The beauty and hair care industry in India is witnessing a growth with new products and processes making inroads every season. Hair taming is one such method that seems to have made it big in the "evolved" hair care industry as women are loving the "no side effects and no harmful chemicals" procedure.
Arpit Jain, Founder and Managing Director of Auraine Botanicals which has brought GKhair -- a global hair care brand -- to India, told IANS: "Earlier, when women used to use heat appliances like straightening iron, blow dryers onto their strands or undergo hair treatments like rebonding, hair smoothening, they faced many difficulties with the texture of the hair, which resulted in dissatisfaction.
"When hair taming came into the Indian market, people gradually started getting the hold of it. Hair taming gives the desired texture to the hair with its 100 per cent protein treatment known as keratin, which is infused into the cuticles to make hair healthier and shinier."
Even Sanjay Dutta, Founder of Looks Salon, said hair taming has become a new age trend in the market as it rejuvenates strands from the roots while relaxing it.
"As compared to rebonding or hair smoothening, taming involves more natural protein-based process which uses relatively fewer chemicals. Women prefer hair taming rather than going for artificial hair treatments because it helps them in managing hair easily, without any worries of frizz and damage," Dutta told IANS.
The treatment lasts for up to 4 months depending upon quality of the hair.
"It conditions hair while infusing natural keratin deep into the cuticle of the hair shaft. There is no better treatment than this when it comes to silky, smooth and frizz free hair. Hair taming treatment has been successful so far in delivering these results which is why even the biggest brands are getting into this treatment," said Jain.
The future of hair care industry lies in the products and treatments which restore the hair back to natural state with no side effects, no harmful chemicals and no artificial look, Dutta pointed out.
"The changes were less prominent and slow in the beginning as people were in the process of adapting this change. But by the 20th century, keratin treatment became a hype in the market across the globe and that's how eventually all the big brands and salons started including keratin treatment in their products and services," he said.
Many brands are focusing on keratin treatments for smooth hair. So how effective is it for long hair and how can one avoid the complications?
"After getting the treatment done, one has to be very careful while buying hair products and has to look into the chemicals and ingredients added to it.
Try switching to sulphate-free products which keeps the moisture intact. Also, some shampoos will have keratin infused in them. These are great as long as they don't contain sulphate," said Jain.
Also, though there are no hard and fast rules before getting the keratin treatment done, it's still better if you don't have any metallic dyes or henna coating on your hair as that doesn't get you the great results.
"However, post treatments, you need to take care of a few things for two days -- like don't tie your hair back, stay away from heat and sweat and other little things. Avoiding such factors would help you to get the best results," said Jain.
Also, it is vital that after the treatment, you only use sulphate-free shampoos and the shampoos that are specially created for post-keratin treatment.
"Doing so elongates the life of the treatment and gives you frizz free hair for a longer period," said an expert from Geetanjali Salon.
(Nivedita can be contacted at nivedita.s@ians.in)
--IANS
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