Before and After Pictures

Hairtastic.

I was super nervous washing my hair (although very glad I could finally do so) because the thought that the treatment might not work constantly played in my mind. After two thorough shampoos and  a 5-minute conditioner application, my hair was feeling less dense, but that was about it. I decided to let it air-dry and wow…goodbye poodle do!! I was amazed at how soft and de-frizzy my hair was…yippee! I pulled it back into a bun and then layed out in the sun for awhile. I was totally enjoying being able to lay in the sun, with sweat forming on my face/neck and my hair NOT reacting! I even went for a jog and dug a few holes in my yard to plant flowers. By the time I went to bed I could stop staring at how my hair wasn’t poofing out from all the activity. Normally it would be frizzy, fluffy and have a kink in it from the hair band. Sold, sold, sold. If I am able to get 3 months of carefree hair I’ll be as happy as a kid in a candy store.

The next day I wanted to blow dry it and then use the flat iron and just like I thought, my styling time was drastically cut. My hair is in such better shape that I didn’t even need to put a drop of product in my hair. I’ve noticed a lot of the volume has been toned down, which of course is a major plus! I keep thinking “this is how NORMAL hair feels”. To the average eye nobody would probably know the difference, especially if they didn’t really know me before. But then again, I didn’t do it for the looks…I did it for the convenience, my convenience.

I’m excited to go back to work and see how it holds up on an average day (currently on Spring Break…so a lot of running/exercising/errands = ponytail. I’m also very interested in curling it because apparently the hair will hold curls much better. The pics below are when I let it air dry and then blown out and then flat ironed. Please ignore the sunburn.

Top: Air-dried, blow dryer, Bottom: flat ironed

Halfway there

Two days until I can wash my hair. I’ve been using the flat iron a lot because I am worried about the back of my head knotting up from the product when I lean back on anything (car seat, pillow, couch, etc). Parts of my hair feel really silky and other parts still feel stiff and loaded with product. I’ve been running my fingers through my hair to keep it straight during the day. The parts which feel silky I’ve been touching more than the others, so this could have something to do with the texture. The front of my hair is nice, the back is…not. The top of my head, where my part is, has not changed since the stylist touched it. So, that’s pretty impressive.

Day 1

Alright I did it.  After 24 miserable summers of dealing with puffy, fluffy, frizzy hair I took the plunge and opened my wallet to have the Brazilian Keratin Treatment done.

The Process:

Three washings (yes, three) with a clarifying shampoo to open the hair as much as possible to absorb the liquid.  My stylist then dryed my hair using a blow dryer and her finger tips. Talk about looking like a poodle. Then came the tedious task of taking teensy-tiny sections of hair and slowly applying with a brush the mixture formula. This took about 45 minutes with two small breaks to mix more of the formula. Immediately the hair is then blown dry again, ouch. I was not ready for the incredible amount of tugging and pulling my scalp was about to endure. To no fault of my wonderful stylist, the hair had been saturated with chemicals and then had to be combed while drying. Imagine, ladies, the feeling of soaking hair spray on your head and then brushing/drying it out. This part took 30 minutes. By this point my hair looked like a hot mess. It was even puffier than before! Finally the last 45 minutes of the process involved flat-ironing each even tinier sections of hair by tinier section of hair. This also involved a lot of tugging and pulling, but not constantly and I nodded off every few minutes during the process. I walked out of the salon with tacky-feeling hair and a bottle of shampoo and conditioner.

Afterward:

Holy moly! I feel like I am being punished because I can’t tuck my hair behind my eyes, run my fingers through my hair, or twirl it at all! Of course, I catch myself accidentally doing one of the forbidden things and then stop.

Before bed and first thing in the morning I run the flat-iron over my hair to make sure it is straight. This makes it feel stiff and gooey but at least I know the “stuff” is still on there!

These pictures are when my hair is air dried.

         

Hair goes nothing

I have decided to have Brazilian Keratin Treatment done to my hair. I want document my experience in order to evaluate possible future treatments. By blogging I can not only share my joys to the naysayers who think I spent too much money, but also so I can remember the good, the bad and the ugly which will be a factor in future decisions. These pictures are when my hair is blow-dryed and then flat-ironed and then curled. About a 45-minute process.