Keratin & Hair Straightening in the East of England: Cambridge, Norwich, Chelmsford, Essex, Suffolk and Hertfordshire

Short answer: East Anglia is the UK’s dry corner, but it drinks hard water. So your hair’s main enemy here isn’t the weather, it’s mineral build-up. That makes hair feel rough and makes smoothing treatments seem to fade sooner. Choose a treatment that works inside the hair rather than just coating it, and clarify regularly.

I’m Zoltan, on Maddox Street, Mayfair: perming since 1991, straightening since 1999. Cambridge is 49 minutes from London on the fastest train, Chelmsford 27.

The weather: the driest region

Met Office 1991–2020: Cambridge 559 mm of rain and 107 rain days a year, the driest figure in this whole regional series. Coltishall, near Norwich, gets 684 mm over 123 days. Compare that with 155+ days in Cornwall or the Lake District. For frizz, that’s good news: less damp air, fewer hydrogen bonds pulling hair back into shape.

The water: hard

Anglian Water says its groundwater comes from chalk and limestone, and that’s why it’s hard. It doesn’t publish city-by-city figures on the page I checked. Put your postcode into Anglian Water’s checker for yours. The Drinking Water Inspectorate calls anything over 200 mg/l “hard”.

The science on hard water and hair is mixed. One study found no loss of strength, another found more mineral sitting on the hair surface. What I see from the chair is rough, dull hair that tangles, and smoothings that seem to give up early.

What helps:

• A chelating/clarifying shampoo every couple of weeks.
• A demi-permanent smoothing over a light one. It changes the hair, so it doesn’t rely on a coating the minerals can dull.

Which treatment

• Frizz only → Straightment Semi, back after 1–4 months (sooner in very hard water).
• The keratin / Brazilian blow dry result → Straightment Demi. About 60% of the curl out, and it stays out; roots after 4–8 months.
• Straight (the Japanese-straightening family) → Straightment Permanent. 80%+ of the curl out on the treated hair, for good.

Straight talk: If you’ve been told your keratin “wore off in three weeks”, check your water before you blame the salon. Then check the product, because the cheap ones really do wear off in three weeks.

More straight talk → The Brief

Booking locally

Cambridge, Norwich, Chelmsford and Colchester have good salons. Whoever you choose should name the product, strand test coloured or bleached hair, ask your full history and never overlap a permanent straightener.

Coming to Mayfair

Fastest trains: Chelmsford 27 min, Cambridge 49 min, Norwich 1h33. Maddox Street is a short walk from Oxford Circus and Bond Street, and the Elizabeth line runs in from Essex (Shenfield) to Bond Street.

Start with the £9.95 online consultation if you’re unsure. Prices: Semi £149.95–£269.95; Demi all-over starts at £199.95; Permanent all-over starts at £299.95.

More: treatments explained · is keratin safe

— Zoltan

Sources

• Met Office 1991–2020: Cambridge NIAB, Coltishall
• Anglian Water — hard water
• DWI — hardness bands; Srinivasan 2013; IJDVL
• Trainline: Cambridge, Norwich, Chelmsford