How to use Fashion Gold Progressiva at home

What Progressiva is, and what one session asks of you

Fashion Gold Progressiva is a one-bottle smoothing cream. You brush it onto washed, mostly dry hair, wait an hour and rinse it out. Then you seal the work with a hair dryer and a flat iron.

Fashion Gold says it reduces volume and frizz and leaves hair more aligned, soft and shiny. The brand describes the formula as acid-based, with hydrolyzed quinoa, sacha inchi oil and coconut oil, and lists it as formaldehyde-free.

You mix nothing and you need no developer. What the cream asks for is patience: one free evening of about 2 hours, most of it spent waiting or ironing.

• 7steps, one bottle
• 80%dry before the cream
• 0.5 cmoff the scalp
• 60 minunder a cap
• 15–20flat-iron passes
• 356–392°Firon temperature

Three things decide how the evening ends. How dry the hair is when the cream goes on. Whether the cream stays the full hour. How patiently you iron.

Across its sizes, buyers rate Progressiva 4.4 out of 5 from 898 ratings. Most buyers praise the ease and the quick mornings after. A smaller group saw no change, dry ends or a shift in hair color. You can read both sides in their own words before you decide.

Hair it suits, and hair that should wait

Fashion Gold lists Progressiva for all hair types: straight hair that frizzes, waves, curls and coils. Its own before and after photos show blonde waves, dark waves and tight curls.

Read the promise closely. Fashion Gold talks about less volume, less frizz and a more aligned look. It prints no figure for how straight a given curl ends up, and none for how many weeks the look stays.

Good candidates

• Wavy or frizzy hair that you already blow-dry or iron most mornings.
• Thick hair that swells on a humid day.
• Curls you want looser and quicker to style, once a strand test has shown you the result.

Hair that should wait

• An irritated or injured scalp. The pack says not to apply the cream.
• Anyone who has had an allergic reaction to this type of product. The warnings rule that out too.
• Fresh color you are not ready to see shift. Dyed and gray hair need a plan first.
• Curls you love as they are. Progressiva is the straightening product of the range. The Capulana line defines curls and leaves their shape alone.

The application was easy peasy, I got a salon result in less than 2 hours.

That buyer describes long, thin hair. Thick or tightly curled hair takes longer at every step.

Not sure which product fits your hair? The routine finder asks a few questions and points you to a line.

What to have ready before you open the bottle

Progressiva comes as a bottle of cream and nothing else. The shampoo and every tool are yours to supply. The one exception is the Progressiva kit, which adds the wash and the care for the weeks after.

The kit holds the same cream as the bottle. Fashion Gold packs it with the Protect & Control shampoo for the wash before, and the 2-in-1 mask for the washes after. It costs from $123.79, against $39.98 for the smallest bottle alone.

The set with three Cronograma masks is the other bundle. It holds no shampoo, so you still need a sulfate-free one of your own.

Tools on the counter

• A flat tinting brush for the cream, and a wide-tooth comb.
• Four or more clips to hold the sections.
• Gloves. The brand's warnings ask for them.
• A plastic cap for the hour of waiting.
• A hair dryer.
• A flat iron with a temperature display that reaches 356°F to 392°F.
• An old towel, an old shirt and a timer.

Choose the room as well. You run a hair dryer and a hot iron for a long stretch, and one buyer describes a smell while ironing. Open a window or switch on the fan before you start.

• 

  Fashion Gold Progressiva Keratin Treatment

  Cream · all hair types

  4.4 · 898 ratings

  from $39.98 4 sizes

• 

  Fashion Gold Progressiva Keratin Treatment Kit

  Cream, shampoo and mask · all hair types

  4.2 · 70 ratings

  from $123.79 2 kits

• 

  Fashion Gold Protect & Control Sulfate-Free Shampoo

  Gel shampoo · keratin-treated, color-treated, dry or chemically processed hair

  4.3 · 75 ratings

  from $29.89 2 sizes

The strand test and the gloves

The pack asks for two things before a full application: perform the strand test, and wear suitable gloves. Neither takes long.

For the test, pick one thin strand from underneath, at the nape. Take it through all seven steps on a quiet day. Then judge it dry, in daylight.

Look at three things: how straight the strand is, how it feels between your fingers, and whether its color moved. If you dislike any of them, you have risked one hidden strand and not a whole head.

The seven steps, in the brand's order

Fashion Gold prints seven steps. None is optional, and the order does not change.

