Note: This is quite a text-heavy post but if you’re based in Australia and have very frizzy, unmanageable hair like I do, you need to read this because the treatment is phenomenal.

Apologies for the grainy phone photo and 100 extra bonus points to you if you know the reference of the comic bubble.

The Lowdown

Here’s the lowdown of my hair: it’s very thick, each hair coarse and uneven, and it’s very frizzy when it’s dried after washing. It’s very “poofy” the next day after washing my hair, which is why I absolutely have to use a flat iron on it. As I wash my hair every other day, this means that I also run a flat iron on it from root to tip every other day. Imagine the damage.

I’ve been doing Asian-style permanent straightening for many years. While the treatments do manage the frizz and volume, it also makes my hair flat, dead straight and lifeless. As the treatment goes from root to tip, for the first couple of months, it would look as though I have very flat and lifeless hair with it plastered to my head. On the other hand, it lasts at least a year or until hair starts to grow. As it grows, you’ll also notice a kink at the roots where the treatment began and ended.

A few months ago, I was contacted by the people at bhave and was kindly offered to try their new Smooth treatment to smoothen my hair and more importantly, to get rid of the awful frizz. After a lot of questions on my part to get more information about the treatment, I said yes.

I’ve noticed a number of bloggers review the bhave Smooth Treatment a week or two after the treatment. Nothing wrong with that, of course, but personally, I find it a more accurate representation of the results to wait and see how long the treatment can last. And so I did.

What’s this bhave Smooth Treatment?

bhave’s Smooth Treatment is unlike any usual keratin treatments or Brazilian blowouts. For one, it doesn’t stink one bit nor does it sting my eyes, skin or scalp in any way. I haven’t tried any Brazilian blowouts but after reading Lily Pebble‘s experience with her recent Brazilian blowout (she experienced a lot of stinging especially in the eyes), it’s not something I want to do.

bhave’s Smooth Treatment is not a straightening treatment and, unlike chemical straightening, does not restructure the hair. It’s a keratin-infused smoothing treatment that gives hair a more natural look with enhanced body, movement and manageability. The formulation employs innovative amino cell rebuild technology that actually improves the quality of each and every hair strand. This process injects nutritive-rich keratin into the open hair cuticle without breaking any bonds to noticeably improve hair health and provide long term conditioning, protection and a lustrous shine.

All the Smooth Treatment requires is the washing of hair to remove any oil or residue, pop on the treatment cream for 45 minutes, wash it off, blow dry and then flat iron the hair to finish. That’s it!

Took a quick sneaky shot of the ingredients because I wanted to know what was in the treatment

The Treatment

I had the opportunity to have Neil Cleminson, who’s the co-founder, creative and technical director of bhave, work his magic on my hair. He’s such a lovely person to talk to with over 20 years of experience in the “hair business” (he used to manage a Hob Salon, which is one of the most prestigious hair salons in the UK). Before the treatment began, Neil walked me through the bhave range, their benefits, their point of difference, the difference between the Rescue treatment and the Smooth treatment. He taught me a lot about keratin treatments and why a lot of salons offering the treatments do them wrongly (they break the bonds with the keratin treatment. Over time, hair becomes very damaged and brittle).

There are a few different keratin technologies but bhave uses raw natural keratin – otherwise known as functional keratin which is derived from the wool of NZ sheep. This is almost identical in DNA to the keratin found in our own hair and skin and it has ability to enter the hair’s cortex and repair and restore even the most damaged hair from the inside out. Hydrolysed keratin has no reparative or restorative properties due to the processing it undergoes but in saying that hydrolysed keratin is a good cosmetic filler. It fills in the gaps/porosity in the hair and makes it feel and look smoother. However, it washes out. Raw natural keratin actually has the ability to penetrate the hair’s cortex to repair and restore hair.

Here’s the process of the treatment. As you’ll see, it’s pretty quick and easy.

