Hair treatments · Knowledge centre
How to make a hair botox treatment last
A hair botox result does not end on a date; it wears away, wash by wash, at a speed largely decided at home. This is the aftercare we give at the chair — the fortnight before, the first three days, and every wash after that — written out so it is still there when you need it.
What this covers, and what it cannot change
This is written for anyone who has had a hair botox treatment or is about to, wherever it was done.
The treatment deposits protein and conditioning agents into a shaft that had lost them, then lays the cuticle flat and seals it. Everything below is about protecting that deposit: keeping it from being stripped early, and not stacking anything on top of it that fights it. Nothing here is brand-specific. The shampoo and serum described below are sold at the salon if that is easier, but the guidance is written to the specification rather than to a shelf — buy them wherever you like.
What it cannot do is change the hair the treatment went onto. Very porous hair releases what it was given faster than healthy hair holds it, and no aftercare closes that gap entirely — it moves the result along the range rather than off it. If your last treatment faded quicker than you expected, the fault is usually shared between the hair's condition, the water and the shampoo, and the fix for the next one starts before the appointment rather than after.
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The first wash is the one that counts
Wait the period you were given, then wash gently. Most early losses happen here.
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Sulphate-free, salt-free
Ordinary shampoo strips a treated cuticle faster than anything else in the routine.
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Hard water shortens it
Mineral deposit builds on the cuticle and dulls the result from the outside.
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Weeks to a few months
Aftercare moves you within that range; it does not move you beyond it.
Why the fortnight after decides more than the product did
A treated shaft is not sealed permanently. It is held closed, and every wash asks it to open again.
Detergents are the fastest way to strip what was deposited — sulphates lift it, salt draws water through the cuticle, and hot water opens it while both are working. A fortnight of ordinary shampoo can take out more than the treatment put in, which is why two people who had the same treatment on the same day can be describing completely different results by the sixth week.
The rest is mechanical. Heat run over a sealed cuticle undoes the seal it was used to set; a tight band on soft, freshly treated hair can leave a bend that takes days to fall out; chlorine and salt water strip in an afternoon what a sulphate-free routine protected for a month. None of these are dramatic events, which is exactly why they are missed — the result does not break, it thins out quietly and gets blamed on the treatment.
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Detergent is the main enemy
Read the label for sulphates and sodium chloride before anything else.
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Daily heat undoes daily heat
The treatment makes styling unnecessary; it does not make hair heatproof.
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It thins out, it does not break
Which is why the cause is usually a routine rather than one bad day.
The fortnight before
Before the treatment: set it up to hold
How long a result lasts is partly decided before it is applied. These are the things worth sorting out while there is still time to sort them out.
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Put colour, bleach or henna before the treatment, not after
Colour work opens the cuticle, so doing it afterwards strips out a good part of what was just deposited. Sequenced the other way round, the treatment seals the colour in and both last longer. Tell whoever is treating your hair everything that has been on it in the past year — henna and box colour included, because they change what may safely be used.
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Fix breakage first, treat second
Hair that snaps when stretched wet needs a cut and a course of conditioning before any mask is worth paying for. Weight added to fragile mid-lengths makes them worse, and the result on ends that are about to be cut off is money spent twice.
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Find out what your water is doing
Scale on the taps, soap that will not lather, a rough feel to the hair after washing — those are hard water, and it is the single most underrated reason a treatment fades early in this region. A shower filter is a small, one-time purchase that changes the outcome of every treatment after it.
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Buy the shampoo before you need it
The most common way a result is lost is a first wash done with whatever was already in the bathroom. Have a sulphate-free, salt-free shampoo and a matching conditioner in the house before the appointment, so the decision is already made on the day it matters.
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Place the treatment against your own calendar
Two to three weeks before a wedding or an event is comfortable: the hair has settled, the first wash has happened, and there is still time to adjust if it is not what you hoped. Count backwards from your date, and mention the date at the consultation rather than on the day.
What this phase cannot do: make a treatment suitable for hair it is wrong for. Where the honest answer is a cut, a course of conditioning, or a different treatment entirely, none of the preparation above changes that answer.
The first seventy-two hours
The first three days: leave it alone
The seal is still settling. Almost everything that goes wrong in the first week is something added to the hair rather than something missing from it.
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Do not wash it before the time you were given
The wait depends on the formulation used on you, so use the number you were told rather than one from a video. If the hair feels heavy or smells of product in that window, that is normal and it goes at the first wash. Getting caught in rain is not a disaster — dry it gently and carry on.
