TikToker’s hair falls out after keratin treatment

An Australian woman has been forced to come to terms with the possibility of shaving her hair off after she claims a salon treatment meant to “strengthen” her locks caused them to fall off.

TikTok user Chelsie shared her devastating hair journey online in a series of shocking photos, where she shows how her long, blonde locks “melted off”, leaving her with short, straggly strands.

She claims the hairdresser recommended she undergo a keratin treatment – a service meant to “replenish the hair with high concentrations of protein that penetrate throughout the hair structure and are sealed within the cortex to repair damage”.

But instead of leaving with healthy, shiny hair, she claims the service caused her locks to “melt off” – and she is now desperately trying to save what is left of her hair.

“I decided to get a smoothing treatment in my hair, with the claim of it to make my hair stronger, frizz free and help it grow,” she said in the caption of her video.

“My hair melted off after the treatment, come along with me on my journey to fix my hair.”

She showed what happened after she washed her hair for the first time after the treatment – and was left with a clump of hair that fell out.

“The first shampoo after the treatment, my hair is a tangled mess,” she said.

“I put in some cureplex, an intense repair treatment, gave my scalp a good old massage.

“I put some glad wrap and let it marinate overnight. Here is some hair that fell out.

“As you can see, it did absolutely nothing.”

Chelsie showed her process over the next few days, but was still left heartbroken as her hair continued to “fall out in chunks”.

Asking her viewers for advice, she realized her hair may have been suffering from “protein overload” and decided to only use moisturizing products.

While this appeared to marginally help, Chelsie’s hair was still “very stringy” and could stretch very far when wet – a telltale sign of serious damage.

With little more she could do at home, she decided to go to another hairdresser for help.

Chelsie was forced to dye her formally golden locks dark to “hide the appearance of damage”.

However, despite all her and the stylist’s efforts, her hair was still extremely damaged – and it was then that she realized it might be time to shave it all off.

“I went to the hairdressers, they put a darker color on to hide the appearance of damage,” she said.

“They put some moisture back in my hair. It’s alright, it’s really dark compared to what I’m used to after being blonde for so long.

“I’m not doing well. I had a breakdown. My hair is crispy, fried, damaged and broken.

“This is when I started to realize it might not be able to be repaired. I don’t want to shave my head, I don’t want to have a mullet. But I don’t know what else to do.”

At the time of writing, Chelsie has not provided an update on her hair situation.