1. Wash your hair with a sulfate-free shampoo and rinse well. The brand pairs it with its Protect & Control shampoo.

2. Towel-dry or blow-dry until about 80% of the moisture is gone.

3. Brush the cream on strand by strand, keeping 0.5 cm (0.19 in) away from the scalp.

4. Leave it on for 60 minutes under a cap.

5. Rinse until no product is left in the hair.

6. Blow-dry the hair completely.

7. Flat iron thin sections 15 to 20 times at 356°F to 392°F (180°C to 200°C).

One detail sets this routine apart. You rinse the cream out before any heat touches the hair. You never dry or iron a wet product into it.

Only the wait has a fixed length. Everything else depends on how much hair you have. With long, thick hair, clear the whole evening.

How dry should hair be before the Progressiva cream goes on?

About 80% dry. The directions for Progressiva say to towel-dry or blow-dry until roughly that much of the moisture is gone, so the hair feels cool and barely damp.

Step one: the wash

Start with a sulfate-free shampoo and rinse well. The brand pairs the treatment with its Protect & Control shampoo. The directions name no conditioner at this wash, so leave yours on the shelf tonight.

Step two: drying to 80%

Blot with the towel first. Then rough-dry with your fingers and the hair dryer. Do not style the hair. You only want the water out.

Roots hold water longest. Squeeze a strand near the nape: if your fingers come away wet, keep drying. On dripping hair the cream slides off the brush, and on bone-dry hair it drags.

Why does the cream stay 0.5 cm away from the scalp?

Because the brand directs it. Progressiva goes on the hair only, 0.5 cm (0.19 in) from the scalp, and the warnings tell you to avoid contact with the scalp and the skin.

Step three: brushing it on

Put the gloves on. Part the hair into four sections and clip three of them up. Start at the nape, where the hair is thickest.

Take a slice about as thin as the edge of your comb. Lay it on your palm. Brush the cream from just off the root down to the ends, then turn the slice and brush the other side.

Comb each slice once to spread the cream. Coat the hair and do not soak it: no drips, no white clumps. Strand by strand is the brand's phrase, and it is the whole method.

Step four: 60 minutes under a cap

Gather the hair loosely on top of your head and put the cap on. Set a timer for 60 minutes. The directions give one number. Keep to it.

Set a timer to know when you should rinse the perm solution. Always follow package instructions.

The American Academy of Dermatology gives that advice for perms. Progressiva is no perm, but the habit fits any product you leave on for a set time.

Use the first minutes of the wait to wipe any cream off your ears, neck and forehead with a wet cloth. Then sit down.

Steps five and six: rinse it all out, then dry it all the way

When the timer rings, rinse until the water runs clear and the hair holds no cream. The directions name water only at this step. Lift each section under the stream and give the nape extra time.

I appreciated that I was able to rinse this product fully out of my hair before having to dry and straighten it.

Then blow-dry the hair completely. Not 80% this time. The iron comes next, and the directions send only dry hair under it. The nape and the hair behind your ears dry last, so check them with your fingers.

How many flat-iron passes does each section need?

15 to 20 passes on each thin section, at 356°F to 392°F (180°C to 200°C). That is the brand's direction for Progressiva, and it is the step where most of your evening goes.

Sections and rhythm

Clip the hair up again and work from the nape to the crown. Take sections no wider than the plate. Clamp near the root, glide to the ends at an even pace, and count. Fifteen feels like a lot on the first section. Keep the count honest anyway.

Which end of the range

The brand gives a range and no rule for picking inside it. Dermatologists are blunt about heat in general.

No matter your hair type, excessive heat can cause damage. Limit blow drying and use of tools like flat or curling irons.

That advice from the American Academy of Dermatology and the brand's direction pull apart, and you should know it. The treatment asks for high heat on one evening. Some buyers describe less heat on the mornings after.

No more heat in my hair, it dries straight and free of frizz

So stay inside the printed limits. Do not go over 392°F and do not go past 20 passes. If your hair is fine, lightened or colored, the low end of the range is the cautious start, and your test strand tells you whether it is enough.

What buyers report after a session

Most buyers of Progressiva leave happy, and a real minority does not. The split of stars shows both.

• 5 stars69%
• 4 stars9%
• 3 stars8%
• 2 stars3%
• 1 star11%

The praise repeats itself: easy to apply, soft and shiny hair, and mornings that take minutes. One buyer with shorter, thin, wavy hair came back after weeks to report.

It's been 7 weeks n still going with a little wavy after washing n drying.

Fashion Gold gives no figure for how long a session stays in the hair, and buyers do not agree with each other. Another five-star review is cooler on that point.

It made my hair very sleek for the first few weeks, but after about two weeks it seemed to wear off

Then there are the buyers it did not work for. One followed every step and gave one star.

