Zoltan Hair · Mayfair · A Down treatment
Straightment Semi
The gentlest thing I do. Frizz gone and shine up, volume eased, and your curl pattern left exactly where it is — your waves stay waves, they simply stop misbehaving in weather.
See prices & bookAll Down treatmentsby length and density
wave eased 30–50%
washes out, no line
Before anything else
Everything you do to your hair costs it something. Including nothing.
This is the part most salons leave out, so I would rather you had it first.
Think about a bag you actually like
Not the one in the box — the one you have carried every day for three years. Rained on. Put down on the floor of the tube. Stuffed too full. Keys rattling around in it. It does not look like it did in the shop and it never will again. That is not neglect. That is what carrying it every day does.
Your hair has been with you far longer
The lengths on hair past your shoulders are often four, five, six years old — grown, then worn, every single day since. Rain. Sun. Hard London water. A hairband. A brush pulled through it when you are late. A towel. A pillow. A blow-dry. An iron at 200 degrees because it would not sit down otherwise. None of it dramatic, all of it adding up — and unlike skin, hair does not repair itself. What happens to it stays happened.
And you never notice you are doing it
Nobody stands at the mirror thinking that is damage. You put it up because it is windy. You go over it again because one bit will not sit down. You rub it dry because you are late. It is automatic, it is every day, and it is a couple of thousand small decisions a year that nobody counts. A treatment is the one thing on that list you actually decide to do — which is why it feels like the risky one, and why it gets all the blame.
So the honest question is not “will this damage my hair?”
Everything does. The question is what you spend, and what you get back for it.
Yes, it has a cost
I will not pretend otherwise. It changes the structure of the hair, and that is the whole reason it works.
But it is not only a cost
The cuticle gets sealed, so the hair holds moisture instead of losing it. It reflects light properly, so it looks and feels better than it did — and that is genuine, not a trick of the blow-dry. Most people's hair is in better condition after a well-chosen treatment than before it, because the thing being repaired is the damage they were already doing.
And the daily spend drops
Hair that lies down does not get gone over five times with an iron. Hair that is not fighting you does not get brushed hard when you are rushing. Hair that dries smooth does not need thirty minutes of heat every morning. For a lot of people the damage they stop doing is larger than the damage I do.
It only works if there is something to spend
That is my part of it — choosing chemistry the hair can actually afford. Some hair has already spent more than it had, and for that hair the answer is no, or not yet. You will get told which one you are.
What I promise
The three numbers, honestly
An honest range, not a headline. This is the lightest treatment on the menu and I would rather undersell it than have you expect straight hair.
Salon time
45 minutes – 1.5 hours
The shortest appointment I do. Forty-five minutes on short or fine hair, up to an hour and a half on long or dense hair.
How much it takes out
Frizz 80–90% · texture barely changed
Be clear about this one: it is not a big change. Frizz goes and shine comes up. Your texture is very nearly where it was — softened at the edges, nothing more. This is emphatically not a straightening treatment, and anyone selling it to you as one is misleading you. If you want your hair to look different, this is the wrong treatment and I will say so.
How long it lasts
6–10 weeks
It washes out gradually with no demarcation line and no shelf. Repeated every six to eight weeks it becomes cumulative — each one builds on the last, and the result gets better rather than the hair getting worse.
What it actually does
Not what the marketing says. What happens to the hair.
It works on the surface and just under it
This one does not go deep. It smooths and seals the cuticle and fills the small gaps in it, rather than reaching in and rebuilding the hair’s internal structure. That is precisely why it is gentle, why it is quick, and why it fades rather than growing out.
Your curl pattern is not touched
Because the internal links are largely left alone, your hair keeps its own shape and its own bounce. What changes is how the surface behaves — and frizz is a surface problem, which is why this fixes so much of it.
Little heat, and often none
Because the work happens at the surface, the iron is barely used and frequently not at all. Every other smoothing treatment on this site relies on heat as the mechanism. This one does not — which is the single clearest reason it is the gentlest thing I offer.
