Classic Keratin Smoothing
The standard treatment and the one most people mean. Significant frizz reduction, drying time roughly halved, curl loosened by around half. Best on medium to thick hair that has real texture to calm.
A smoothing treatment that cuts frizz and roughly halves your drying time. It calms and loosens your curl pattern rather than removing it, and we will not sell it to you as anything else.
Keratin is not permanent straightening. It smooths the cuticle and loosens your curl, then wears off gradually over three to five months. Chemical relaxing permanently breaks the bonds inside the hair and cannot be undone. Those are two completely different services and a lot of salons blur the line between them.
Every treatment starts with a strand test, and we will tell you exactly which formula is going on your hair and what is in it. If you want a formaldehyde free option, say so and that is what you will get.
Applied In Fine Sections, Then Sealed With Heat
Your hair is covered in overlapping scales called the cuticle. When those scales sit flat, hair looks glossy, dries quickly and resists humidity. When they lift, hair looks dull, takes forever to dry and frizzes the moment the air gets damp.
A keratin treatment fills the gaps between those scales with protein and seals them down with heat. Nothing inside the hair is broken or restructured. That is the crucial difference between this and a chemical relaxer, and it is also why the result fades gradually rather than growing out in a hard line.
What you get is smoother, shinier hair that dries in roughly half the time and behaves in humidity. What you do not get is poker straight hair permanently. Curly hair stays curly, just calmer, more defined and far easier to manage.
It calms your hair. It does not replace it with somebody else's.
Six formulas at different strengths. The right one depends on your density, your color history and how much curl you actually want to keep.
The standard treatment and the one most people mean. Significant frizz reduction, drying time roughly halved, curl loosened by around half. Best on medium to thick hair that has real texture to calm.
A lighter formula and a shorter appointment. Less dramatic smoothing, but it wears off more evenly and it is the sensible way to find out whether you like the feeling before committing to the full treatment.
Frizz removed, curl kept. Applied with less tension and sealed at a lower temperature so the pattern survives. If you love your curls and hate the halo of frizz around them, this is the appointment, not the classic one.
Fine hair goes limp under a standard keratin because the product weighs it down. This uses a lighter formula, less of it, and a higher lift at the root so you keep body while losing the frizz.
For hair that has been lightened, colored repeatedly or heat damaged. A bond repair stage runs alongside the smoothing, so the treatment strengthens rather than simply coating. The right choice if your ends are fragile.
A partial refresh through the mid lengths and ends while the previous treatment is still partly there. Shorter, cheaper, and it keeps you smooth without building layer on layer of product at the root.
Eight stages across two to three hours. Bring something to occupy yourself and do not book a hard stop afterwards.
Your texture, density, porosity and full color history. A small hidden section is treated first so we see how your hair responds before committing your whole head to it.
Strength, ingredients and expected result explained plainly, including whether it is formaldehyde free. You are told what is going on your hair before it goes on.
Two or three passes with a clarifying shampoo to remove product build up, silicone and hard water minerals. Keratin cannot bond through residue, so this stage is not rushed.
Fine sections, measured product, kept clear of the scalp. Over applying is what leaves hair flat and greasy, and it is the commonest mistake in this whole service.
The product is left to penetrate for the time the formula requires. This is the sitting part of the appointment, and cutting it short costs you weeks of longevity.
Fully dried, then flat ironed in thin passes at the temperature your formula and your hair condition can take. Fine or bleached hair is sealed cooler, always.
Some formulas are rinsed and treated in the salon. Others need to stay in for a set number of hours before your first wash. You are told clearly which yours is before you leave.
Written, not spoken over your shoulder as you pay. Which shampoo holds the result, which strips it, and when you can tie your hair up again.
Three treatments that all promise smoother hair and work in completely different ways. Choosing the wrong one is expensive and sometimes permanent.
| Point Of Difference | Keratin Smoothing | Chemical Relaxer | Hair Spa Treatment |
|---|---|---|---|
| What It Does | Coats and seals the cuticle | Breaks the bonds inside the hair | Conditions and hydrates |
| Reversible | Yes, it fades out | No, permanent | Yes, washes out |
| Curl Pattern | Loosened and calmed | Removed permanently | Unchanged |
| Regrowth Line | None, it fades evenly | Hard line at the root | None |
| Lasts | 3 to 5 months | Permanent on treated hair | 2 to 4 weeks |
| Frizz Control | Excellent | Excellent | Mild and temporary |
| Drying Time | Roughly halved | Much shorter | Unchanged |
| From | $220 | Not offered here | $75 |
Six things decide whether this is money well spent or money you will regret. The strand test settles most of them.
