So  I did the Brazilian straightening treatment on my hair last weekend.  It was kind of a spur of the moment thing. .. It was Sunday, didn’t really have anything planned for the day.  Plus I came into some unexpected money when I thankfully was able to return a piece of expensive furniture I didn’t end up needing.

Anyhoo, it was a long smelly process.  Basically, they give your hair a good washing with clarifying shampoo (something I never use, because my hair is so dry and frizzed out) and then to open the pore even more, they give the hair a good blow drying.  Now, when this happens to my hair, when any heat gets near my hair actually, and there’s no product in it.  Let’s just say it’s an issue.  It came out looking like someone had turned a leaf blower on my head.  It came out looking very similar to that, although dark, and maybe even bigger.

Anyhoo, so it was all dry and clean, and the pore was wide open.  She started applying the Keratin.  Now Keratin is actually a protein, so it’s good for your hair.  It smelled medicinal but tinged with vanilla.  A fine smell, in the first hour of applying it.  She really went to town w. the stuff.  She applied it with a comb and just kept rubbing it in, coating it generously, really getting it in there.  This took a long time since I have a lot of hair.

Next came me sitting around under the hair dryer for like 30 minutes.  Then she blow dried it.  With all the gunk still in my hair.  It took a long time, since the stuff is greasy and thick.  Then she painstakingly flat ironed it.  That was the smelly part.  It literally smoked.  I guess it was to seal everything in.  Oh man. 

So I came out of it with silky smooth, if a bit greasy and weighed down hair.  The fun part? I had to keep it like that for 3 days.  Still, all that was normal.  Whenever I leave the salon, my hair looks great, shiny and I try not to wash it too soon.

But it was last night that actually kind of brought tears to my eyes.  I know, over hair, but having curly hair is serious business.  It’s a chore, hassle, and time commitment for it to look anything close to normal.  So when I washed my hair,and came out of the shower, I immediatly noticed a difference.  It wasn’t curling.  Also, it was drying quickly (it can take a full day and a half to dry completely, normally).  As it dried, it was drying, like normally.  It wasn’t frizzing out, or making strange curls that I’d have to tame.  It was drying flat, quickly, and without frizz.  And this morning I woke up and it was dry, straight, and without frizz.  It’s like the first time in my life that I’ve had wash and go hair, and it made me kind of emotional.

I’m hoping that once the treatment starts washing out, my curls will re-emerge, but in a more manageable, relaxed way, and not the tight rings of frizz that they usually are.