frizz buster

Apparently I like to do ridiculous, shallow personal treatments during the summer. Last June, I got the eyelash extensions. (LOVED THEM but probably won't do them again.... too much upkeep.) This summer, I did something to my hair...

As you may remember, I had to find a new hairdresser. I tried several... even went to high dollar places in hopes that spending more money meant I would have better hair. (I know, I know...) Well, we get a little neighborhood newsletter that had an ad for a girl right up the street - with 15% off coupon for new customers. You know how I love my coupons so I thought - why not? I went and got highlights and a cut and really liked her - Shelly is her name. As she was doing my hair the first time, she commented on how curly it was. I told her the whole story - it is super super curly in the back, wavy on the sides and stick straight in the front. As a result, I can't wear it curly - I either have to spend 1 hour straightening it (blow-drying and using the chi, which I've done maybe twice), spend about 30 minutes doing a half-@$$ straightening job or wear it in a ponytail. (I've been wearing lots of ponytails.)

Shelly mentioned that she does "hair relaxing" - basically a healthy way to straighten your hair called Keratin. I was intrigued and thought about it for awhile. When I was in Laguna Beach with the girls, I saw Keratin advertised on some salons and figured that if it was good enough for the OC, it was good enough for me. Then, I saw a friend who had it done and I was SOLD. So I called Shelly and scheduled my treatment.

Only read the rest if you are interested and considering getting it done yourself, otherwise you'll probably be bored.

We thought it would take about 2 hours... the process consists of her washing my hair with a clarifying shampoo, combing it out, painting the Keratin on all of my hair (like highlights), then blowdrying and using a straight iron to seal it in. This sounds simple except for the part where you can't use conditioner after the initial wash. So, the most time intensive part of the process was the combing out after the shampoo. That seriously probably took almost 30 minutes. Then she paints it on (it smells like strawberries), blow dries it really straight, then flat irons it. (It took about 3 hours total, but I also got it cut, so that added some time.)

You can't wash your hair for about 3 days, so I had it done over the July 4th weekend. You can't pull it up or put a barrette in it or anything, because it would keep that shape. I was not attractive, but I was committed. Normally when I wash my hair, it is really really curly and I have to use leave-in conditioner to comb it out. Here is a "before" picture that I found:

Well, I washed my hair before church on Sunday morning. I used the prescribed shampoo and conditioner...And when I got out of the shower??? My hair was still curly:

I was like, "Oh no!" But I didn't panic. I started combing it out and it was so smooth. I didn't even need any leave-in conditioner. I started to blow-dry, which remember.... used to take at least 30 minutes to even get it barely straight - but it always stayed frizzy. See example:


(I fixed my hair that night. I was at a wedding and spent time getting ready, but you can see how frizzy my hair still was.)

Well, now when I blowdry, my hair instantly goes soft and straight. It only takes about 5 minutes. If I want it to be super sleek, I use the chi. But even if I don't, it doesn't look frizzy:
(Not the best picture, but hopefully you can see a difference? If you can't, you need to see me in real life. Even Larry noticed and he NEVER notices anything about my hair.)

So, I give the whole process an A. I would give it an A+ but I didn't due to the fact that it still being curly after my first wash scared me. However, I do give Shelly an A+. She takes her time and really cares about her work. She even texted me about a week after the Keratin to see how I liked it. (I don't get a discount for referrals or anything, I just want to recommend her because it can be hard to find a good hairdresser.)

Next summer maybe I will get my eyebrows tattooed. HA!