It is the safe way to start
If you have never had a treatment and are nervous, start here. Nothing about it commits you to anything, it grows out invisibly, and it tells us both how your hair responds before we consider anything stronger.
Why a treatment, rather than just looking after it better?
A fair question, and the honest answer is not the one that flatters me.
In an ideal world you would not need me
You would come in every few weeks for a conditioning treatment, and in between you would tie it up, air-dry it and leave it alone. That works. It genuinely does.
But almost nobody in London lives that way
Most of the people who sit in my chair are one of two. Either they can afford the upkeep and have not got the two hours a month — the standing appointment is the first thing cancelled, every time, because something at work moved. Or the time is not the problem and the money is, and a couple of hundred pounds a month on something that lasts three weeks is simply not a sensible way to spend it.
Either way you end up in the same place
Hair that never gets properly looked after, and gets fought with instead. Rushed. Ironed. Pulled up. Every day.
That is the actual case for this
One appointment, and the hair looks after itself for months. Not because it is magic and not because it is free — it costs your hair something and I have been straight with you about that. But it turns the upkeep from something you have to keep finding time and money for into something you did once. For most people that is the only version that survives contact with a real life.
And if you are someone who can do the standing appointment and the careful routine — tell me. That is a legitimate answer and I will say so.
In the chair
What actually happens on the day
Under an hour, and nothing that should surprise you.
1 · Read and clarify
I read the hair — pattern, frizz, damage — then wash with a clarifying shampoo to strip product, oils and the mineral build-up London water leaves. Nothing gets into coated hair, and this step is why treatments fail elsewhere.
2 · Apply
Applied section by section and left to develop. Timed to the hair rather than to a clock: porosity decides how fast it moves.
3 · Blow-dry and shape
Dried in with tension and direction. This is where the shape you will live with is decided.
4 · Little or no iron
This is where Semi genuinely differs. Often there is no iron at all; sometimes a very light pass, and that is all. The stronger treatments depend on heat to drive a reaction into the hair — this one does its work on the surface and just under it, so it does not need forcing in. Less heat, less asked of the hair, and a large part of why it can go on hair that cannot take anything else.
5 · Nothing is rinsed out
No neutraliser and no rinse at the basin. The treatment leaves in your hair and carries on settling, which is why the next two days matter.
6 · Your first wash — at home
Warm water, a mild shampoo, dried smooth rather than left to dry in a bend. Forty-eight hours is what I recommend; the same day is possible and I will tell you which yours is.
What you actually get
Frizz gone
Through rain and humidity. London never drops below about 66% and peaks at 85% in December — this is a year-round problem here, not a summer one.
Your curl kept
The whole point. You keep the hair you have; it simply behaves. Nobody will be able to tell you have had anything done.
Shine
A smoothed, sealed cuticle reflects light. This is the treatment people book before a photograph or an event for exactly that reason.
No commitment
It fades out invisibly. There is no line, no shelf and no decision you are stuck with.
Who it suits — and who it does not
The honest test is simple: do you want your hair to behave, or do you want it to change? This one only does the first.
Ideal
W8 – C6 · frizz at F1 – F2
Loose wave to loose curl where the complaint is frizz and unpredictability rather than volume or curl itself. You keep exactly the hair you have; it simply stops misbehaving in weather.
Excellent for curly hair that wants to stay curly
C4 – Z1 · curls kept, frizz gone
One of the best things I do for curly and coily hair. Because it does not break the bonds, your curl pattern is left intact — the frizz around it disappears and the curls themselves become defined rather than fuzzy. If you love your curls and only hate the frizz, this is the treatment, not a smoothing one.
Also very good for
Any pattern at D · damaged, coloured or bleached
Because it is gentle, uses little or no heat and does not restructure anything, this is often the only thing I will do on hair that cannot take something stronger.
