What to do at home so you don't lose the result

I'm leaving you in writing what I tell you out loud in the salon while you put your coat back on. Said there, standing up with your bag in your hand, it doesn't stick: you get home and remember half of it. Here there's everything, and there's also the why of each thing, because a rule whose reason you understand you follow, while a rule learnt by heart is lost by the second week.

The first wash doesn't ask you to wait

I'll start with what everyone asks me, usually with a hand already on the door handle: how long do I have to wait before washing it.

You don't have to wait. At the end of the treatment we do a shampoo ourselves in the salon, which serves to remove any chemical residue and to show you the finished result. That step you've already done here, sitting in the chair. From there on you can wash it, tie it, put it up. Even the next day.

We don't do colour here: if you have it done, you have it done elsewhere, and it should be done after the treatment, a few days later.

The only real exception is bleaching. There, timing matters: after bleaching, how long to wait before a smoothing treatment we assess in the consultation, looking at the elasticity of the fibre, and before you book I want to talk it through with you myself. And if the hair is already bleached, I advise against nanoplastia: in its place we suggest a more concentrated smoothing treatment, combined with a restructuring one.

So no, I'm not asking you to keep your hair still and give up the hair tie. I'm asking you other things, and they're the ones that follow.

The shampoo you buy decides how long it lasts

If I have to point you to one thing only, it's this. Sulphate-free and salt-free shampoo. On the label, salt is called sodium chloride, and that's where to look for it, in the list of ingredients, not on the front of the bottle. They're the two ingredients that shorten the life of a treatment the most. You can do everything else impeccably and lose months of result over a shampoo grabbed in passing at the supermarket.

How you wash matters too. Two rounds: the first cleans, the second treats. If you do only one, most of the product is still working on the dirt and not on the hair. Massage the scalp with your fingertips, not your nails. And there's no need to wash it every day: two or three times a week is enough.

Lukewarm water, low heat, heat protectant always

Boiling hot water in the shower is a pleasure for you and not for your hair: lukewarm, always. Hairdryer and straighteners on a low temperature, and here I'll tell you something that seems obvious and isn't. You had the treatment to cut blow-dry time dramatically, that is, to use the straighteners less. If you leave the salon and keep running them over your hair every morning at maximum temperature, you're wearing out what you've just bought.

When you switch on the hairdryer, straighteners or curling tongs, apply heat protectant first. It's sprayed from a hand's width away, over all the lengths. It isn't an extra step to lengthen the routine: it's the only thing standing between the heat and the fibre.

In summer all of this counts double, because to the heat you apply is added the heat you don't decide. Little changes in the routine and a lot changes around it, so I ask you for five extra precautions.

The first: after the sea or the pool, rinse your hair with fresh water. Salt and chlorine stay there and can weaken it, and removing them is the simplest thing you can do, even just under the beach shower.

The second: use a specific sun protection, a leave-in cream with UV filter. It helps shield the hair from the rays and reduces the damage from exposure.

The third: limit straighteners and curling tongs. The hair is already exposed to the sun and risks drying out even more.

The fourth: choose moisturising shampoos and conditioners, formulated to nourish the fibre deeply.

The fifth: expose yourself in moderation, avoiding direct sun in the middle hours of the day. A hat is a simple and effective protection, and it costs nothing.

The routine of the months, in the right order

After the shampoo comes the conditioner, at every wash, only on lengths and ends, and it's rinsed out well. The mask is another thing and doesn't replace the conditioner: once a week, on towel-squeezed hair, lengths and ends, never on the scalp; five minutes on and then rinse.

On towel-dried hair goes the leave-in, from the ears down, after every wash. That one isn't rinsed out: it's designed to stay. Then, when you feel the ends are dry, two drops of oil warmed between your hands, only on the ends, on damp or dry hair. Two drops, no more.

If in the salon we gave you something for the scalp, a lotion or an ampoule, that has a rule of its own: clean, dry scalp, section by section, then massage in, don't rinse out, and respect the cycle written on the pack instead of going by feel.

Every two months I want you back here, and not to sell you something

Real maintenance is keeping the hair healthy and well moisturised, and this is done with a personalised restructuring treatment, chosen according to your hair. Roughly every two months: it's the frequency we recommend, and it's the one that holds everything else up. On damaged hair the effect of a smoothing treatment lasts less; on healthy hair it lasts longer.

Then there's one precise case where the restructuring treatment is needed straight away: if after a smoothing treatment your hair feels greasy or heavy, it isn't that the product is too much, it's the pH of the hair that hasn't been rebalanced. It's fixed with a restructuring treatment, not by washing more.

On regrowth, instead, we work only with smoothing treatments, never with the anti-frizz: with the anti-frizz you'd see the line between the regrowth and the lengths that are already straight.

One last thing that concerns the when, not the how. If you're breastfeeding we advise against chemical treatments, smoothing treatments included: the priority is your wellbeing and the baby's, and we'll talk about it again afterwards. And if in the consultation the test strand doesn't respond well, we don't proceed: I suggest a course of restructuring treatments first. I'd rather send you home without a treatment, because a badly done smoothing treatment can break the hair.

The products we give you are the ones we use

We use and distribute Donatti, and in Italy we are the official distributor. I won't list them here, though, because the right routine isn't the one in the catalogue: it's the one made of the products we put on your hair that day, and they're different from the ones that end up on someone else's hair. You'll find them written in your personal area on the website, with how to use them and how often alongside.

Said without beating about the bush: how long it lasts doesn't depend only on you. A smoothing treatment holds for three to six months, and repeated it reaches even six or seven, because the product builds up on the hair and the film gets thicker. A nanoplastia sits between six and eight. If the first time it didn't last long for you, it doesn't mean you did something wrong: it means that's where you start, and that the next time you go further.

If you have doubts about your hair, or you don't know where to start, the consultation is free, it takes fifteen minutes and you book it from the website. We look at your hair together and I write the routine for you myself, with your name on it.