Review: OK Original Keratin

Around 2009 keratin treatments started to become really popular. Back then I was very against the idea of them! I thought they were just another permanent hair relaxer laced with formaldehyde. During this time I was also struggling to manage my natural kinks and curls. This led me to do my own research about the ingredients in these popular treatments.After some careful consideration and a quite a bit of frustration I decided to take the plunge.

I chose OK Keratin treatment for 2 reasons:
1) It was the cheapest I could find(~$23.00 USD for 4 oz)
2) It had less formaldehyde than the usual 2% at the time

Here are the ingredients: water, propylene glycol, cetearyl alcohol, keratin, cetrimonium chloride, cyclopentasiloxane, dimethicone, formaldehyde 1.75, hydrolyzed silk, amodimethicone, vitamin e, imidazolidinyl urea, fragrance

I took the proper precautions which includes wearing gloves and doing it in a well ventilated area. The product itself had a chemical-y chocolate scent that produced fumes once I started blow drying and flat ironing.(I will never put myself in this situation again BTW) It was a thick creamy solution that had a tendency to separate over time. The initial results were phenomenal however and quite worth it. My hair was very straight. Straighter than I had ever gotten it before! I ended up putting some curls in it for a little bit of style even though the instructions said I had to keep my hair perfectly straight for the curing period.

I kept my hair straight for about a week and then washed out the treatment. It wasn’t curling back up as soon as the the water hit it like usual. This alarmed me! After some time though, the hair curled back up, especially once I lathered it up with a sulfate free shampoo. Once I was done my curls were silky feeling and noticeably loosened. I LOVED IT! It was much easier to style my hair and products seemed to respond better than they did previously. My hair eventually reverted 100% after roughly 3 months. I continued to use this product off and on when my hair became too much for me to deal with. They eventually stopped selling it in sample size so I ended up keeping my last bottle for quite some time “just in case.”

Early 2011 I decided to whip out my remaining keratin just to see if it still worked. It did! My hair was oh so shiny and straight. I didn’t like how my hair looked bone straight so I wore buns with the keratin still in my hair. Again, this did not affect my final results. Once I washed it out I had the same effect: shiny,silky and loosened curls. This time around there was little to no fumes yet the product was still pretty effective.

Overall I was very satisfied with this treatment. It delivered the results and gave my fine strands a nice amount of weight as well. Even though I do not plan on using a formaldehyde containing/releasing formula again, I have to say that OK Keratin treatment wasn’t just OK it was GREAT!