The wrong choice if
You want less volume or a real change
If the goal is bulk removed, curl softened properly, or hair that dries close to straight, this will disappoint you — and I would rather tell you now than take the booking. You want Straightment Demi. Come and let me look rather than guessing from a page.
Book a mini consultation →No surprises
Things I would rather you heard from me than found out in the chair
None of this is in anybody else's brochure. It is all true, and knowing it in advance is the difference between a surprise and a plan.
It will smell
Anything heated to 200 degrees smells — think of food. Your own mousse or styling product on there smells too. Some treatments frankly smell like wet dog for a day. I work next to an open window and it clears, but I am not going to pretend it does not happen.
Some treatments shift your colour
Not all, but some will lift or warm what is already on your hair. If that applies to yours I will tell you before we start and we plan around it. I spent years as a colourist, so this is a conversation rather than a surprise at the mirror.
It can go flat
Certain hair looks bouncy for a fortnight and then sits down. I can usually work around it — leaving the roots alone, choosing a lighter strength, changing where I place the tension. But only if I know beforehand that volume matters to you. Say it at the consultation, not afterwards.
Damage is the thing we are trying not to do
These are chemical services and they are not free. Done properly on suitable hair the trade is small and worth it. Done wrong, or on hair that has already been through too much, it is breakage — which is exactly why sometimes the answer is no.
The first two visits, we are getting to know each other
This is the most useful thing on the page, and the thing almost nobody says out loud.
The first appointment is a learning appointment
I do not know your hair yet — and I do not know you. I know the chemistry; I do not yet know how yours takes it, what the last person left in it, or the life it has to survive: your mornings, your training, your travel, how much time you will honestly give it. So I work carefully the first time, and careful means slightly under rather than slightly over. That is deliberate. I can always add more next time. I cannot take it back out.
The second visit is where it comes together
By then I have seen how your hair behaved, how long it held and what it did in week six — and you have lived with it, and can tell me what you actually thought. Now I can push further or pull back with something real to go on. If the first result is good but not quite it, that is not a failure. That is the information.
My “perfect” and your “perfect” may not be the same thing
I might look at your hair and see a result I am pleased with — even, healthy, doing exactly what the chemistry should do. You might look in the mirror and want it flatter, or curlier, or with more root left in. Neither of us is wrong. We are looking at different things.
So tell me, in your own words
Tell me what you want it to look like before we start, and tell me afterwards if it is not that. Not to complain — so I can adjust it next time. The clients whose hair I get right consistently are almost always the ones who told me what they actually wanted on visit two.
And the honest end of it: maybe I am not the right stylist for you. I am not saying I am — I am trying, and by the second visit we will both know. I would rather give you that sentence than a guarantee nobody could honestly make.
This is not keratin, and I will not pretend it is.
Hair botox · Glass hair · Hair lamination · Hair polishing · Gloss treatment · Shine treatment
Straightment Semi belongs to the botox and gloss class: fast, simple, inexpensive, worked on the surface of the hair rather than into its structure. It is the cheapest thing on my menu and it is meant to be.
It is not a keratin treatment, and you should be suspicious of anyone who sells you something like this as one — keratin commands three times the price, and this class of treatment is routinely relabelled to collect it. A keratin or plastia treatment goes into the cortex, needs an iron to drive the reaction, takes two to four hours and lasts months. This takes under an hour, often uses no iron at all, and lasts six to ten weeks.
If what you actually need is the stronger family, that is Straightment Demi — a different treatment at a different price, and I would rather sell you the right one than the cheap one. Read the keratin family guide to see exactly where the line falls, or the complete guide. Both free.
Colour
When to do your colour
The single most common mistake, and the one that costs the most to undo. Colour and smoothing chemistry pull against each other — the order matters, and it is not the same order for every version of this treatment.
If we use a keratin or protein system
Colour first
Colour before the smoothing, or the same day immediately before it. Once the cuticle is sealed down, colour struggles to get in and takes unevenly.
