Japanese hair straightening system

[Toadstool]

http://rubyroom.aol.co.uk/2008/10/31/the-joy-of-yuko/

Has anyone heard of this? Anyone tempted?What on earth would happen as it grows out?! Maybe just doing the roots is a little cheaper...:rolleyes:
She says it lasts for 4-6months, but that would mean 2-3 inches of wavy/curly regrowth...

[Copasetic]

I first heard about this on Oprah a few years ago. Apparently it can only be done on very healthy hair, and cannot be done on "African American" hair. When I saw it done on Oprah, it was done on two women who already had straight-ish hair, kind of like the lady in that link. I wonder how well it would work on super-curly hair.

[Roseate]

^^ True, it's a process designed for 'asian' hair (coarse, sometimes wavy or wurly but rarely curlier than 3a), and has disastrous results on more fragile hairtypes. Even Asian hair can be fried by doing it repeatedly or if it's done by an unskilled stylist. Anything that breaks the bonds of your hair and puts them back in another order is not a long-hair-friendly process.

I could probably get away with it since I have that kind of sturdy, coarse, nonporous hair, but I don't really want to. I'm getting along with my own hair just fine these days.

[Toadstool]

#

I could probably get away with it since I have that kind of sturdy, coarse, nonporous hair, but I don't really want to. I'm getting along with my own hair just fine these days.

Me too!:)
but I thought it was interesting.

[Heidi_234]

I was tempted, very badly. I even found a hair stylist that was getting a license to do this thing and had him consider me for the model to the practice on, so I'll basically get it all for free. Good god I'm GLAD my hair was colored and he didn't take me in the end, I can imagine what a disaster it would have been. *phew*

[Nes]

Just thought I would wade in here with my experience..

My sister had the yuko treatment several times. She is naturally about a 3a/c/iii. It is a similar effect to having hair permanantly straightened with flat irons.

It made her hair very very very straight, like blades of grass. She was very happy with it, but the regrowth was a bit of a problem, when she got her curly roots coming through, she simply had the treatment again.

It did cause damage though, particularly along her parting (you know that look people who flat iron a lot have where they have straight broken hairs sticking up all along their parting?)

The other thing is, her hair is incedibly, amazingly thick and it did make it look a little... lifeless I suppose so someone with thinner hair might suffer from this even more.

It is good if you only ever want very straight flat hair (and have lots of money!), but it does seem to suck out any body or movement from the hair, and cause some damage.

Nes x

[ericthegreat]

I'm an apprenticing hairstylist, and I will go into detail about Japanese straightening.

Basically, it is a process that permanently straightens out your hair. After the treatment is done, all the hair that has been processed will be straight........there is no going back to your natural curls or waves. It involves hours of sitting with a special straightening cream that relaxes your hair and then having a flat iron set to 400 degrees run over every section of your hair for anywhere from 6 to 9 times. You after the final blowout and flat ironing is completed(this process takes anywhere from 4 to 6 hours and of course takes an even longer time and is more expensive for extra long hair) you CANNOT wash your hair for at least 3 full days or you will risk destroying the re-structurizing bonds and SERIOUSLY damage your hair, perhaps even causing it to break off. Oh, and within these 3 days you also can't put your hair up in any kind of updo or ponytail or you will permanently cause dents into your hair.

Japanese straightening IMO is very damaging and even on the strongest of Asian virgin hair it will damage it somewhat. I would instead recommend the Brazilian Keratin Treatment as a much healthier alternative for your hair Toadstool, this treatment actually re-enforces keratin into your hair so not only is your hair str8, it also doubles as a super protein conditioning treatment.

[ktani]

I'm an apprenticing hairstylist, and I will go into detail about Japanese straightening.

Basically, it is a process that permanently straightens out your hair. After the treatment is done, all the hair that has been processed will be straight........there is no going back to your natural curls or waves. It involves hours of sitting with a special straightening cream that relaxes your hair and then having a flat iron set to 400 degrees run over every section of your hair for anywhere from 6 to 9 times. You after the final blowout and flat ironing is completed(this process takes anywhere from 4 to 6 hours and of course takes an even longer time and is more expensive for extra long hair) you CANNOT wash your hair for at least 3 full days or you will risk destroying the re-structurizing bonds and SERIOUSLY damage your hair, perhaps even causing it to break off. Oh, and within these 3 days you also can't put your hair up in any kind of updo or ponytail or you will permanently cause dents into your hair.

Japanese straightening IMO is very damaging and even on the strongest of Asian virgin hair it will damage it somewhat. I would instead recommend the Brazilian Keratin Treatment as a much healthier alternative for your hair Toadstool, this treatment actually re-enforces keratin into your hair so not only is your hair str8, it also doubles as a super protein conditioning treatment.

