Why Does Keratin Make Your Hair Feel So Dry + How to Fix it

You did a keratin treatment.

Initially, your hair felt smooth and shiny.

But now, it’s dry and frizzy.

What gives?

In this post, I’ll discuss why keratin makes your hair feel so dry and also give you tips on how to fix it.

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Why does Keratin make your hair dry?

Our hair is made up of protein, mainly Keratin.

Keratin constitutes the center of each hair strand. It is at the center of your hair cortex.

Over the cortex, you have a layer of dead cells which is called the hair cuticle.

However, with normal wear and tear, our hair cuticles which is the outermost layer of the hair follicle eventually open up and expose the hair cortex.

This is what healthy hair looks like and with time, it slowly gets damaged.

Protein leaks out normally as you go swimming, go out in the sun, style it excessively, etc.

And when your hair loses protein, it can become weaker and more frayed.

So, a Keratin treatment basically is done to strengthen hair.

But why does Keratin make your hair so dry?

1. Your hair has an overload of protein

But when you do a fresh Keratin Treatment, your hair will have an overload of protein.

Remember, your hair needs a balance of protein and moisture to be healthy.

If you have a lot of protein in your hair, it will become brittle and snap way too easily.

The flexibility of your hair reduces.

2. Your hair is more porous

When you do a Keratin treatment for your hair, you are making your hair more porous – this means that you are opening the cuticles of your hair and coating your hair strands with protein.

What does this do?

Your hair cuticles are now open and frayed.

This means that moisture can enter and leave the hair very easily.

Your hair will find it very difficult to retain any moisture after a keratin treatment.

This is why hair feels dry after a Keratin treatment.

3. Your hair loses elasticity

After a keratin treatment, your hair loses elasticity and becomes brittle

When your hair is coated with protein, it is now heavy, thicker, and denser.

This means that your hair is no longer as flexible as before.

It will take time for the protein balance to return to normal, but right after a Keratin treatment, your hair will have a high protein ration.

This means that your hair is very malleable and it is smooth hard and stiff.

If you stretch your hair strand, it will break and won’t bounce back.

How do you rehydrate Keratin-treated hair?

How to rehydrate your after keratin treatment

1. Do not wet your hair

Remember that your hair now has an overload of protein.

Wetting your hair even slightly will cause your hair to swell and leak protein tremendously because your hair is now really sensitive.

It will absorb and leak moisture quickly, leaving your hair severely dehydrated.

So, do not wet hair and that includes:

Wetting your hair in the shower
Getting into the pool
Doing anything that will cause you to sweat on your scalp
Going into a sauna

You have to keep your hair super dry for the next 5+ days.

Please use a shower cap even when you’re washing your face to avoid any moisture or water touching your hair.

Please ask your hair stylist for the time duration because different Keratin treatments have different requirements.

2. Use a sulfate-free shampoo and conditioner

After a Keratin treatment, avoid using sulfate shampoos or any shampoo with sodium lauryl sulfate.

These shampoos will strip your hair of the keratin treatment and it will render the treatment useless.

Instead, use a Keratin-infused shampoo and conditioner that contain no sulfates like the GK Hair shampoo and conditioner set.

This particular set of shampoo and conditioner is the most used by people who undergo Keratin treatment.

It doesn’t dry your hair or cause any frizz. It cleans your hair without drying it out and is perfect for anyone who has just colored their hair or gotten a Keratin treatment and needs the moisture.

Another shampoo and conditioner set you can consider is the Luseta Shampoo and Conditioner combination for Keratin-treated hair.

Just like the previous combination, it won’t dry out your hair and will leave your hair smooth, soft, and shiny.

3. Get a shower filter

Sulfates and hard water will strip your hair of the Keratin treatment.

Most people have hard water and it will make a huge impact on your hair if you’ve just gotten a Keratin treatment done.

The chlorine in hard water and swimming pools will wash off the Keratin quickly.

So, if you want your hair to retain the benefits of your Keratin treatment for longer, fix a filter on your showerhead like this.

This particular shower head filter filters all the chemicals in your water like pesticides, chlorine, dirt, etc and it will really help you bathe in clean water.

This is the one change you can implement that will drastically improve the quality of your hair and skin.

4. Do not style your hair

Your hair is extremely malleable at this point.

Even if you use a hair clip or tie your hair up, you are going to get indentation marks in your hair that will not go away easily.

For this reason alone, please avoid bending your hair or clipping it.

If you need to put your hair up, tie it up with a loose bun using a satin scrunchy like this.

This will avoid causing any marks on your hair.

5. Sleep on satin pillowcases

Likewise, use a satin pillowcase when sleeping to avoid friction and keep your hair smooth and friction-free.

Satin fibers are very smooth and soft, unlike cotton.

This allows your hair to move smoothly across the fibers when you sleep and avoids pulling and tangling.

So using a satin pillowcase like this will minimize breakage and damage after a keratin treatment.

I also recommend satin pillowcases for anyone with textured hair – wavy, curly, or kinky hair because it minimizes hair loss and hair breakage tremendously.