If we use an acid or plastia system
Colour after
Acid plus heat can lift the hair one to three shades and pull warmth through a toner. We treat first, let it settle, then colour to the shade you actually end up with.
Bleach and highlights
The real conversation
Bleach is not colour — it is damage with a colour result. Tell me the bleach history before anything else, including work done years ago. It is still in there.
Which system yours needs is decided at the consultation — so the honest answer to “should I colour first?” is ask me before you book the colour, not after.
Skin test
I do not routinely do one for straightening or perming, and there is no blanket UK requirement for these services — it is the product manufacturer and the insurer that drive it, not the law. Where a specific product calls for one, I will tell you and we will do it. Hair colour is a different matter: there it is effectively mandatory.
Strand and elasticity testing
Also not routine. I read the hair at the consultation and again on the day. Where I judge it necessary, I will say so before we start — and we test before anything else happens, rather than finding out halfway through.
What actually protects the hair
Knowing what has already been done to it. Colour history, previous chemistry and how it was cared for tell me more than any test — which is why I ask for the history before I ask what you want.
Making it last
The first 48 hours
Recommended, not compulsory. Leaving the shampoo out for 48 hours gives the best result — but washing the same day is possible, and I will tell you honestly whether yours needs the wait. A soft tie is fine; what marks it is anything tight, a hard clip, or hair jammed behind your ears for hours.
What you wash it with
You do not have to give up lather. The rule is not “no sulphates ever” — it is no harsh ones. A gentle sulphate cleanser is fine; heavy strippers and salt-loaded formulas shorten the result, and washing daily shortens it further. Two or three mild washes a week is the whole of it.
Not sure about the one in your shower? Send me a photo of the ingredient list and I will tell you whether to keep it — whether you booked with me or not.
London water
Thames Water classifies its entire supply as hard. Peer-reviewed work shows chemically treated hair binds considerably more mineral than untreated hair, because processing creates the sites minerals attach to — and that build-up stiffens the fibre and costs you the finish. A periodic chelating wash addresses it.
The terms, plainly
The same glossary appears on every treatment page here, so the language means the same thing wherever you read it — with what each term means for this particular treatment underneath.
pH
The acid-to-alkaline scale. Hair sits at about 4.5–5.5, slightly acidic. Alkaline products swell and open the cuticle so chemistry can get in — more change, more cost to the hair. Acid products close and smooth it — gentler, shinier, less penetration.
On Straightment Semi: works on the acid side. The cuticle is smoothed and closed rather than swollen open, which is why it asks so little of the hair and why it suits hair that other treatments would refuse.
Disulfide bonds
The strong, permanent sulphur-to-sulphur links. They give hair both its strength and its bounce. Hydrogen bonds, by contrast, are weak and temporary — broken by water and heat, which is why a blow-dry drops in the rain.
On Straightment Semi: barely touched. Semi does not break and reform them — which is exactly why it fades instead of growing out, and why your curl pattern survives it.
Porosity
How easily hair absorbs and holds water and chemicals. High porosity means a raised, damaged cuticle: it soaks product up fast and processes quickly and unevenly. Low porosity is resistant and needs more time.
On Straightment Semi: decides how long it lasts. Porous hair drinks it in and loses it faster too, which is why repeating it every six to eight weeks makes it cumulative.
Bounce (elasticity)
The ability to stretch and spring back, governed almost entirely by disulfide bond health. You can impose a shape on almost any hair. You cannot impose bounce — it has to be earned from healthy bonds.
On Straightment Semi: untouched. Your hair keeps its own spring, because the bonds that provide it are left alone.
Reduction and neutralisation
The two-step chemistry of any perm or relaxer. Reduction breaks the bonds so the hair can be reshaped; neutralisation reforms them in the new shape and locks it in.
On Straightment Semi: neither applies. There is no reduction and no neutralisation here at all. Nothing is broken, so nothing needs reforming — and no neutraliser is used or rinsed.
