Keratin, Brazilian Blow Dry & Japanese Hair Straightening in Ireland: Dublin, Cork, Galway and Limerick

Short answer: Ireland is humid. Dublin mornings average 83.5% relative humidity and Cork 87.3%. On top of that, much of the country drinks hard water. That’s frizz from both sides. A smoothing calms it. A permanent (Japanese-style) straightening ends it. Dublin to Heathrow is about an hour and a half.

I’m Zoltan, a texture specialist on Maddox Street, Mayfair, perming since 1991 and straightening since 1999. A permanent straightening only needs roots about once a year, so one flight a year can replace a year of daily ironing.

The air: Ireland’s real hair problem

Met Éireann, 1991–2020 averages:

Station	Rain	Rain days	Humidity 9am	Humidity 3pm
Dublin Airport	773 mm	137	83.5%	73.9%
Cork Airport	1,239 mm	162	87.3%	77.5%
Shannon (Limerick)	1,020 mm	169	83.9%	72.2%

Galway has no station in that set, but Met Éireann says the west generally gets 1,000–1,400 mm a year against 750–1,000 mm in the east.

At that humidity, hair is always taking on water. Water forms temporary hydrogen bonds that pull hair back to its natural shape. That’s why your blow dry lasts until you open the front door. Humidity can’t break the stronger disulphide bonds, and those are the ones a chemical straightener resets.

The water: often hard

Uisce Éireann: “hard water is a natural characteristic of much of Ireland’s drinking water supply.” Figures vary by area. Put your Eircode into their checker. I couldn’t verify city figures, so I’m not quoting any. Hard water leaves minerals on hair, and the research is mixed on whether that damages it. What I see is rougher, duller hair and smoothings that seem to fade sooner. Clarify every couple of weeks.

Which treatment

• Frizz, keep your curl → Straightment Semi, back after 1–4 months.
• The Brazilian blow dry / keratin result: calmer, looser, dries better → Straightment Demi. About 60% of the curl out, and it stays out; roots after 4–8 months.
• Straight in 87% humidity → Straightment Permanent (the Japanese-straightening family). 80%+ of the curl out on treated hair, for good. Roots after 6–18 months.

Straight talk: “Brazilian blow dry Dublin” is one of Google’s own suggestions, and there are good Dublin salons doing it. If you’re flying to me, though, fly for the one that lasts. A light smoothing and a plane ticket is not a clever combination.

More straight talk → The Brief

Booking in Ireland

Choose a salon that names the product and its active ingredient, strand tests coloured or previously treated hair, asks your full history (box dye, henna, relaxer, earlier keratin), and never overlaps a permanent straightener. The formaldehyde rules in Ireland follow EU law, which lowered the “releases formaldehyde” labelling threshold to 0.001%.

Coming to Mayfair

• Flights: Dublin–Heathrow about 1h25–1h35 (Aer Lingus, British Airways); Dublin–London City 1h35; Cork–Heathrow 1h30; Shannon–Heathrow 1h35.
• The Elizabeth line runs direct from Heathrow to Bond Street in about half an hour. Maddox Street is a short walk.
• £9.95 online consultation first. Prices are in pounds: Semi £149.95–£269.95; Demi all-over from £199.95; Permanent all-over from £299.95.

More: keratin vs Japanese vs Brazilian · is keratin safe

— Zoltan

Sources

• Met Éireann 1991–2020: Dublin Airport, Cork Airport, Shannon Airport; Met Éireann — rainfall
• Uisce Éireann — hard water
• EU Regulation 2022/1181
• FlightConnections: DUB–LHR, ORK–LHR, SNN–LHR; Aer Lingus — London to Dublin
• Smithsonian — humidity and hair