I followed the instructions carefully and completed the entire treatment exactly as directed, expecting my hair to be straightened as advertised. It did not straighten my hair at all.

That review is the best argument for the strand test: one strand tells you what your hair does before you spend an evening and a bottle.

Three smaller complaints are worth knowing. One buyer disliked the smell while ironing. One, with thick and coarse hair, reports crisp ends and some breakage, and still plans to repeat the treatment. Two found the small bottle short for one head of hair.

Six shortcuts that cost a result

Every shortcut saves a few minutes on the night. Each one works against a line of the directions.

One more habit helps. Buy enough cream for your length, so the last sections get as much as the first.

Color-treated, bleached and gray hair

The brand warns that on white or gray hair, a change in color may occur during the process. That is one plain sentence, and buyers with dyed hair put it more strongly.

It definitely made it straighter but it also made me blonder.

A second buyer, with dark brown dye over blonde hair, describes a reddish-orange tint after the session. So treat a shift as likely if your color comes from a box or a salon. Do not count on keeping the exact shade.

Run the strand test on a dyed strand, and look at it in daylight. If you plan to color anyway, the order matters. Dermatologists give this rule for perms and relaxers.

If you want more than one service, perm or relax your hair first, and do it two weeks before you color your hair.

Progressiva is neither a perm nor a relaxer. The cautious order still fits: smooth first, look at the result, color later.

For bleached hair, start at 356°F and let the strand decide. For the washes after, Fashion Gold makes its Protect & Control line for color-treated hair, and the Perfect Blonde masks for yellow tones in blonde hair. Neither one is a dye.

What the FDA says about hair-smoothing products

Hair-smoothing products are cosmetics, and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration keeps a page on the whole category. It starts with a description you can hold any product against.

Hair smoothing products are used to straighten hair or to smooth out curls. A hair straightening or smoothing solution is usually applied to human hair followed by a heat treatment that seals the solution in.

The FDA's concern on that page is formaldehyde and related ingredients in some of these products. Its advice to someone buying for home use is short.

Or, if you’re purchasing a product for home use, read the product label carefully, to check if formaldehyde is an ingredient.

Fashion Gold lists Progressiva as formaldehyde-free and names lactic, glycolic and malic acids in the formula. Those are the brand's words. Do what the FDA suggests and read the ingredient panel on your own bottle before you start.

The agency also asks buyers to speak up when something goes wrong.

If you experience a bad reaction to a hair smoothing product, please report your symptoms to your healthcare provider, as well as to FDA.

When can you wash your hair after Progressiva?

The brand sets no waiting period for Progressiva: you already rinsed the cream out at step 5, before the heat. From the next wash on, the kit's directions call for the Protect & Control shampoo and the 2-in-1 mask as your regular care.

1. 1
   

   Before the wash

   Protect Poo Pre-Shampoo Treatment

   On dry hair for 2 minutes, from 10 cm below the scalp to the ends, then rinse.

2. 2
   

   Wash

   Protect & Control Sulfate-Free Shampoo

   A small amount on wet hair, lather, rinse, and repeat if needed.

3. 3
   

   Condition

   Protect & Control 2-in-1 Conditioning Mask

   3 to 5 minutes as a conditioner, or 10 to 25 minutes under a thermal cap as a mask.

The shampoo is the one Fashion Gold calls sulfate-free and makes for keratin-treated hair. The brand says it cleanses without stripping moisture and helps keep the result of a smoothing treatment.

The 2-in-1 mask follows the shampoo as conditioner and mask in one jar. Protect Poo is the optional first step, for dry lengths.

None of the three straightens anything. The cream and the iron did that work. For which sizes to pair, and what a year of this care adds up to, see the sizes and after-care comparison.

If your hair also feels weak or dry, the three Cronograma masks and how to rotate them cover the repair side.

Which bottle to buy for a first session

Progressiva comes in four sizes: 150 g · 300 g · 500 g · 1 kg. The cream is the same in each. The brand prints a number of applications on every bottle and adds that it depends on the length and thickness of your hair.

For shoulder-length hair, the smallest bottle is a fair first try. For long or thick hair, start one size up. One buyer with shorter hair went through most of a bottle in a single session. Running out with a third of the head uncoated is the one mistake you cannot fix on the night.

Take the Progressiva kit if you own no sulfate-free shampoo. It saves you a second order, and the mask covers the washes after.

Whatever you choose, read the directions on your own pack first. Then give the seven steps the time they ask for.

See It on Amazon

The whole smoothing range sits in the keratin smoothing collection, and the repair masks are in the Cronograma set.