Processing time
Timed to the hair, not to a clock on the wall. Porosity, texture and history all change how fast a treatment develops.
On Straightment Semi: under an hour, start to finish. The shortest appointment on the menu.
Read further
Where this sits in the wider family
The free guides covering each tradition — what is in them, where they came from and who they suit.
Keratin & protein family
Every semi and demi-permanent smoothing treatment that coats and fills the hair rather than permanently restructuring it.
Open the guide →Brazilian & plastia
Nanoplastia, taninoplastia and their siblings — built on organic acids rather than aldehydes.
Open the guide →Japanese & Chinese systems
Shukumo kyosei, permanent thermal reconditioning, and the acid-heat systems built for damaged hair.
Open the guide →Rebonding family
Asia's structural straightening tiers, up to permanent pin-straight.
Open the guide →Korean systems
Magic straight, down perm, and the approach that straightens while keeping root lift.
Open the guide →The complete guide
Every smoothing and straightening treatment sold anywhere in the world, in one place.
Start here →Questions people actually ask
Will it straighten my hair?
No, and it is not meant to. It is not a big change in texture at all — it takes the frizz out and puts shine in, and leaves your pattern where it is. If you want straight, or even noticeably smoother, you want Straightment Demi or Permanent. I would rather point you there than take your money for the wrong thing.
Will it make my curls drop out?
No. This is the treatment for people who want to keep their curl — the bonds that hold your pattern are not broken. What goes is the frizz around the curl, which usually makes the curls look more defined, not less.
Is it safe on bleached hair?
Usually yes — this is often the only treatment I will do on heavily processed hair, precisely because it does not restructure anything. Bring me the bleach history and I will tell you honestly.
Can I have it before a wedding or an event?
It is the best one for that. Book it about a week before rather than the day before, so it has settled and you have washed it once.
How often can I have it?
Every six to eight weeks quite happily, and it is cumulative — repeated treatments build on each other and the result improves.
Can I wash it the same day?
Often yes. Forty-eight hours is what I recommend for the best result, but same-day washing is possible and I will tell you which yours is before you leave.
Is it safe if I am pregnant or breastfeeding?
That is not my decision to make for you. What I will do is give you the full ingredient list for the exact product I would use, so you can put it in front of your midwife, GP or pharmacist and decide with someone qualified.
Does it damage my hair?
This is the gentlest thing on the menu — it does not break and rebuild the hair’s internal structure. Anything that changes hair is doing something to it, but of everything I offer, this asks the least.
Real prices, published.
Four questions about your hair and the calculator gives you the exact price for your length and texture, and the appointment to book. No “from” prices that grow once you are in the chair.
See prices & bookAll Down treatmentsNot sure this is the right one? A mini consultation online is £9.95 — it is not a deposit and it does not come off the treatment, and every treatment includes a full consultation on the day at no charge.
Zoltan Hair · Mayfair · A Down treatment
Straightment Light
The gentlest thing I do. Frizz gone and shine up, volume eased, and your curl pattern left exactly where it is — your waves stay waves, they simply stop misbehaving in weather.
See prices & bookAll Down treatmentsby length and density
wave eased 30–50%
washes out, no line
What I promise
The three numbers, honestly
An honest range, not a headline. This is the lightest treatment on the menu and I would rather undersell it than have you expect straight hair.
Salon time
45 minutes – 1.5 hours
The shortest appointment I do. Forty-five minutes on short or fine hair, up to an hour and a half on long or dense hair.
How much it takes out
Frizz 80–90% · texture barely changed
Be clear about this one: it is not a big change. Frizz goes and shine comes up. Your texture is very nearly where it was — softened at the edges, nothing more. This is emphatically not a straightening treatment, and anyone selling it to you as one is misleading you. If you want your hair to look different, this is the wrong treatment and I will say so.
