A hair treatment composition comprising a hair straightening component, said component comprising the combination of chitosan and ascorbic acid. The invention also provides a method of straightening hair comprising the step of applying to the hair a hair treatment composition comprising the combination of chitosan and ascorbic acid and a method of making the hair treatment composition comprising the step of pre-mixing the chitosan and ascorbic acid in an aqueous process to provide an ionically complexed salt, followed by the step of adding the pre-mix to the hair treatment composition.
