Recovering my waves from keratin straightening??

WavyNancy

Hello! I am back here after years of straightening my waves with keratin treatments. Years ago I followed the curly girl regimen and loved my 2b waves. I got talked into keratin treatments by a new hairdresser, and have been struggling with my straightened hair ever since.
My hair is coarse and I have a lot of it. Before keratin, it was 2b wavy, with some areas more straight and some more wavy/curly. I also have a really short forehead, so styling/bangs have been very difficult. Even with the keratin, it takes a very long time and lots of struggle to get my hair dried in the straight long bob style I currently have. Ugh, I hate spending 45 minutes to get my hair straight and then with just a touch of humidity have it do this weird wonky stuff that looks completely unattractive. Plus, I just think the straight bob look is just not the most flattering for me. I have finally decided to go to a new curly-trained stylist (appointment isn't until March 30th) and embrace my waves again.
My question is, has anyone here transitioned from keratin straightening back to waves and curls, and if so, how long did it take? Were you able to get the original wave or curl back that you had before (this is a fear I have, that my waves will be permanently straighter). Are there any products or routines that I could try to help speed up the process? I have a feeling that this is going to be hard to do until I get a proper cut, but I thought I would try to start anyway. Thanks!!

Mei

Keratin is touted as temporary but it isn't. It loses it's straightness some, usually after 6 months you will see some more wave come back into the hair, hence your slightly kinky hair now, but you will never get your true 2b back on the keratin-treated part of your hair. You will have to grow it out and cut it. You might try enhancing the keratin treated part with a curl booster or even a curling iron/wand (unfortunate heat damage but the keratin should help protect it some, plus use a heat protectant) if you want curls. Hopefully you will be able to find a product that you can boost the wave with to somewhat match the natural wave growing out and cut your styling time in half. Sorry to be a "debbie downer" about the keratin. I looked into it and actually called a salon that offers the keratin treatments, fortunately the lady on the other end was an actual hairstyling instructor (it was a university salon where they teach the students and they offer an awesome reasonably priced full service salon in there too) and she told me keratin is considered temporary only because after a few months it loses some of its straightness and frizz-fighting properties... But the treated hair never returns to its pre-altered state completely.

WavyNancy

Ugh, I was afraid that might be the case. I am hoping that the new curl specialist hair stylist I am going to can help me work my way through this. When my hair is wet, though, I can see my curl pattern, so maybe I can still get some wave in it if I work with products and a good drying method. I will have to test it out! Thanks for your response :-)

chickitten

Trying out some heatless waves/curling methods can help with blending your transitioning hair. There are many on youtube to experiment with, one of my favorites is this one https://youtu.be/bsGuWokn47A . I do my entire routine (most important thing to do is to give your hair lots of TLC), I make sure to especially use plenty of my gel (or whatever product with hold) when I'm trying out a heatless curls method and wait till my hair is 100% dry to unravel (I sometimes hair dryer on low heat/cool to speed it up but only when my hair is about 60% dry).