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Keep it down, and keep it loose
No tight ponytails, no elastics, no clips, no tucking it behind sunglasses on your head. Freshly treated hair takes a bend easily and holds it for days. If it has to be tied for work, use a soft scrunchie low and loose, and take it out as soon as you can.
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Plan around sweat rather than around the gym
Heavy sweat at the scalp works like a wash. Keep hard training light for the first couple of days where you can; where you cannot, rinse with plain water, dry the roots properly, and do not tie it up damp.
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Make the first wash a gentle one
Cool to lukewarm water, a small amount of sulphate-free shampoo worked at the scalp only, and conditioner through the mid-lengths and ends. One wash, not two. Rinse thoroughly — product left sitting on the hair dulls it as reliably as anything you could have skipped.
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Dry it, do not rub it
Squeeze the water out with a cotton t-shirt or a microfibre towel rather than scrubbing with a bath towel, then air-dry or use a dryer on a medium setting with the nozzle pointing down the shaft. Wet hair is at its most fragile, and this is the fortnight where that matters most.
If the hair looks flat or feels coated in these first days, wait until after the first wash before judging it. That is when the result you actually have becomes visible — and it is the fairest point to tell us what you are seeing.
Weeks one to four
The first month: build the routine that protects it
The treatment is now living with your washing habits. Four small changes here are worth more than any product bought later.
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Read the label, not the front of the bottle
Sulphate-free on the front means little if sodium chloride is high in the list — salt is what makes a shampoo thick, and it draws moisture straight back out of a treated shaft. Look for the absence of both. Price is not the marker; an inexpensive shampoo with the right list beats an expensive one with the wrong one.
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Wash less often, and cooler
Every wash costs a little of the result, so stretching from daily to alternate days, or from alternate days to twice a week, buys weeks over a month. Warm water is enough to clean with; hot water opens the cuticle while the detergent is on it, which is the worst possible combination.
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Use the dryer less, and the iron rarely
The point of the treatment is that hair dries faster and sits flatter without styling, so let it. Where you do use heat, use a protectant and the lowest setting that does the job — running an iron over already-smooth hair every morning is the most common way a three-month result becomes a six-week one.
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Deal with hard water rather than working around it
A shower filter, and a chelating or clarifying wash used sparingly — once a month at most — to lift mineral build-up. Overdone, a clarifying shampoo strips the treatment; used occasionally on hard water, it keeps the hair from going dull and grey-toned before its time.
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Protect it overnight
A loose plait and a silk or satin pillowcase cut the friction that roughens the cuticle over hundreds of nights. It is a small change that shows up as shine holding into the second month.
What this phase cannot do: rescue a result from hair that was very porous to begin with. It can hold what is there — it cannot put back what the shaft never retained.
Weeks four to twelve
The fade: what to expect, and what not to do about it
Somewhere in here the result stops being new and starts being ordinary hair with a good condition. That is the treatment behaving correctly.
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Expect it to soften gradually, not to end
Frizz returns first at the hairline and the crown, then through the mid-lengths; shine goes last. There is no line where treated and untreated hair meet and no regrowth deadline — it grows out and washes out at the same time.
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Keep a weekly conditioning mask, not a stronger one
One mask a week, ten minutes, mid-lengths and ends. This is maintenance rather than repair: it slows the fade and keeps the hair comfortable to manage. A heavier protein product bought to chase the result usually leaves fine hair flat instead.
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Rinse after sun, pool and sea
Chlorine and salt strip a treated cuticle quickly, and a day out is enough to be visible. Wet the hair with plain water before swimming so it absorbs less, rinse as soon as you are out, and condition afterwards.
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Time any colour work into this window, with notice
If a root touch-up or a colour refresh is due, this is where it fits — not in the first fortnight. Say that the hair has been treated when you book, because the condition changes how colour takes and how it should be processed.
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Note how it wore, while you still remember
When the frizz came back, which week the shine went, whether the ends went first. Hair that dulled at week three is information, and it is what makes the next treatment a better-fitting one rather than a repeat.
When it has genuinely gone
Repeating it: the timing that produces a better second result
There is no schedule to keep. The treatment is repeated when the previous one has worn off, which for most guests is a few months rather than a fixed interval.
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Wait for the signs, not the calendar
Frizz lifting in humidity again, the blow-dry taking as long as it used to, ends feeling rough between the fingers. Until those are back, a second treatment is being applied to hair that is still conditioned.