Great description of what is done eric.

The Brazilian Keratin Treatment has been the topic of at least 2 threads.

What is your input on the information here (http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/showpost.php?p=344610&postcount=13)? The biggest concern is the formaldehyde. As a stylist, you would be exposed to that constantly, if you worked with a system that contained it. What is the latest news regarding that you have heard?

[Xandergrammy]

Someone at work actually suggested this to me, which I took as an insult because I want my hair to be curlier! It sounds like a disgusting process to me and it must be very smelly. I thought it was funny that in the article she talks about the solution which makes her hair stretchy (yuck) and then they use flat irons wrapped in linen to avoid damaging the hair. Maybe it's just me, but this doesn't make sense to me. :confused:

[Flynn]

Ideal for Asian hair.

Not all that much good for most other hairtypes. I know a Persian girl whose hair got dissolved by this method.

Then again, I also know a caucasian girl with coarse very curly kinky hair (really seriously 3c/4a... the sort of curls you often see on people with a mixed African-Caucasian background, though she's not... Her ponytails turned out as those gorgeous dense "pouffes", that's the sort of hair she had ^__^) and it worked perfectly for her. The curly regrowth didn't look odd; it just added volume. She got tiny curlies around her hairline, but I thought that looked okay. She's very good to her hair, though. She was so worried about damaging it afterward -- not just about ruining the straightening, but about damaging her hair -- that she didn't wash it for eight days, and she only fingercombed (no comb, no brush) for the first five.

[ericthegreat]

Ktani, yes, formaldehyde is indeed a legitimate concern about certain brands of companies that market the Brazilian Keratin Treatment. Basically, if you have a serious concern about the formaldehyde you should at least asks the salon you are going to if the the brand of Keratin treatment they are using has a significant quantity of formaldehyde in it. Even wholesalers of hair supply companies MUST list their full ingredients onto the back of their bottles, so if you are seriously worried about this you could at least very politely ask to read the ingredient list yourself.

[toodramatik]

I used to work at Burger King and a male customer with chin length hair came through drive thru once after doing the procedure.

Him- Don't laugh at me.
Me- What?! (sif i looked at his hair -.-)
Him- I got my hair chemically straightened today. I look stupid, I know.

He did. He had really fine, dark blonde hair, and it was so straight that it was like some invisible thread connected to the floor was forcing it straight down. He said his head was stinging, too.

I felt so sorry for the guy.

[inertia]

I had it done to a small section of my hair about a year ago. I'm basically 1C but the hair on my nape is frizzy and doesn't match the rest. So I got that one little area done and have been very happy with the results.

It took a few hours, even though it was only a small section of hair, because of all the different solutions which had to be applied and rinsed out. My hair had been previously bleached and we wondered if it would fall out (my hairdresser was only willing to do it because it was a small section), but it wasn't that bad. For the next couple of months I had to do a lot of S+D on that section to clean up splits. Once those ends were gone, it's been fine. The hair is still straight. I haven't bothered to touch-up the roots yet. It's the nape area so it needs to grow more than 6 inches before anyone will be able to see whether it's frizzy or not.

[Toadstool]

. I would instead recommend the Brazilian Keratin Treatment as a much healthier alternative for your hair Toadstool, this treatment actually re-enforces keratin into your hair so not only is your hair str8, it also doubles as a super protein conditioning treatment.

Thank you. I should have made it clear I don't want to straighten my hair, I was just amazed when I read about this process.:)

[Gothic Lolita]

I only ever heard that your hair looks abnormally straigth after the process, as if weights hang on the ends. I wouldn't consider doing it, especially not if they run an iron with 400 degress over your hair. Yuck!

This Brazilian keratin treatment intrigued me.... My hair is straight, so no sense in changing that, but I never had success with a homemade protein treatment. I wonder if they do it in Germany (preferably without formaldehyde)

Edit: Um, just read as bit more about this treatment and even without the formaldeyde it sounds not very nice to me.... I guess I'm stuck with strange protein treatment aka homemade.

[redcelticcurls]

Ktani, yes, formaldehyde is indeed a legitimate concern about certain brands of companies that market the Brazilian Keratin Treatment. Basically, if you have a serious concern about the formaldehyde you should at least asks the salon you are going to if the the brand of Keratin treatment they are using has a significant quantity of formaldehyde in it. Even wholesalers of hair supply companies MUST list their full ingredients onto the back of their bottles, so if you are seriously worried about this you could at least very politely ask to read the ingredient list yourself.

While I agree that a BKT or similar is far better than TR, I wonder why anyone would actually believe that keratin straightens hair. What a load of tosh. It will have some aldehyde or another, whether it be formaldehyde or biformyl or whatever that does the job. It's all well and good if people choose to use chem straightening, but keratin will not straighten hair. Shoot, I use it to perk up the curls and make them curlier.