Thick, coarse hair gains the most. Fine hair can go limp under a standard formula, which is why there is a separate lighter treatment for it rather than a smaller dose of the same thing.
Frizz, humidity and drying time are what this fixes. If your actual complaint is dryness or breakage, a conditioning treatment or a bond builder is the honest answer instead.
A classic treatment loosens curl noticeably. If you love your pattern, the curly smoothing option is the one to book. Choosing wrong here is the commonest regret.
Heavily lightened or repeatedly colored hair needs the bond building version and a cooler sealing temperature. Applying a standard formula over fragile ends risks breakage.
Sulphates and sodium chloride strip keratin fast. If you are not willing to change shampoo, the treatment will fade in weeks instead of months and it is not worth the money.
Tell us at booking. Many people prefer to wait, and it is a conversation for you and your doctor rather than something we should be deciding for you.
Often Booked Together
What actually changes, and what people notice first.
The change most clients mention before anything about how it looks. Twenty five minutes of blow drying becomes twelve, every single morning for months.
A sealed cuticle takes on far less moisture from the air. Hair that used to expand the moment you stepped outside simply stops doing it.
Most people cut their straightener use dramatically afterwards. Over three months that is far less cumulative heat damage than the treatment itself involves.
No hard line at the root and no awkward halfway stage. If you decide not to repeat it, your hair simply returns to itself.
Six options rather than one product for everybody. Fine hair keeps its volume and curly hair keeps its pattern, because the formulas are genuinely different.
Formula and ingredients explained before application, formaldehyde free available on request, and the work done in a properly ventilated space.
Six things clients describe about a previous keratin treatment. This service has more ways to go wrong than almost anything else on a salon menu.
The client expects poker straight hair forever. Three months later the frizz returns, they feel cheated, and the salon says it was never permanent. Both things were true and only one was said out loud.
Here InsteadThe difference between smoothing and relaxing is explained before you book, in writing, at the top of this page.Some traditional formulas release formaldehyde when heated. Clients are frequently never told what is being used, and the room is not ventilated for it either.
Here InsteadYou are told which formula is going on your hair, formaldehyde free is available on request, and the area is properly ventilated.Product applied straight to a full head with no idea how that hair will respond. On bleached or previously treated hair, that is how breakage happens.
Here InsteadA strand test on every client, every time, including people who have had keratin somewhere else before.Over applied and pushed close to the scalp, so hair leaves flat, heavy and greasy looking. Fine hair suffers worst and there is no quick way to undo it.
Here InsteadMeasured product in fine sections, kept clear of the scalp, with a lighter formula used on fine hair.One quick shampoo instead of two or three proper passes. Keratin cannot bond through silicone and mineral build up, so the result fades in weeks and nobody knows why.
Here InsteadClarified properly before anything else, because this stage decides how long your result lasts.The shampoo rule mentioned in passing while the card machine beeps. The client washes with a sulphate shampoo that week and loses a two hundred dollar treatment in three washes.
Here InsteadWritten aftercare handed to you, covering shampoo, timing and what to avoid in the first few days.Keratin is the service we talk people out of most often, and we would rather do that now than after you have paid.
Sulphates and sodium chloride strip keratin quickly. If you are not willing to switch, the treatment will not last and the money is genuinely better spent elsewhere.
Three to five months, then it fades. This is a treatment you repeat, not a one off purchase, and the yearly cost is what should be compared.
Any color is done before the keratin, and at least two weeks must pass after lightening. Coloring on top of fresh keratin gives uneven results.
The classic treatment noticeably relaxes your pattern. If you want the curl kept, book the curly smoothing option instead, and say so at the consultation.
Starting prices including the strand test, the clarifying wash and the sealing. Very long or very dense hair needs more product, which is quoted at consultation before anything is applied.
| Treatment | From | Time | Lasts |
|---|---|---|---|
| Keratin Top Up | $130 | 90 minutes | Extends existing result |
| Express Keratin | $145 | 90 minutes | 6 to 10 weeks |
| Keratin For Fine Hair | $190 | 2 hours | 3 to 4 months |
| Classic Keratin Smoothing | $220 | 2 to 3 hours | 3 to 5 months |
| Curly Hair Smoothing | $240 | 3 hours | 3 to 5 months |
| Bond Building Smoothing | $265 | 3 hours | 3 to 5 months |
| Strand Test | Free | A few minutes | Before every treatment |
Six habits. The first two decide almost everything, and getting them wrong can cost you the whole treatment inside a month.
Sulphates strip keratin faster than anything else. This is not an upsell, it is the single condition on which the treatment lasting depends.
