If you’ve been reading Broke & Chic for a while, you may already know I have a love-hate relationship with keratin treatments (read more here). When I finally found a non-permanent smoothing treatment that didn’t affect my breathing (no joke), I was so excited; but that specific treatment will cost you an arm and a leg at a salon. When I was introduced to the Rio de Keratin at-home smoothing treatment, I was both excited and skeptical.
Let’s start with the cost. It’s only $39.99, and it comes with enough product for two treatments. That is such an amazing price!
Since I was afraid of keratin treatments due to past incidents, it took me a while to use this one. I also started embracing my curly hair, but when my boyfriend and I decided to go to the Dominican Republic for nine days, I knew I needed to get my hair in check. Otherwise, I would end up sporting a lion mane. And a frizzy lion mane at that! No bueno.
I got my hair cut and colored using Salon Apprentice, and then after a few days I decided to go for it. I took everything out of the box, read the directions multiple times, and went for it. Read my review below:
First Impressions
The packaging is great and the directions were extremely straight forward. It came with gloves and enough shampoo and conditioner to last you a month. The only thing not included was a flat iron.
If you’ve received a keratin treatment at a salon, the directions are literally identical. If you’ve never received a keratin treatment before, definitely watch their tutorial video a few times.
The directions also say it will take you about two hours to do this treatment. I thought I’d beat that time, but it took me two hours on the dot to complete this.
Step One: Wash (do not condition) and blow dry hair until 100% dry
The first step is to wash your hair (I washed it twice) with the shampoo it comes with. The shampoo smells like coconut and it offers a good lather which impressed. Most keratin treatment-friendly shampoos don’t lather well.
After towel drying my hair, I had to comb out the knots. This was the hardest part since my hair needs conditioner. Otherwise my hair is just one snarly mess.
The second hardest part of this process was blow drying my hair without any product. I became a frizz monster, and my hair took forever to dry.
Step Two: Apply the treatment into hair using the spray applicator
I did this treatment with absolutely no help and it wasn’t as hard as I thought it was going to be. I sectioned off my hair into four quadrants and applied the product by section, taking thin sections each times to ensure all my strands received enough product. I also combed the sections together after applying product.
Terrible frizz
The smell didn’t bother me and this whole process took about 30 minutes. I have a lot of hair.
Step Three: Blow dry hair to a smooth finish
After applying all of the product to each quadrant, I used a comb to brush my hair straight back. From there, I used the blow dryer. It took me about fifteen minuets to get my hair 100% dry.
Step Four: Flat iron hair using an iron that reaches 450° to seal in the treatment
After I finished drying my hair, I put my hair into four quadrants again. I then took small sections and went over each section a handful of times. The tutorial video on the official Rio de Keratin site will show you how to do this part. Halfway through, my eyes did start to water, but it wasn’t anything serious. I also don’t have any windows in my bathroom (and my fan is very weak). I have a feeling I wouldn’t have had this issue if I had decent ventilation.
This process took me about 45 minuets.
Below is the final product. As you can see, my hair is perfectly smooth. After completing this treatment, you need to wait 48 hours before you can wash your hair again. You also need to avoid using any sort of hair ties to prevent indents.
Result
I did this treatment only three days before our trip to the Caribbean. I was happy with the results — my hair was smooth and I didn’t need to use a flat iron.
Below is a photo taken during our trip. I didn’t have access to a blow dryer or flat iron, so the image is what my hair looked like after air drying. Pretty impressive, huh? And Santo Domingo was hot and extremely humid, so my hair is lookin’ pretty dang good.
When you have smoothing treatments on your hair, you need to steer clear of sodium chloride; aka, salt. Obviously I was in the ocean (numerous times) and in pools filled with chlorine (which can also strip hair). Despite that, I remained frizz free throughout my vacation. My hair did start to curl up on our last day, but it wasn’t frizzy like usual. Here’s an image for reference.
Final Thoughts
The Rio de Keratin at-home keratin treatment lasted about two months. Like other keratins in the past, this specific treatment didn’t get rid of my curls 100%, which I loved. I don’t hate my curls, I just hate the frizz.
I was able to let my hair air dry for weeks without looking like Simba, and if I wanted straight, smooth hair, all I needed to do was blow-dry with a paddle brush. Below is what my hair looked like after using a blow dryer and paddle brush one month after application:
Pros
- Easy to apply
- Lasts two+ months
- Doesn’t get rid of curls 100%
- Eliminates frizz
- Only $39.99
- Comes with enough product for two applications
- Great smelling shampoo
Cons
- It will make your eyes water if you don’t have great ventilation
- The conditioner doesn’t moisturize well
- You’ll run out of shampoo and conditioner before the treatment washes out completely
If you want to eliminate frizz, I highly recommend this product. And don’t be scared of the process, it’s easy to do on your own.
Have you ever used an at-home keratin treatment? Let us know in the comments below!
