What breaks keratin?

Author: Sarah Nicolas  |  Last update: Friday, October 24, 2025

Removal pliers: Stainless steel pliers are essential for cracking the keratin bonds without damaging your natural hair. Keratin bond remover: A specialized solution that breaks down the keratin bonds effectively.

What can break down keratin?

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  • Use strong acids, such as hydrochloric acid or sulfuric acid, which can break down keratin proteins.
  • Use strong bases, such as sodium hydroxide or potassium hydroxide, which can also break down keratin proteins.

What dissolves keratin in hair?

The most effective way is by washing your hair frequently with a sulfate-based shampoo, as sulfates help break down the keratin more quickly. You can also use a clarifying shampoo, which deep cleanses the hair and accelerates the fading of the treatment.

What can destroy keratin?

“Overtime, factors like environmental triggers, UV chemicals and heat can break down keratin. Those factors basically cause the protein to change its natural shape.”

What products break down keratin?

Comments Section
  • Use strong acids, such as hydrochloric acid or sulfuric acid, which can break down keratin proteins.
  • Use strong bases, such as sodium hydroxide or potassium hydroxide, which can also break down keratin proteins.

Beware of Keratin Treatments | Things to Know Before Getting a Keratin | Keratin on Curly Hair

What helps break down keratin?

Salicylic acid to break up the keratin, causing the thick skin to soften and be shed, thus reducing the thickness of the skin. Urea-based agents to increase the content of water in the skin and soften the area.

Does salicylic acid break down keratin?

Keratolytic: Salicylic acid is also keratolytic, which means it can break down and dissolve keratin, a protein that can build up and clog the hair follicles in conditions like keratosis pilaris.

What ruins keratin?

Chlorine and Salt Water: Avoid swimming in chlorinated pools or salt water for at least two weeks after your treatment. Both chlorine and salt can strip keratin from your hair, drastically reducing the lifespan of the treatment.

Does vinegar dissolve keratin?

The alkali breaks the keratin protein down into small peptide chains and individual amino acids. These are then neutralised with an acid (such as acetic acids like vinegar or hydrochloric acid) to form soluble keratin that can be used to manufacture cosmetics products.

What weakens keratin?

The extent of keratin degradation was highly enhanced by the presence of reducing agents, principally sodium thioglycolate, exceeding 90% degradation within 16 h of enzymatic treatment.

What ingredients remove keratin?

Sodium Lauryl Sulphate (SLS) is a mild detergent that is used in many shampoo products in order to lather the hair. This ingredient is responsible for stripping out colour from hair and washes out keratin from treated hair.

Does coconut oil remove keratin?

After one week you can use Virgin coconut oil on keratin treated hair. Virgin coconut oil binds to the hair and can reduce keratin loss during wash cycles. Olive oil is also completely safe to use on keratin treated hair, as it is natural.

How to stop overproduction of keratin?

How can I treat keratin plugs?
  1. Gently exfoliate your skin. Scrub your skin gently using a washcloth, sponge or soft facial brush. ...
  2. Keep your skin hydrated. Moisturize regularly with a lotion or cream that's noncomedogenic, which means it won't clog your pores. ...
  3. Take care of your skin.

What damages keratin?

If the keratin in your hair has become damaged or depleted due to over-styling your hair, constantly applying heat or chemicals to it, your protective keratin proteins are being broken down faster than your body can replace them, creating overly porous hair, and frizz.

Does salt break down keratin?

CAN I GO INTO THE POOL OR OCEAN AFTER MY TREATMENT? YES, BUT WE RECOMMEND APPLYING A PROTECTIVE SERUM (LIKE OUR FRIZZ AWAY SHINE) SO THE TREATMENT LASTS LONGER. SALT BREAKS DOWN THE KERATIN.

What decomposes keratin?

Keratinases (EC 3.4. -. - peptide hydrolases) have major potential to degrade keratin for sustainable recycling of the protein and amino acids. Currently, the known keratinolytic enzymes belong to at least 14 different protease families: S1, S8, S9, S10, S16, M3, M4, M14, M16, M28, M32, M36, M38, M55 (MEROPS database).

Does bleach break down keratin?

Bleaching causes 15% to 20% of the hair's protein bands to break. Keratins are the key proteins that make up your hair. So, when keratins break, the hair strands lose their structural integrity and become brittle.

What removes keratin from hair?

Use a Bentonite clay hair mask.

The treatment flexes the hair cuticles and removes the keratin layers the same way it would remove buildup and toxins from the hair.

Does white vinegar break down hair?

Another option for dissolving hair in a drain is to use a mixture of baking soda and vinegar. This mixture will create a chemical reaction that will break down the hair.

Can keratin be broken down?

However, keratin does not accumulate in nature. It is broken down. The focus of this paper is to create an overview of keratin decomposition mechanisms in nature. The term keratinase is used to designate the subset of proteases which have keratinolytic activity.

What bacteria breaks down keratin?

Bacterial species that belong to this genus and have the potential to produce keratinase includes Bacillus subtilis, Bacillus pumilus, and Bacillus licheniformis [66–70]. Among the well-known species, B. licheniformis is the most potent keratin-degrading bacterium in the genus [71].

Does hydrogen peroxide break down keratin?

Once keratin has been converted to soluble protein by the action of alkaline hydrogen peroxide on the disulfide bonds of its cysteine molecules, the protein may be further broken down, to peptides and/or amino acids by known methods of proteolysis.

Does vinegar ruin keratin?

Apple Cider Vinegar for Different Types of Hair

"You should also try not to use it right before or right after a chemical treatment, such as a coloring or a keratin job because the pH can affect the treatment you're having [or just had] done."

Does glycolic acid break down keratin?

Glycolic acid is a weak acid that interferes with the binding force on the cell surface, reduces adhesion and keratin accumulation in keratinocytes, accelerates the renewal and shedding of epidermal cells, enables smooth flow in the hair follicle infundibulum[5], stimulates the production of collagen to increase the ...

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