Salt is in a surprising number of shampoos and it dissolves keratin. Read the label rather than trusting the front of the bottle.
Some formulas can be washed the same day, others need forty eight to seventy two hours. You will be told which yours is, and it is not a guideline.
During the waiting period, a hair tie or a clip can set a permanent kink into freshly sealed hair. Leave it down and tuck it behind your ears.
Chlorine and salt water both strip keratin. Saturating your hair with clean water first means it absorbs far less of either.
Every wash costs you a little. Most people find they need fewer washes anyway once the frizz is gone, which extends the result on its own.
You can request a stylist by name when you book. If they are unavailable on your date we will tell you rather than quietly reassign you to someone else.
Priya runs all the smoothing and conditioning work. She chooses formulas by porosity rather than by hair type labels, which is why fine hair leaves here with its volume intact and coarse hair leaves genuinely calm. She is also the person most likely to tell you that a conditioning treatment would serve you better than a keratin, and she will say it before you have paid for anything.
Tia founded Erothots seven years ago and is fully qualified and insured. She does not carry out keratin treatments herself, but she set the rules the team works to: a strand test every time, formaldehyde free available on request, ventilation taken seriously, and aftercare handed over in writing rather than mentioned at the till. If something is not right, she wants to hear it directly.
Six other hair services. Color work always comes before smoothing, never after.
Deep conditioning and scalp work. Often the better answer when the real problem is dryness rather than frizz.
See Hair SpaPrecision cutting. Worth booking alongside, since smoothed hair falls differently and often wants less weight taken out.
See Women's HaircutFull color, roots, gloss and gray coverage. Always carried out before a keratin treatment rather than after it.
See Hair ColorHand painted lightening. Book at least two weeks before any smoothing treatment, never in the same visit.
See BalayageWash and finish. You will need it far less often after a keratin, which is rather the point of the treatment.
See Blow DryTrial and wedding day styling, with any smoothing timed to settle at least two weeks before the date.
See Bridal HairA smoothing treatment that fills the gaps in your cuticle with protein and seals them flat with heat. The result is less frizz, more shine and roughly half the drying time. Nothing inside the hair is broken or restructured, which is why it fades gradually instead of growing out in a line.
A top up starts at $130, express keratin at $145, the fine hair formula at $190, classic smoothing at $220, curly smoothing at $240 and bond building at $265. The strand test, the clarifying wash and the sealing are all included in those figures.
Three to five months for a classic treatment and six to ten weeks for express. How long you actually get depends almost entirely on your shampoo. Sulphates and sodium chloride can strip a full treatment in a matter of weeks.
No, and this is the most important thing on the page. Keratin coats and smooths, then fades. A chemical relaxer permanently breaks the bonds inside your hair and cannot be reversed. We do not offer relaxing, and we will not let you book a keratin expecting one.
Some traditional smoothing formulas release formaldehyde when heated. Formaldehyde free formulas are available and we will tell you exactly which product is going on your hair before it goes on. Ask for the formaldehyde free option and that is what you will get. The work is carried out in a properly ventilated area either way.
No. A classic treatment loosens curl by around half and calms the frizz around it. If you want to keep your pattern more fully, book the curly hair smoothing option, which is applied with less tension and sealed at a lower temperature.
Yes, and the order matters. Color is always done first, and at least two weeks must pass after any lightening. Heavily lightened hair should have the bond building version rather than the classic formula, and the strand test will tell us which is safe.
It depends on the formula. Some can be washed the same day and others need forty eight to seventy two hours. You will be told clearly which yours is before you leave, and during any waiting period you should avoid tying it up or clipping it back.
Sulphate free and sodium chloride free. Salt is in more shampoos than people expect and it dissolves keratin. Bring your current bottle or a photo of the label to your appointment and we will tell you honestly whether it will hold your result.
The treatment involves heat, so there is a cost, particularly on hair that is already bleached or fragile. That is what the strand test and the cooler sealing temperatures are for. Most people also use straighteners far less afterwards, so the total heat over three months usually works out lower rather than higher.
Many people choose to wait, and it is a decision for you and your doctor rather than for us. Tell us at booking if you are pregnant or nursing so we can talk through formula and ventilation properly, or suggest a conditioning treatment instead for the time being.
Tell us within seven days. Because keratin fades rather than being permanent, there is no situation where you are stuck with it forever. That said, the strand test and the consultation exist so that this conversation does not need to happen at all.
Tell us your texture, your full color history and what is actually bothering you about your hair. If a conditioning treatment would serve you better than a keratin, we would rather say so before you book than after you have paid.
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