1. My hair was washed with a clarifying shampoo to get rid of any product buildup.
2. Neil applied the bhave Smoothe Plus Intense Keratin Treatment on my hair, carefully brushing and combing them through.
3. Once the product is on my hair, we waited for 45 minutes. In the meantime, we had a coffee and chatted more about Neil’s life in South Africa (where he’s from), UK (where he migrated the first time) and Australia (second migration). What a fascinating man!
4. Once the 45 minutes are up, he lightly rinsed the product out.
5. Next, Neil combed my hair to remove as much excess water as possible (no towel drying as it absorbs the product from the hair. Combing minimises loss of product).
6. Neil blow-dried my hair and carefully used a flat iron on my hair.
7. That’s it! All done. Including the waiting time, the whole process took about 2 hours. Could have taken less but we were too busy chatting. 😛

Before and right after the treatment

The Results

Right after the treatment, my hair felt incredibly soft. It looked smooth and straight, but not poker straight as there was still a bit of volume at the roots. There was a lot of flyaway hair from regrowth that needed to be tamed with hair serum (Neil used bhave’s Riot Control Oil as it contained no water, only oil and silicone which is okay to use on hair right after the treatment). No water is to touch my hair within the next 48 hours. There’s to be absolutely no tying of hair either to avoid any kinks forming in the hair.

After the first wash, my hair was no longer that straight. There was movement at the roots and ends but what was missing was frizz. I never get frizz-less hair after blow-drying my hair with a hairdryer or even leaving it to air-dry. NEVER. This time, it was smooth, it was sleek but it still had volume. Best of all, I didn’t need to use a flat iron on it the next day. Nor after the next wash and the next, oh I don’t know, 36 washes?

Incredible. Bloody incredible.

The Caveat

Something you must be aware of for the Smooth Treatment is that it will lighten your hair quite significantly. I had a dark-ish balayage prior to the treatment but as you can see in the before-after photo, my hair became a lot lighter. I wouldn’t say I was practically blonde after the treatment but there was a significant difference in colour.

If you’ve recently coloured your hair but would still like to try the bhave Smooth Treatment, I highly recommend that you only get the treatment done when it’s time to recolour your hair. If you get the Smooth Treatment done after you’ve coloured your hair, the treatment will strip most of the colour away.

The Verdict

As you can see from the whole heap of selfies that while the volume of hair has started to show a month after the treatment, one thing is absent and that’s frizz. It has now been slightly over 3 months since the treatment and I have only used the flat iron on my hair once.

For someone who had to use the flat iron every other day, this is a significant improvement. More than significant, in fact. Absolutely epic. What I love most about the results is that I’m not left with flat, dead straight hair. It still has a lot of bounce and movement in it but it’s not frizzy. Again, not needing to touch the flat iron for the past 3 months (except for once in Japan but that’s only because it was incredibly hot and humid that particular day) is simply wonderful. Even my regular hairstylist and all-round hair ninja Jacky noticed how different my hair was and how easy it was to work with.

Of course, this doesn’t last as long as those Asian-style permanent straightening treatments. I’d be counting my lucky stars if my current hair status lasts past the 4th month, which is how long it’s supposed to last. At the time of writing, my hair is now shorter and while it’s not as sleek as the first 2 months, the frizz is still very well managed. I don’t have to use the flat iron if I don’t want to, which is a very good thing because before the treatment, I cannot leave the house without ironing my hair first.

Oh and if you’re wondering if the treatment damaged my hair, it didn’t. I didn’t notice any deterioration in the condition of my hair. Usually, after the usual Asian-style permanent straightening treatments, my hair would feel dry at the ends but I experienced no such thing with the bhave Smooth Treatment. There weren’t any more split ends than usual nor did my hair feel brittle.

If you have unmanageable frizzy hair like mine and you find yourself reaching for the flat iron one too many times, I cannot recommend the bhave Smooth Treatment enough. It will change your hair and your life. I’ll definitely be going back for another treatment the moment I realise I need to use the flat iron regularly again.

Zoe Foster-Blake also had hers done by Neil and she had hers done right before she gave birth. Do check out her review too and especially to read all the way to the bottom of her post.

Hook me up!

As I’m based in Melbourne, I had mine done at the Reveur Cheveux Salon at McKinnon. There are a number of salons that offer the bhave Smoothe Treatment as well (another one is the Prive Salon at Chadstone Shopping Centre). If you’d like to know which salons near you that offer bhave hair products and the Smooth Treatment, please call bhave at 1300 40 20 64 or email them here.

Disclaimer: I was a guest of bhave and was offered a complimentary bhave Smooth Treatment. Future services will be on my own coin which I’m more than happy to pay for.