Most internet sites still refrain from a full ingredients listing for their "keratin" treatments.

[Flynn]

While I agree that a BKT or similar is far better than TR, I wonder why anyone would actually believe that keratin straightens hair. What a load of tosh. It will have some aldehyde or another, whether it be formaldehyde or biformyl or whatever that does the job. It's all well and good if people choose to use chem straightening, but keratin will not straighten hair. Shoot, I use it to perk up the curls and make them curlier.

Most internet sites still refrain from a full ingredients listing for their "keratin" treatments.

This is true. To permanently change the texture of hair (straighten, curl... either way) you have to break and reform crosslinking bonds (disulfide bridges) in the keratin. The keratin in the treatment may reduce the damage, or perhaps disguise it, or do nothing. It takes something like an aldehyde (or salt of an aldehyde), a strong base (alkali), or some other good reducing agent to do this.

ETA Five minutes of research convinces me entirely that it's the formaldehyde, aided by the heat, that does the job, and the keratin is a bonus.

It is simply not possible, from a chemistry point of view, for the keratin to be doing the straightening.

[ericthegreat]

Thank you. I should have made it clear I don't want to straighten my hair, I was just amazed when I read about this process.:)

No worries! I'm still glad I helped you to better understand this kind of chemical process.

Oh and the Brazilian Keratin Treatment is indeed a much safer hair alternative. It works by heat sealing the keratin into your hair with the flat iron..........in this case its actually GOOD to use heat onto your hair. Its like the ultimate deep conditioning treatment.....the high heat from the flat iron actually infuses the keratin into your hair. I have never heard one single complaint from anyone who has done the keratin treatment........not only does it NOT damage your hair on the contrary it can actually improve the quality of your hair because again it literally re-enforces keratin(which is essentially the same kind of protein that your hair is made up of) into your hair, thus making it both smoother and stronger.

[LittleOrca]

I'm an apprenticing hairstylist, and I will go into detail about Japanese straightening.

Basically, it is a process that permanently straightens out your hair. After the treatment is done, all the hair that has been processed will be straight........there is no going back to your natural curls or waves. It involves hours of sitting with a special straightening cream that relaxes your hair and then having a flat iron set to 400 degrees run over every section of your hair for anywhere from 6 to 9 times. You after the final blowout and flat ironing is completed(this process takes anywhere from 4 to 6 hours and of course takes an even longer time and is more expensive for extra long hair) you CANNOT wash your hair for at least 3 full days or you will risk destroying the re-structurizing bonds and SERIOUSLY damage your hair, perhaps even causing it to break off. Oh, and within these 3 days you also can't put your hair up in any kind of updo or ponytail or you will permanently cause dents into your hair.

Japanese straightening IMO is very damaging and even on the strongest of Asian virgin hair it will damage it somewhat. I would instead recommend the Brazilian Keratin Treatment as a much healthier alternative for your hair Toadstool, this treatment actually re-enforces keratin into your hair so not only is your hair str8, it also doubles as a super protein conditioning treatment.

That just sounds scary! shudder:

[Elainehali]

interesting process...

It sounds like a pain to grow out, like a perm. I think that curled ends with staight roots looks less awkward than curly roots with strait ends.

[redcelticcurls]

interesting process...

It sounds like a pain to grow out, like a perm. I think that curled ends with staight roots looks less awkward than curly roots with strait ends.

From what I 've seen from the ladies over at naturallycurly who have had it, it seems to "wear off" on some. On others, it just gave them a mass of brittle fuzz, and some liked their new straightness.

[Poetic]

I was looking at both processes (the keratin treatment and the japenese straigthening)on youtube. Both processes get the hair quite straight. If I had to pick one, it would be the keratin treatment.

Here are links to both.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eR5JTL6VGvg and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ISQ6uSCEnWo

Note that with the keratin treatment after a few months, the hair is said to return to its natural state if the treatment is not continued.

[ktani]

Ktani, yes, formaldehyde is indeed a legitimate concern about certain brands of companies that market the Brazilian Keratin Treatment. Basically, if you have a serious concern about the formaldehyde you should at least asks the salon you are going to if the the brand of Keratin treatment they are using has a significant quantity of formaldehyde in it. Even wholesalers of hair supply companies MUST list their full ingredients onto the back of their bottles, so if you are seriously worried about this you could at least very politely ask to read the ingredient list yourself.

I love my waves, thanks. I was just curious about the latest versions. When I first looked into it, it looked pretty scary because of that.

But I understood from the articles I read, that there were versions with small amounts of formaldehyde and some with none.

I just had not kept up with the latest news on the subject.

As a stylist, you should ask for and read the MSDS sheets on the product, in a salon you are working in that uses it, IMO.