How long it lasts
6–10 weeks
It washes out gradually with no demarcation line and no shelf. Repeated every six to eight weeks it becomes cumulative — each one builds on the last, and the result gets better rather than the hair getting worse.
What it actually does
Not what the marketing says. What happens to the hair.
It works on the surface and just under it
This one does not go deep. It smooths and seals the cuticle and fills the small gaps in it, rather than reaching in and rebuilding the hair’s internal structure. That is precisely why it is gentle, why it is quick, and why it fades rather than growing out.
Your curl pattern is not touched
Because the internal links are largely left alone, your hair keeps its own shape and its own bounce. What changes is how the surface behaves — and frizz is a surface problem, which is why this fixes so much of it.
Little heat, and often none
Because the work happens at the surface, the iron is barely used and frequently not at all. Every other smoothing treatment on this site relies on heat as the mechanism. This one does not — which is the single clearest reason it is the gentlest thing I offer.
It is the safe way to start
If you have never had a treatment and are nervous, start here. Nothing about it commits you to anything, it grows out invisibly, and it tells us both how your hair responds before we consider anything stronger.
In the chair
What actually happens on the day
Under an hour, and nothing that should surprise you.
1 · Read and clarify
I read the hair — pattern, frizz, damage — then wash with a clarifying shampoo to strip product, oils and the mineral build-up London water leaves. Nothing gets into coated hair, and this step is why treatments fail elsewhere.
2 · Apply
Applied section by section and left to develop. Timed to the hair rather than to a clock: porosity decides how fast it moves.
3 · Blow-dry and shape
Dried in with tension and direction. This is where the shape you will live with is decided.
4 · Little or no iron
This is where Light genuinely differs. Often there is no iron at all; sometimes a very light pass, and that is all. The stronger treatments depend on heat to drive a reaction into the hair — this one does its work on the surface and just under it, so it does not need forcing in. Less heat, less asked of the hair, and a large part of why it can go on hair that cannot take anything else.
5 · Nothing is rinsed out
No neutraliser and no rinse at the basin. The treatment leaves in your hair and carries on settling, which is why the next two days matter.
6 · Your first wash — at home
Warm water, a mild shampoo, dried smooth rather than left to dry in a bend. Forty-eight hours is what I recommend; the same day is possible and I will tell you which yours is.
What you actually get
Frizz gone
Through rain and humidity. London never drops below about 66% and peaks at 85% in December — this is a year-round problem here, not a summer one.
Your curl kept
The whole point. You keep the hair you have; it simply behaves. Nobody will be able to tell you have had anything done.
Shine
A smoothed, sealed cuticle reflects light. This is the treatment people book before a photograph or an event for exactly that reason.
No commitment
It fades out invisibly. There is no line, no shelf and no decision you are stuck with.
Who it suits — and who it does not
The honest test is simple: do you want your hair to behave, or do you want it to change? This one only does the first.
Ideal
W8 – C6 · frizz at F1 – F2
Loose wave to loose curl where the complaint is frizz and unpredictability rather than volume or curl itself. You keep exactly the hair you have; it simply stops misbehaving in weather.
Excellent for curly hair that wants to stay curly
C4 – Z1 · curls kept, frizz gone
One of the best things I do for curly and coily hair. Because it does not break the bonds, your curl pattern is left intact — the frizz around it disappears and the curls themselves become defined rather than fuzzy. If you love your curls and only hate the frizz, this is the treatment, not a smoothing one.
Also very good for
Any pattern at D · damaged, coloured or bleached
Because it is gentle, uses little or no heat and does not restructure anything, this is often the only thing I will do on hair that cannot take something stronger.
The wrong choice if
You want less volume or a real change
If the goal is bulk removed, curl softened properly, or hair that dries close to straight, this will disappoint you — and I would rather tell you now than take the booking. You want Straightment Demi. Come and let me look rather than guessing from a page.
Book a mini consultation →This is not keratin, and I will not pretend it is.
