Three Smoothing Options: How to Pick the Right One

Most people who ask me about smoothing walk in using one word: keratin. Then they go on to describe wildly different results they want from it. That gap between the word and the actual result is why we book several distinct smoothing services instead of running everyone through the same appointment.

What Actually Separates These Services

Pick a smoothing service by three things: how much curl you want left, how soon you need to wash your hair, and how long the result has to hold. Brazilian Blowout keeps more movement and washes same day. Keratin removes more curl and holds longer. Express versions of each do less, faster.

Everything after that is detail. I am a colorist, so I am usually the person asked whether smoothing will wreck someone's balayage, and I sit in on plenty of these consultations. What I watch repeat is people choosing by name recognition instead of by what their week actually looks like. That is backwards, and it is why someone ends up unhappy with work that was done well.

Question One: How Much Curl Do You Want Left

This is the fork in the road, and it splits the menu cleanly.

If you want your texture softened, not erased

Brazilian Blowout is where I point. It calms frizz, cuts blowdry time down hard, and leaves your wave pattern recognizable. Curly clients still have curl afterward. It just behaves. Wavy hair air dries into something tidier instead of puffing out by noon. If your real fight is with frizz and volume rather than with the curl itself, that is your lane.

Brazilian Blowout Express is the same idea dialed back. It takes the edge off frizz and adds shine without committing you to much, which makes it a sane first try if you have never had any smoothing done.

If you want the curl mostly gone

A Keratin Treatment does considerably more. It relaxes the pattern, so coarse or dense curly hair comes out noticeably straighter and stays that way through wash days. Think of the client whose actual complaint is the two hours she loses to a flat iron every Sunday night. Keratin Express sits underneath it: genuine smoothing, less of it, shorter time in the chair.

None of these are a relaxer or a perm, which are separate chemical services listed alongside them on our texture and smoothing page. A silk press is not on this list at all. That one is temporary styling, gone at your next shampoo, and it belongs with our blowdry and styling work.

Question Two: When Can You Wash It

Almost nobody asks this until after they have already booked, and for Chicago clients with real jobs and gym schedules it often decides everything.

Brazilian Blowout, in either version, lets you wash and style the same day. You leave the chair and your routine resumes that night. A good chunk of our clients pick it for that reason alone.

A Keratin Treatment asks for a waiting period first, usually about three days before the first shampoo. No hard ponytail dents, no headband lines, no sweating it through a spin class. Keratin Express shortens that window to roughly 24 hours. Three days sounds like nothing until it collides with a wedding weekend or a stretch of thick lake humidity in July. Book it Thursday and you are washing by Sunday.

Question Three: How Long Do You Need It To Hold

These are typical ranges. Your stylist narrows them once they see your density, your porosity, and your chemical history, and how you wash at home moves the number as much as the service does.

• Brazilian Blowout: generally 10 to 12 weeks.
• Brazilian Blowout Express: generally 4 to 6 weeks.
• Keratin Treatment: generally 3 to 5 months.
• Keratin Express: generally 6 to 8 weeks.

All of them fade rather than falling off a cliff. You will not see a demarcation at the roots the way a relaxer leaves one. Frizz creeps back gradually, and one ordinary morning you reach for the flat iron without thinking. That is your cue to rebook.

Appointment length tracks intensity. A full Brazilian Blowout or Keratin Treatment tends to run two to three hours on average length hair, longer if you have a lot of it. The Express versions usually land nearer an hour.

What Drives the Cost

I am not going to quote a figure, because there is no single figure to quote. Length and density move it most, since mid back length thick hair takes materially more product and time than a bob does. Tighter, coarser patterns need more work to move, and stacking services into one visit adds time, as does which stylist you sit with. Our service menu carries current starting prices, and the texture and smoothing section breaks these out individually.

Smoothing and Color in the Same Head of Hair

This part is my actual lane, so here is the unvarnished version. Smoothing can shift tone. Blondes see it most, and highlighted hair sometimes reads a half shade warmer afterward. That is manageable, but it has to be planned rather than discovered in the mirror.

I sequence it. Color first, smoothing after, and I would rather split the two across visits when the color work is heavy. If you have balayage or a full foil on the books, say that smoothing is on your radar, because it changes how we formulate and how we schedule. Cramming a bleach and tone plus a keratin service into one afternoon is how somebody walks out technically smooth and tonally off.

Between smoothing appointments, a conditioning treatment at the bowl helps the result wear better. That matters more through a Chicago winter, when dry indoor heat pulls moisture out of everything.

How We Actually Decide

At consultation your stylist reads your curl pattern, your density, how porous the hair is, and every chemical service you have had. Then they ask what your next few days look like and how long you need the result to survive. Those two answers usually knock out most of the menu, and what is left picks itself.

If you are new to us in River North and unsure who to sit with, the bios on our team page spell out what each person focuses on.

Want to sort it out in person? Book a consultation with us and we will match the service to your hair and your calendar.

Frequently Asked Questions

Will smoothing make my hair completely straight?

Only if that is what you booked. Brazilian Blowout preserves your pattern and softens it. A Keratin Treatment relaxes the pattern far more, and on plenty of textures the result reads straight, though it is not permanent and it grows out gradually. Tell your stylist what you want the hair to do.

Can I get a haircut at the same appointment?

Yes, and it is often the smart move. Smoothed hair sits differently, so weight lines that worked while the hair was frizzy can go flat once the frizz is gone. Most stylists here would rather cut after the smoothing service so they can see how it falls. Add the cut to the same visit.

How soon can I repeat one of these?

Let the previous service fade meaningfully before layering a new one on top. With the express options that often means somewhere in the 4 to 8 week range depending which one you had, and with the full services it is closer to the three month point.

Does it work on color treated hair?

Usually yes, and most of the people I have this conversation with are color clients. Sequencing is what matters. Get the color settled first, be honest about every chemical service in your history including anything you did at home, and expect that tone may want a small adjustment afterward.

What should I do at home to make it last?

Wash gently and wash less often. Harsh clarifying shampoos, heavy salt exposure, and daily washing all shorten any of these results. Your stylist will point you toward something appropriate on the retail shelf based on which service you had.

Which one handles summer humidity best?

Summer here is short and sticky, and lake humidity finds every weak spot in a blowout. If frizz control is the whole goal and you like your texture, Brazilian Blowout is usually the answer. If you also want the curl pattern reduced, keratin does more of that. Either way, get it done ahead of the humidity rather than in the middle of it.

Coming In

We are at 223 W Erie Street, Suite 1E, a short walk from the Merchandise Mart. Call (312) 929-2627 if you want to talk it through first, and bring photos of what you are after.