I'm dealing with super dry hair that's full of frizz, and getting a keratin treatment at the salon is way too expensive. I saw some friends talking about doing it at home with more natural products. Has anyone tried it? What are the actual risks?
Are you looking to straighten your hair or is it more that it needs hydration? Because honestly, at-home straightening treatments are pretty risky - you're dealing with protein/formaldehyde/acid without controlling time and temperature, and if it goes wrong on hair that's already dry, there's no fixing it, it just gets all brittle 🍄 If the frizz is more from dryness, it's way better to invest in a good hydration routine at home (masks, oils, leave-in) that costs way less and has zero risk of damaging your strands. Now if you really want to straighten and can't get to a salon, at least do your research on the brand, ask for recommendations from people who've done it, and do a hidden strand test first - your hair will thank you!
Before doing any straightening treatment, even at a salon, test really well whether your hair actually needs straightening or just some heavy hydration. Dry hair with frizz usually responds really well to an intensive hydration mask (leave it on for like 20-30 minutes, the kind with argan oil or avocado), and then the frizz goes down a lot without you messing with the hair structure. If after that you still want a straightening treatment, then do it at the salon - homemade ones with formaldehyde or protein are way too risky because you can't control the time, temperature and concentration, and you end up breaking it or getting that straw-like feel that doesn't bounce back easy.
A homemade relaxer with natural products is more myth than reality - what makes hair straight is always a strong chemical reaction, and doing it without a professional and without controlling pH, exposure time and temperature is a recipe for frying your strands. the risk nobody mentions is that the damage doesn't show up the next day; you might think it turned out perfect, but then two or three weeks later your hair starts falling out, getting brittle, and there's no going back from that. if your hair is dry and frizzy, honestly i'd try a couple weeks of actual intensive conditioning first (overnight mask, warm coconut oil) before doing any relaxer - a lot of times that fixes 80% of the problem and costs way less.
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