Hair botox · Glass hair · Hair lamination · Hair polishing · Gloss treatment · Shine treatment
Straightment Light belongs to the botox and gloss class: fast, simple, inexpensive, worked on the surface of the hair rather than into its structure. It is the cheapest thing on my menu and it is meant to be.
It is not a keratin treatment, and you should be suspicious of anyone who sells you something like this as one — keratin commands three times the price, and this class of treatment is routinely relabelled to collect it. A keratin or plastia treatment goes into the cortex, needs an iron to drive the reaction, takes two to four hours and lasts months. This takes under an hour, often uses no iron at all, and lasts six to ten weeks.
If what you actually need is the stronger family, that is Straightment Demi — a different treatment at a different price, and I would rather sell you the right one than the cheap one. Read the keratin family guide to see exactly where the line falls, or the complete guide. Both free.
Colour
When to do your colour
The single most common mistake, and the one that costs the most to undo. Colour and smoothing chemistry pull against each other — the order matters, and it is not the same order for every version of this treatment.
If we use a keratin or protein system
Colour first
Colour before the smoothing, or the same day immediately before it. Once the cuticle is sealed down, colour struggles to get in and takes unevenly.
If we use an acid or plastia system
Colour after
Acid plus heat can lift the hair one to three shades and pull warmth through a toner. We treat first, let it settle, then colour to the shade you actually end up with.
Bleach and highlights
The real conversation
Bleach is not colour — it is damage with a colour result. Tell me the bleach history before anything else, including work done years ago. It is still in there.
Which system yours needs is decided at the consultation — so the honest answer to “should I colour first?” is ask me before you book the colour, not after.
Skin test
I do not routinely do one for straightening or perming, and there is no blanket UK requirement for these services — it is the product manufacturer and the insurer that drive it, not the law. Where a specific product calls for one, I will tell you and we will do it. Hair colour is a different matter: there it is effectively mandatory.
Strand and elasticity testing
Also not routine. I read the hair at the consultation and again on the day. Where I judge it necessary, I will say so before we start — and we test before anything else happens, rather than finding out halfway through.
What actually protects the hair
Knowing what has already been done to it. Colour history, previous chemistry and how it was cared for tell me more than any test — which is why I ask for the history before I ask what you want.
Making it last
The first 48 hours
Recommended, not compulsory. Leaving the shampoo out for 48 hours gives the best result — but washing the same day is possible, and I will tell you honestly whether yours needs the wait. A soft tie is fine; what marks it is anything tight, a hard clip, or hair jammed behind your ears for hours.
What you wash it with
You do not have to give up lather. The rule is not “no sulphates ever” — it is no harsh ones. A gentle sulphate cleanser is fine; heavy strippers and salt-loaded formulas shorten the result, and washing daily shortens it further. Two or three mild washes a week is the whole of it.
Not sure about the one in your shower? Send me a photo of the ingredient list and I will tell you whether to keep it — whether you booked with me or not.
London water
Thames Water classifies its entire supply as hard. Peer-reviewed work shows chemically treated hair binds considerably more mineral than untreated hair, because processing creates the sites minerals attach to — and that build-up stiffens the fibre and costs you the finish. A periodic chelating wash addresses it.
The terms, plainly
The same glossary appears on every treatment page here, so the language means the same thing wherever you read it — with what each term means for this particular treatment underneath.
pH
The acid-to-alkaline scale. Hair sits at about 4.5–5.5, slightly acidic. Alkaline products swell and open the cuticle so chemistry can get in — more change, more cost to the hair. Acid products close and smooth it — gentler, shinier, less penetration.
On Straightment Light: works on the acid side. The cuticle is smoothed and closed rather than swollen open, which is why it asks so little of the hair and why it suits hair that other treatments would refuse.
Disulfide bonds
The strong, permanent sulphur-to-sulphur links. They give hair both its strength and its bounce. Hydrogen bonds, by contrast, are weak and temporary — broken by water and heat, which is why a blow-dry drops in the rain.
