The treatment is the easy part. You sit in the chair, we do the work, you walk out with glass hair. What happens over the next six months is decided almost entirely at home — and most of the smoothening disappointment we see in our salons traces back to aftercare nobody explained properly, not to the treatment itself.
If you haven't chosen a treatment yet, start with our guide to what actually differs between keratin, cysteine and nanoplastia. This piece is for afterwards.
The first 72 hours
How strict these hours are depends on which chemistry is in your hair. A classic keratin treatment is still curing: the coating hasn't fully set, and water, sweat, clips and tucked-behind-the-ear habits can leave permanent dents. For 72 hours that means no washing, no gym, no oiling, no hair ties — sleep on it loose, ideally on a smoother pillowcase.
Nanoplastia and most cysteine work are more forgiving, because the change happens inside the strand rather than as a surface coat. Many of these treatments allow washing after 24 hours or even the same day. Your stylist will tell you exactly which rules apply to the formula we used — follow their version, not the internet's. The strictest rules exist for keratin, and applying them to nanoplastia costs you nothing; applying nanoplastia's freedom to keratin costs you the treatment.
The first wash
This is the moment that decides more than any other. Sulfates — the cleansing agents in most supermarket shampoos — are excellent at stripping things from hair, which is exactly the problem: they strip the treatment too, wash by wash. A sulfate-free routine is not upselling; it is the difference between a treatment that lasts five months and one that fades in six weeks.
It's why lines like Floractive's W One and Marroco Golden exist — they were formulated by the same house that makes the treatments, to clean without undoing them. Whatever you choose, check the label for sulfates (SLS, SLES) and for added salt (sodium chloride), which quietly accelerates fade. You'll find the routines we actually use in-salon in our Smoothing Aftercare edit.
Weeks two to twelve
Settle into a rhythm: wash two or three times a week, not daily. Mask once a week — smoothened hair has been through a chemical process and repays moisture with shine. Keep heat styling minimal and always below 180°C; the irony of flat-ironing smoothened hair daily is that you're burning off the thing you paid for.
One Gujarat-specific note: our water is hard, and mineral deposits dull smoothened hair faster than soft water would. If your hair starts feeling coated or looking flat despite good products, the water is usually the culprit — a shower filter helps more than another mask. We covered the chemistry of this in the smoothening guide.
Months three to six
Regrowth arrives at the roots with your natural texture, and the contrast becomes visible somewhere between month three and five depending on how fast your hair grows and how curly it is underneath. This is normal, not the treatment failing.
Resist the urge to re-treat the whole head early. Overlapping fresh chemistry onto already-treated lengths is how hair gets brittle. The honest options are: a root-only touch-up once regrowth genuinely bothers you, a gloss or in-salon ritual to revive the lengths, or simply riding it out — many clients find months four and five are still their best hair months. When in doubt, come in and let us look before you book anything.
What quietly undoes it
- Chlorine. Pool water is the fastest treatment-killer we know. Saturate hair with clean water and a leave-in before swimming, and wash promptly after.
- Clarifying and anti-dandruff shampoos. Both are formulated to strip. If you need one medically, accept the trade-off knowingly.
- Heavy oiling. A light oil on the lengths is fine. The traditional heavy champi followed by a hot, harsh wash to remove it is a strip cycle — it takes treatment with it.
- Salt water and sweat left to dry. Rinse after the beach, and after serious workouts once your waiting window has passed.
Every smoothening service at Reflexions ends with a written aftercare plan for the specific formula we used — and if yours didn't, ask us and we'll send it. For a treatment done elsewhere that's behaving strangely, book a consultation at any of our five salons and we'll assess it honestly, even if the honest answer is to do nothing for now.