Can I wash my hair 24 hours after keratin treatment? What about 48 hours after?

 

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 Did you get a keratin treatment and you want to know when you’ll be able to wash your hair?  

 

These days, there are a lot of different kinds of keratin treatments out there.

You can find professional keratin treatments in salons and keratin treatments that are sold to be done at home. And even though there are a lot of differences between these two kinds of treatments, they all have one thing in common: all keratin treatments are applied with heat.

 

In the salon,  the stylist apples the keratin, then a sealant with two heated styling tools: a hair dryer and a hair straightener. 

And both tools are used at very high temperatures because they’re professional tools.

 

And it’s very likely that when they finish applying the keratin treatment, the stylist will inform you that you can wash your hair after 24 hours.

But it’s also likely that they suggest waiting 48 hours to wash your hair in order to make the treatment last longer.

 

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 If you used a keratin treatment at home, you should follow the instructions that come with the treatments to a tee. 

And by that I mean that you should follow the instructions both for during the treatment and for the aftercare, too.

 

And here you’re going to notice a few differences. For example, Brazilian Blowout, a treatment that lasts less time than a keratin treatment, recommends not washing your hair for at least 48 hours after applying it.

So, as a general rule, we can say this:

It’s best to wait at least 24 hours to wash your hair after a keratin treatment

And that amount of time would be right if you get a professional keratin treatment.

 If you did an at-home keratin treatment, it’s best to wash your hair 72 hours after the treatment, or the amount of time your specific brand recommends. 

The amount of time you should wait after using the treatment has to do with how the keratin acts on your hair.

I don’t know if you knew that keratin is the main protein in your hair; it’s the one that gives it structure, texture and health.

With dye, bleaching and abuse of heated styling tools, your hair cuticles start to break because they lose their natural keratin.

 

When your hair loses keratin, some symptoms of damage start to appear:

 

That’s why keratin treatment is really effective when used on frizzy, dry and dehydrated hair.

Because keratin repairs and seals your cuticles so your hair can retain hydration, protein, vitamins, minerals and amino-acids.

That why the frizz disappears after the keratin treatment and your hair will get its shine and softness back.

 

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What happens if you wash a keratin treatment too soon?

Now that you know how keratin treatments work, you’ll understand better  why you need to wait at least 24 hours to wash your hair. 

 

Because even though your hair absorbs the largest amount of keratin during the application processes, in the hours following the treatments, the keratin finishes sticking in your hair.

That’s why,  if you got a keratin treatment in a salon, the stylist recommended to wait a minimum of 24 hours to wash your hair . Those first 24 hours are key for making the treatment last longer.

 

Why are so many people unsure about if they can wash their hair 24 hours after getting a keratin treatment?

Well, it all has to do with how these kinds of hair treatments have evolved.

When the first professional keratin treatments came about, stylists recommended waiting 72 hours to wash your hair.

 

Later, it wasn’t necessary to wait those 72 hours to wash your hair because 48 hours after the treatment was enough time to go ahead and wash.

These days, newer professional keratin make it so you can wash your hair 24 hours after the treatment.

 

But, that evolution hasn’t gotten to the at-home keratin treatments yet.  If you did the treatment at home, you should wait 48-72 hours to wash your hair. 

You probably didn’t use professional styling tools that get up to high enough temperatures to seal the keratin in quicker.

 

Because of that, if you did an at-home keratin treatment and you wash your hair before 24 hours have gone by, you’ll get rid of the keratin and your hair will get frizzy again.

Do you want some professional advice?

 

 If you did an at-home keratin treatment, as a professional hair stylist, I’d recommend waiting 48-72 hours to wash your hair. 

Because that way your hair cuticles will have completely absorbed the keratin.

 

Conclusion

If you did a keratin treatment in a salon, you can wash your hair 24-48 hours after getting it.

But, if you did an at-home keratin treatment, it’s best to follow the instructions included with the treatment. In general, it’s recommended to wait a minimum of 48 hours to wash your hair.