Dye it, fry it, straighten it, curl it, tweak it or tame it…let’s just say that our hair undergoes the same level of mistreatment as a nerd on the school soccer team. The effects are just as devastating and in some cases, irreversible. So thank heavens for the kind people at beauty corporations who keep coming up with various therapies for damaged skin parts, in this particular case, hair.

I have, like most women in their 40s, been dying my hair for almost a decade now. It began with a need for change and then transitioned to six-weekly ‘roots and gloss’ colouring sessions to hide the grey. Several years ago, thanks to the consistent water crisis in Karachi (often resulting in saline tanker water in the taps), I stopped washing my hair at home and made two salon appointments a week to ensure it was regularly washed, treated and styled. ‘Pampered’ is the word they use. Everything was under control until I lost weight and my hair started thinning out drastically and became as limp as a rag doll in a horror film. Desperate times called for desperate measures and when the Kerastase Resistance Therapiste ritual came along, offering relief to extremely damaged hair, I shook hands with the aqua bottle all too enthusiastically.

The claim: For years we thought that hair was only composed of keratin and ceramides. It turns out that Keratin Associated Proteins (KAPs) actually represent 50% of the hair fibre and when the hair is damaged these KAPs disappear, which results in damaged hair structure. Gradually the hair fibre is destroyed. Kerastase’ new formula contains the sap of the Myrothamnus Flabellifiola, an amazing ‘resurrection plant’ which is able to come back to life even after ten years near death. That means that it helps the hair revive and resurrect. During testing, damaged and over-processed hair, which had been treated with the product, came out stronger than ‘virgin’ undamaged hair which had not used the product. And no, we were reassured that this plot didn’t belong to a sci-fi film!

And thus began the two hour Kerastase Therapiste ritual…

1.       I opted to go to Nabila for my Therapiste ritual, simply because the level of professionalism and hygiene is unmatched and this has been my go-to place for almost a decade now. The treatment started with dampening of the hair (not wash or rinse) and application of a ‘rinse-out’ jellified conditioner that was rubbed into the strands and left for around 10 minutes. This product apparently rebuilds hair fibres as it is worked in.

2.       A Therapsite shampoo was thoroughly worked into the hair and washed properly at the sink.

3.       Once the hair was washed, two tiny vials were spritzed and massaged into the strands. This was a salon-step as you can’t take it home (you can purchase the Therapiste products though) and it is only effectively applied by an expert. It took longer than I expected because very thin portions of hair are treated, bit by bit. It was literally massaged into the hair follicles and took a good 20 minutes to accomplish.

4.       A balm was applied liberally throughout the hair and, this was the scary part, it was sealed into the strands with the help of a low-degree flat iron. This is when you think, doesn’t ironing damage the hair? It usually does, but in this case the temperature is kept very low as to not burn/damage it but to provide enough heat as to seal the product and its effects in. This took another 15 minutes.

5.       The last product was the Therapiste masque, applied at the sink, left in for a while and then thoroughly rinsed out. By this time my hair smelt fabulous and very pampered. A gentle finger-dry left it lustrous and glossy. I wouldn’t have believed it at the beginning but the treatment had actually reduced the appearance of damage and I couldn’t find the numerous split ends that I carried into the salon. It was amazing.

Conclusion: It has been around ten days since I went for my Kerastase Therapiste ritual, which took around 2 hours and will cost up to PKR 7000 per session. I was told that one session was good enough for me but I could have it repeated after six weeks if I wanted to amplify the effects. The ten-day results are extremely satisfying as my hair appears replenished, thick and lustrous and the appearance of split ends has miraculously reduced. The products are available off the rack (Shampoo: PKR3000, masque: PKR4000 and serum: PKR5000) and I am contemplating stocking up on them. That said, the range isn’t exactly cheap and needs some serious thought before the investing in.

- salon images courtesy www.scentofobsession.com