Inside Our Formulas: Keratin the Incredible Frizz Fighter

Keratin: The key to smooth, strong, healthy hair

When your strands are damaged or look limp, keratin comes to the rescue. Which is why there’s a healthy amount of keratin inside Madison Reed products – from the shampoo to hair color - and we pair it with good-for-you ingredients like moisturizing argan oil and UV-shielding lupine flower protein.

By itself, keratin is a naturally-occurring protein that makes up more than 50% of hair’s structure. It’s responsible for shine, strength, and elasticity. Like collagen for your skin, keratin can break down with age and environmental factors–think bleaching, perming, and a codependent relationship with your flat iron.

To truly appreciate how this reparative ingredient works, you have to know a little bit about the science of hair. We’ll keep it brief: the outer layer of hair, the cuticle, is made up of tightly overlapping scales which run like tiles on a roof from the root to the ends of the hair.

When we color, use heat, or when hair gets old, the scales lift–resulting in rough, unmanageable, dull hair. Keratin bonds to your hair, filling in those gaps, and leaves hair shiny and bouncy, essentially bringing it back to life.

They call it the smooth operator for a reason.

By: Cheryl Locke