Afro hair: nanoplastia without ruining the curl

There are two requests that arrive in the same words, and they aren't the same request. One is: I'd like softer hair, that combs without a fight, that doesn't puff up ten minutes after I've left the house. The other is: I'd like straight hair. It often happens that a person comes in with the first and ends up with the second, without ever having decided to change her mind. It happens fast, and there's no going back fast: a chemical treatment can't be removed, you wait for it to grow out.

That's why I have the choice made beforehand. Beforehand means in the consultation, with the wet strand between my fingers, not halfway through the application: when the product is already on the head, the question is no longer a question.

Softening and straightening are two different goals

In the questionnaire on the website the first thing I ask is what result you want, and among the answers there are two that go in opposite directions. One says straight and disciplined. The other says frizz gone, but with the movement. It isn't a nuance: they're two routes, with different products, different timings and different upkeep.

The anti-frizz is a light keratin. It takes away frizz and puffiness and leaves the structure of the hair where it is. It doesn't straighten. If what you're after is absolutely straight hair it will disappoint you, and no amount of extra product will turn it into a smoothing treatment.

Afro nanoplastia is the other route. It smooths and rebuilds in the same step, the hair stays soft and manageable without losing body, and the effect holds for six to eight months. It's a legitimate choice, and many make it with very clear ideas. But it has to be called by its name: you're deciding not to see your own curl for quite some time.

Then there's a third possibility that isn't talked about much: doing nothing chemical. A restructuring treatment works inside the fibre, doesn't take away volume and doesn't take away frizz, and on hair that breaks it's often what's needed before any other conversation. On our price list there's one designed for curly hair.

The questions to ask, whoever you're asking

These apply here and they apply in any other salon. If an answer comes back vague, that's already a piece of information.

The first question is what result do you want to achieve on my hair, said in words. Not pointing at a photo of someone else, not with a generic adjective. Soften and straighten must come out of the mouth of the person doing the work, not be left to be inferred. If you're told that you'll see as you go along, you're delegating the choice to halfway through the application: it's exactly the point where it must not be delegated.

The second is what happens at the regrowth. In a few months you'll have a part of your hair as it was before, attached to lengths that have become something else. Ask what is done there, and ask yourself whether you want that upkeep.

The third is what do I see at the first wash, when I do it myself, at home, without straighteners and without anyone's hands. Not how it comes out of the salon: how it behaves when it's left alone with you.

The fourth few people ask, and it's the most useful: what happens if the test strand doesn't respond well. The right answer is that you don't proceed. Here that's how it is: if in the consultation the test strand doesn't respond well, we don't do the treatment and we suggest a course of restructuring treatments first. A salon that doesn't contemplate stopping doesn't have a diagnosis, it has a price list.

The regrowth is where you see whether you had chosen or not

There's a technical rule that explains the difference better than any speech. On regrowth we work only with smoothing treatments, never with the anti-frizz: if the lengths are already straight and on the root you apply a product that doesn't straighten, the line shows.

It means that straightening isn't an appointment, it's a path that renews itself. That's no bad thing: whoever knows it from the start organises their time and their spending, and is perfectly happy. The problem arises when this part hasn't been said, and the discovery comes in the mirror a few months later.

The anti-frizz works in another way. It doesn't involve touching up the regrowth, and there's no line to chase: when the effect runs out you start again from the assessment, and in the meantime the hair has stayed what it was.

The first wash, and the hours before

In the first hours after a smoothing treatment you don't wash. How many, we tell you in the salon on the day. Until the first wash no hair ties, no clips, no hair pushed behind the ears: the shape sets, and it sets for real.

Then you move on to a routine that holds for months. Sulphate-free and salt-free shampoo, which are the two ingredients that shorten the duration the most. Lukewarm water, not boiling hot. Hairdryer and straighteners on a low temperature. After the sea or the pool, a rinse with fresh water as soon as possible.

The first wash is also the first real test. If afterwards your hair feels greasy or heavy, it isn't a flaw in the character of your hair: it's the pH that hasn't been rebalanced, and it's fixed with a restructuring treatment after the smoothing one. It's something to say, not to put up with in silence.

How you can tell the curl has been respected

The first sign is body. The hair must be softer, not emptier. If the mass has gone limp and the ponytail has halved, it hasn't been softened: it's been switched off.

The second is reaction. Healthy hair responds to what you do to it, takes the shape you give it and holds it. Hair that stays flat whatever happens, that doesn't react to humidity and doesn't react to hands, isn't disciplined: it's inert.

The third is what you feel to the touch and see on the comb. No frayed ends must appear, nor little strands that break while combing. A badly done smoothing treatment can break the hair, and it's the risk that makes the initial diagnosis non-negotiable. I'll add something I'm often asked, because the fear is understandable: a smoothing procedure creates a protective film on the hair and doesn't act on the bulb. Hair loss depends on other things: genetics, hormones, stress, deficiencies, the season.

Last point, which is more a premise than a sign: if the hair is coloured, a very strong smoothing treatment can lighten it by two or three shades. It isn't a mistake, and it's something that must be said before and not discovered after.

When I don't do it, and how I do it

On bleached hair we advise against nanoplastia. We suggest instead a more concentrated smoothing treatment combined with a restructuring one, and after bleaching how long to wait we assess in the consultation, looking at how much it has affected the elasticity of the fibre. While breastfeeding we advise against chemical treatments, smoothing treatments included: the priority is your wellbeing and the baby's. And if the strand doesn't pass the assessment, as I was saying, we don't proceed. Those are the three cases in which a client leaves without an appointment, and I prefer it that way.

When it is done, though, afro nanoplastia takes six hours and is the longest treatment we do. The time isn't padded: on an afro structure it can't be shortened without losing quality. It starts with the consultation, which on this type of hair counts even more; then a lipid restructuring treatment protects the fibre from the heat of the straighteners; then the treatment proper, with proteins and amino acids that go deep into the fibre. Cut and blow-dry are included in the price, which starts from €600 and varies with the length and the amount of hair. The appointment for the treatment is secured with a deposit calculated on the price of the treatment, which is deducted from the total on the day. The consultation, instead, is free.

If instead the route is the other one, the one with the movement, the anti-frizz also exists in a version designed for curls, and we assess it together.

The consultation is free, it takes a quarter of an hour and you book it from the website. Come without having decided anything: we look at the hair wet, and the choice between softening and straightening we make there, together, before anything touches your head.