sol, Calahonda and along the Mijas Costa asking the same thing. Is there anything that actually stops the frizz? Yes there is. A professional keratin treatment.

What a keratin treatment actually does Your hair is made of keratin. Heat, sun, salt water, chlorine and colour all strip it away, and once it is gone the cuticle lifts. A lifted cuticle is exactly what frizz is. Humid air gets in, the strand swells, and you get that halo of fluff.

A keratin treatment puts that protein back and then seals it in with heat. The cuticle lies flat again. The hair reflects light instead of scattering it, which is why the shine afterwards is so noticeable, and it stops soaking up moisture from the air.

It is not a chemical straightener. It does not break the bonds in your hair. If you have curls, you will still have curls after a keratin treatment, they will just be smoother, softer and far more predictable.

Who it suits best Clients who benefit most from a keratin treatment are the ones who tell me one of these things.

• I spend twenty five minutes with a hairdryer and a brush every single morning
• My hair looks fine until I walk outside
• My colour has left the ends dry and rough
• I have thick hair and the heat here makes it unmanageable
• I swim most days and my hair has gone straw like

If any of those sound like you, this is your treatment.

What happens on the day Set aside around two to three hours depending on the length and thickness of your hair.

I start with a deep clarifying wash to strip out product build up, sun cream, salt and chlorine so the treatment has clean hair to bond to. Then the keratin is applied section by section, left to develop, and sealed in with a blow dry and flat iron at a controlled temperature. That heat is what locks the protein into the strand.

You walk out with it done. No waiting period, no coming back the next day.

How long it lasts For most clients a keratin treatment holds for three to five months. Here on the Costa del Sol, with the sun and the swimming, I usually see clients around the four month mark.

To get the most out of it:

• Use a sulphate free shampoo, always. Sulphates strip the treatment out faster than anything else
• Rinse your hair with fresh water before you get in the sea or the pool, so it absorbs clean water instead of salt and chlorine
• Let it air dry when you can. You will find it dries smooth on its own, which is rather the point
• Come back for a gloss or a bond treatment halfway through to top up the condition

Keratin and colour together Plenty of my blonde clients ask whether they can have keratin and keep their colour. You absolutely can. I do the colour first, then the keratin, and the keratin actually helps to hold the tone in for longer by sealing the cuticle. If you are booking both, tell me when you book so I can leave enough time in the diary.

Come and have a chat about it If you are in Riviera del Sol, La Cala, Mijas Costa or anywhere along this stretch of coast and you are fed up of losing your mornings to a hairbrush, come and see me. I will look at your hair, feel the condition of it, and tell you honestly whether a keratin treatment is the right thing or whether a good bond treatment would serve you better.

No pressure, no upselling. Just an honest answer and, if we go ahead, hair that behaves itself for the rest of the summer.