On Straightment Light: barely touched. Light does not break and reform them — which is exactly why it fades instead of growing out, and why your curl pattern survives it.
Porosity
How easily hair absorbs and holds water and chemicals. High porosity means a raised, damaged cuticle: it soaks product up fast and processes quickly and unevenly. Low porosity is resistant and needs more time.
On Straightment Light: decides how long it lasts. Porous hair drinks it in and loses it faster too, which is why repeating it every six to eight weeks makes it cumulative.
Bounce (elasticity)
The ability to stretch and spring back, governed almost entirely by disulfide bond health. You can impose a shape on almost any hair. You cannot impose bounce — it has to be earned from healthy bonds.
On Straightment Light: untouched. Your hair keeps its own spring, because the bonds that provide it are left alone.
Reduction and neutralisation
The two-step chemistry of any perm or relaxer. Reduction breaks the bonds so the hair can be reshaped; neutralisation reforms them in the new shape and locks it in.
On Straightment Light: neither applies. There is no reduction and no neutralisation here at all. Nothing is broken, so nothing needs reforming — and no neutraliser is used or rinsed.
Processing time
Timed to the hair, not to a clock on the wall. Porosity, texture and history all change how fast a treatment develops.
On Straightment Light: under an hour, start to finish. The shortest appointment on the menu.
Read further
Where this sits in the wider family
The free guides covering each tradition — what is in them, where they came from and who they suit.
Keratin & protein family
Every semi and demi-permanent smoothing treatment that coats and fills the hair rather than permanently restructuring it.
Open the guide →Brazilian & plastia
Nanoplastia, taninoplastia and their siblings — built on organic acids rather than aldehydes.
Open the guide →Japanese & Chinese systems
Shukumo kyosei, permanent thermal reconditioning, and the acid-heat systems built for damaged hair.
Open the guide →Rebonding family
Asia's structural straightening tiers, up to permanent pin-straight.
Open the guide →Korean systems
Magic straight, down perm, and the approach that straightens while keeping root lift.
Open the guide →The complete guide
Every smoothing and straightening treatment sold anywhere in the world, in one place.
Start here →Questions people actually ask
Will it straighten my hair?
No, and it is not meant to. It is not a big change in texture at all — it takes the frizz out and puts shine in, and leaves your pattern where it is. If you want straight, or even noticeably smoother, you want Straightment Demi or Permanent. I would rather point you there than take your money for the wrong thing.
Will it make my curls drop out?
No. This is the treatment for people who want to keep their curl — the bonds that hold your pattern are not broken. What goes is the frizz around the curl, which usually makes the curls look more defined, not less.
Is it safe on bleached hair?
Usually yes — this is often the only treatment I will do on heavily processed hair, precisely because it does not restructure anything. Bring me the bleach history and I will tell you honestly.
Can I have it before a wedding or an event?
It is the best one for that. Book it about a week before rather than the day before, so it has settled and you have washed it once.
How often can I have it?
Every six to eight weeks quite happily, and it is cumulative — repeated treatments build on each other and the result improves.
Can I wash it the same day?
Often yes. Forty-eight hours is what I recommend for the best result, but same-day washing is possible and I will tell you which yours is before you leave.
Is it safe if I am pregnant or breastfeeding?
That is not my decision to make for you. What I will do is give you the full ingredient list for the exact product I would use, so you can put it in front of your midwife, GP or pharmacist and decide with someone qualified.
Does it damage my hair?
This is the gentlest thing on the menu — it does not break and rebuild the hair’s internal structure. Anything that changes hair is doing something to it, but of everything I offer, this asks the least.
Real prices, published.
Four questions about your hair and the calculator gives you the exact price for your length and texture, and the appointment to book. No “from” prices that grow once you are in the chair.
See prices & bookAll Down treatmentsNot sure this is the right one? A mini consultation online is £9.95 — refunded against your treatment if you book within 30 days.