Keratin. I have been discussing this with my friends for years but a move to LA is what finally made it happen. You see I am very picky about who gets to touch my hair due to it being a bit fickle and having the ability to be described in just one word.
My hair is very dry and never grew part my shoulders until I became majorly stressed a few months ago. Within 2 months my hair grew almost 4 inches and it was awesome. I'm so glad the stress didn't cause it to fall out! When it air dries my hair gets really frizzy, the curls tighten up and I end up looking like an oompa loompa and it becomes extremely difficult to comb through. When I got to the salon my hair is really easy to blow dry and the length stays, its super shiny with very little product and it lasts for weeks. Unless there's any humidity.
Oh, and because the powers that be hate me my scalp is rarely every dry. So on the the keratin.
I was afraid to death of not having my hair dresser in LA nor did finding a Dominican hairstylist in LA promising so I finally bit the bullet and made an appointment to get this done.
Please note that this all happened in NYC in mid-May 2012 where all it did was rain!
I showed up for my appointment at a hair salon in Washington Heights and was told how the process would go and was whisked to a chair after. The shampoo girl washed my hair with a super clarifying shampoo that made my hair squeak. She did this for about 15 minutes and then the woman doing the application put me in her chair. She passed the blowdryer lightly--my hair was in no state to have a brush go through it because of how fragile it was at this point--and put a hairnet on me and then I was under the dryer for about 20 minutes to allow my hair to 'air dry'.
When this was done the application process began. She put my hair in sections, put on a pair of black gloves, gave me a mask and went to work. She applied the Evos Keratin Straigtener* and while it was happening my eyes started to burn a bit. it smelled like rotten apples but I've never smelled formaldehyde so I guess that's normal. After a full application she then put my hair in curlers and I was back under the dryer. This time for an hour.
It was the worst hour of my life. My eyes were on fire, my throat was killing me and I felt so bad for my lungs. The only thing that kept me in the chair was the years that I've spent researching this process and so I knew that all of those things were to be expected.
Next came the blow dryer. At this point I am already 2 hours in by the way. She removed the curlers and went over my hair with a blow dryer making it pin straight. She did every section meticulously and went from root to tip. She then heated up the straightener and did the same exact thing. She must've passed it onto each section 5 times.
When I left I was given instructions to not let my hair get wet, pin it back, tie it in any way for 72 hours. After the 72 hours were up I could go there to wash it out of my hair (for an extra charge) or I could buy special shampoo and conditioner. These were the most important steps. Without the proper aftercare my hair could revert and my time and money would have been for nothing.
DUring the days that I had to wait I was nervous. I couldn't sleep properly, I was living in fear of the frizz and the weather didn't help at all. I was so surprised when I was able to walk from home to the train during that awful weather and my hair only gained a teeny bit more volume and didn't look like cotton candy. It was amazing.
I went to a beauty supply store and came across these products that had great reviews. The shampoo and conditioner that I purchased were $10 each and the Coppola Vanilla Bean Deep Conditioner was $21.
Fast forward to me in LA. When I wash my hair my curls aren't gone 100% but as it starts to dry the length remains. My hair now air dries in less than 20 minutes and I finally have the ability to blow dry it myself because so much volume is gone. I can wear my hair wavy just by combing it down with a paddle brush while it's drying. It is simply amazing. I am 6 weeks in and I cannot wait to get it done again.
*Please note, I linked the Keratin used just to show what brand it was but I do not recommend purchasing it. I wouldn't trust a site selling a product that should only be purchased by professionals because there is a high chance that it could be diluted.
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