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Do not top it up early
Repeating on hair that has not worn off tends to leave it heavy and limp rather than smoother, and on fine hair that reads as flat. The same applies to home kits used as a mid-point refresh — they add weight without adding condition.
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Bring the history to the next appointment
How long it held, what your washing routine actually was, any colour done in between, and whether your water changed. That is what decides whether the same formulation is used again, a lighter one, or something else entirely.
If the honest answer at that appointment is that your hair needs a cut, a conditioning course, or nothing at all, that is what you will be told. Recommending less is a valid outcome, and it is a cheaper one.
How a good result gets lost
Every one of these is common and none of them is careless — they are what happens when the aftercare is given once, verbally, on the way out of the door.
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Doing the first wash with whatever shampoo was already in the bathroom.
Instead
Buy the sulphate-free, salt-free shampoo before the appointment. This single wash costs more of the result than any other one.
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Tying it up tightly on the second day.
Instead
Down and loose for the first seventy-two hours. If it must be tied, a soft scrunchie worn low and taken out early.
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Trusting 'sulphate-free' on the front of the bottle.
Instead
Read the list for sodium chloride as well. Salt thickens a shampoo and pulls moisture out of a treated shaft.
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Ironing it every morning to keep it looking smooth.
Instead
Let the treatment do the work and keep heat for occasions. Daily ironing is the fastest way to shorten a result that was holding.
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Booking colour a week after the treatment.
Instead
Colour first, treatment second — or leave the colour until the fade has begun, and say that the hair has been treated when you book.
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Topping it up with a home kit at week six.
Instead
Wait until the result has genuinely worn off. A mask over hair that is still conditioned adds weight, not longevity.
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Blaming the treatment when the water is the problem.
Instead
A shower filter and an occasional clarifying wash. Hard water dulls every treatment done afterwards, not just this one.
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Judging the result on the day, straight after a salon blow-dry.
Instead
Judge it dry and unstyled after the first wash. That is the hair you will live with for the next several weeks.
Questions about living with the treatment
What the treatment is, who it suits and how the sitting runs are answered on the hair botox page. These are the ones asked afterwards.
Can I tie my hair up afterwards?
Not tightly, and not in the first seventy-two hours. Freshly treated hair takes a bend easily and can hold it for days, so elastics, clips and even sunglasses pushed back onto the head leave marks that need another wash to drop out. After the first wash, tie it as you normally would — a soft scrunchie is kinder than a thin elastic on any treated hair, at any point.
Does the shampoo have to be an expensive one?
No. What matters is the ingredient list, not the price: no sulphates, and sodium chloride low or absent. Inexpensive shampoos meeting both do the job perfectly, and expensive ones failing either will still strip the treatment. Read the back of the bottle, and if you are unsure, photograph the list and send it to us — that question gets answered without a booking.
Our water at home is hard. What actually helps?
A shower filter is the one change that makes a measurable difference, and it is a small one-time cost against the price of the treatment. Beyond that: wash less often, use cooler water, and lift mineral build-up with a chelating or clarifying wash no more than once a month — used more often than that it strips the treatment rather than protecting it. Hard water is the most common reason a result here fades earlier than expected.
Can I colour my hair after the treatment?
It is better before than after. Colour opens the cuticle and takes a share of the treatment with it, so the sequence that works is colour first, treatment second — the seal then holds the colour as well. If colour becomes due while the treatment is still in, leave at least a few weeks, tell your colourist the hair has been treated, and expect the shade to take slightly differently on a sealed shaft.
Can I swim while the treatment is still in?
Yes, with a rinse either side. Wet the hair with plain water before you get in so it absorbs less pool or sea water, rinse it out as soon as you are done, and condition afterwards. Chlorine and salt both strip a treated cuticle quickly — a week of daily swimming will visibly shorten a result, and a swimming cap is worth the discomfort if you are in the water often.
It faded in three weeks. What went wrong?
Usually one of four things: the first wash came too early or with the wrong shampoo, the water at home is hard, the hair was very porous before the treatment, or heat styling continued daily. Occasionally the answer is that hair botox was not the right treatment for that hair, and it should have been said before rather than after. Tell us what the routine actually was and we will say which of those it looks like — including when the answer reflects on us.
Not sure why yours did not last?
Send what your routine actually is — the shampoo, how often you wash, the water at home. You will get a straight answer about what shortened it, including when the answer is that the treatment was the wrong one for your hair.