A keratin treatment smooths. Protein is laid along the hair shaft and sealed down with heat, which flattens the cuticle. Flat cuticle means less frizz, more shine, and hair that behaves the same on a humid August afternoon as it did when you left the salon.
It is not a permanent straightener, and anyone who sells it to you as one is overselling. Your curl or wave is still in there. It is relaxed, softened and far easier to control — most people notice the difference less in the mirror than in the ten minutes they stop spending on a blow-dry every morning.
On the menu it is Keratin / Protein Treatment — from $200, 2 hr 30 min. That is the highest-priced single service Artistly offers, and it is the one that changes the most about your week. Zahara is the artist who performs it.
What actually happens in the chair.
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01
Zahara looks at your hair first
Condition, colour history, how much breakage is already there. Hair that has been bleached hard behaves differently under a smoothing treatment, and that gets said before the $200 is committed, not halfway through.
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02
A clarifying wash
The hair is washed to strip out product build-up, minerals and oil. Nothing binds properly to a coated hair shaft, so this step is the difference between four months and six weeks.
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03
The treatment goes on
Applied section by section, root to end, then left to sit. Even coverage is the whole game here — patchy application shows up as patchy smoothness once it is sealed.
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04
Heat seals it in
Blow-dried, then flat-ironed in fine passes to lock the treatment down. This is the slow part of the two and a half hours. You leave with the finished result and your exact aftercare window.
Keratin, a perm, or a 45-minute treatment?
Three different things get asked for in the same sentence. They are not interchangeable.
A keratin / protein treatment smooths and de-frizzes for three to four months. It is the biggest change and the biggest commitment on this list — two and a half hours and from $200. Worth it if frizz, humidity or a long daily blow-dry is the actual problem you are trying to solve.
A perm does the opposite. It builds curl or wave into hair that does not have it — men's from $100, women's from $130. If you want texture rather than smoothness, that is the booking, and you would not want both on the same head at once.
The 45-minute treatments are the lighter option, and they are honest value at $45 to $50. Hydration for dryness, FORTIFY for badly damaged hair, a colour vibrancy booster to hold tone, and a de-frizz treatment that does a smaller, shorter-lived version of what keratin does. They are all on the hair treatments page, and a de-frizz treatment is the cheapest way to find out whether smoothing is what you actually want before spending $200 on it.
Making it last.
Three to four months is the normal range, and where you land inside it is decided almost entirely in your shower. This is the part clients get wrong and then assume the treatment failed.
Sulphate-free shampoo, permanently. Sulphates are detergents. They are very good at stripping things off the hair shaft, and a keratin treatment is a thing on the hair shaft. This single switch does more for longevity than everything else combined.
Wash less often. Every wash costs you a little. Smoothed hair also gets greasy more slowly and holds a style longer, so most people find they can stretch the gap without trying.
Chlorine and lake water are the enemy. A pool-heavy summer shortens a treatment noticeably. Soaking your hair in clean water before you swim helps — hair that is already saturated absorbs less of what it is sitting in.
Use less heat, not more. The whole point is that your hair now needs a fraction of the styling it used to. Ironing it daily at full heat undoes what you paid for.
Most clients rebook at the three to four month mark, when the frizz starts coming back in at the root. It does not need to be redone the moment it fades — the hair goes back to how it was, not worse than it was.
Questions we get asked.
What does a keratin treatment actually do?
It smooths. A keratin or protein treatment lays protein along the hair shaft and seals the cuticle down flat, so the hair sits smoother, frizzes far less in humidity and reflects more light. It is a smoothing treatment, not a permanent straightener. Your curl or wave is still there — it is relaxed and much easier to control, and a blow-dry takes a fraction of the time it used to.
How long does a keratin treatment last?
Typically three to four months. The two things that decide where you land in that range are how often you wash your hair and what you wash it with. Sulphate-free shampoo and fewer washes push you towards four months. Daily washing with a supermarket shampoo, plus chlorine or lake water over a summer, pulls it back closer to two.
How long is the appointment?
Two and a half hours. It is booked as a 2 hr 30 min service and it uses that time — the treatment is applied in sections and then sealed with heat, and neither part can be rushed without costing you weeks of wear. Book it into a clear afternoon rather than a lunch break.
What is the aftercare?
Wait two days before the first wash. In that window keep your hair down and loose: no tight elastics, no clips, no bun, nothing that presses a bend into it while it is still setting. Avoid soaking it, so no pool, no lake and no heavy sweating. After that, move to a sulphate-free shampoo and stay on it.
Does it work on coloured or highlighted hair?
Yes, and it is often exactly what lightened hair wants — it puts protein back and calms the dryness that bleach leaves behind. Order matters. Colour first, keratin after, because a smoothing treatment can lift a little tone out of a fresh colour. Say at booking that you want both so the two appointments get planned in the right sequence rather than fixed afterwards.
Does a keratin treatment damage your hair?
No. Unlike bleach or a perm, it does not lift your natural pigment and it does not break and rebuild the bonds inside the hair — it adds protein and seals it down with heat. What it does not do is repair damage permanently. It makes damaged hair look and behave much better for a few months, and split ends still have to be cut off. If your hair is too compromised for it to be worth the money, Zahara will tell you that before starting rather than after.
How is it different from a perm?
They do opposite jobs. A keratin treatment smooths and relaxes texture. A perm builds curl or wave into hair that does not have it — men's perms from $100, women's from $130. You would not want both on the same head at the same time. If you are unsure which one you are after, describe what you want your hair to do rather than what you think the service is called, and your artist will tell you which one gets you there.
Do you take walk-ins?
We do take walk-ins, but please call 431-844-5500 first to check availability before coming in. A keratin treatment is a two-and-a-half-hour appointment with one specific artist, so it almost never fits into a walk-in gap without notice.
Keratin and protein treatments at Artistly are performed by Zahara, whose focus is hair, colour and brows. She is the only artist on the floor who takes this booking.
Every service and starting price is listed on the booking page. Nothing is "price on request", and your exact price is confirmed in the chair before work starts.
567 St Anne's Rd, Unit 2, Winnipeg — in St Vital, minutes from Southdale, Windsor Park, Island Lakes and St Boniface. 431-844-5500
Monday 10–7 · Tuesday to Saturday 10–8 · Sunday 10–6. See directions and hours.