A good friend with thick, wavy, coarse hair like mine Emailed me and told me I must try this "Japanese Hair Straightening". So I saw the photos of her new FABULOUS straight hair and decide I needed to do some googling. (Hair dryers and flat irons are not my friends!)
What I first discovered was that A) there aren't many salons in Seattle that do it and B) it's expensive and time consuming!
So I turned to Yelp, which I use all the time for guidance. I narrowed it down to Amy's and one other salon. I was shocked to read the one reviewer's hair burning/scalping review regarding their experience with hair straightening at Amy's Salon . But, I am not one to count on one reviewer's extreme review, ever, I don't care how many other reviews they have given. I took it into account and read and investigated some more. I found other sites that had good reviews for Amy's and with a bit of trepidation called Amy's Salon for an appointment. Why, did I pick this salon vs. others? Well, the others seemed to be very upscale and very expensive.
Amy herself answered the phone, and told me she could get me in that week (doubt that would happen at the fancy salon!). We also discussed the differences between the Japanese straightening and the Brazilian. There are lots of differences but the Brazilian costs less. She estimated my shoulder length hair to cost about $250
So last Friday at 10:30 I went to get my hair straightened. I was running late and sheepishly called Amy from my car and told her I would be 30 minutes late. She was so nice about it and told me to still come in, no problem.
Once I arrived (it's almost in Burien on 1st Ave.) Amy greeted me, she is a gorgeous Vietmanese gal with beautiful hair. She introduced me to Chris, the second stylist who would be working on my big ol' head o' hair that day. We sat down and she consulted with me about the Brazilian and Japanese processes. I expected that she would push the more expensive Japanese on me, and I was already leaning toward the Brazilian (it seemed less damaging and the photos I found on the next seemed like the hair looked shinier) Amy agreed with me that the Brazilian would probably work best for me. So off we go, the FIRST thing she told me was to be SURE to use a Sodium Lauryl Sulfate (SLS) free shampoo. Well, I stopped using SLS products a while back, so that was no problem, but she explained there was a reason for it, the SLS strips the Keratin treatment faster and the hair may become wavy/curly again a lot faster than it should.
Now the process, is a pain. (Nothing to do with the stylist, but I hate sitting for long periods in a salon!) The Brazilian Keratin straightening takes less time than the Japanese but she said I should expect to be there about 3 hours and she was correct. The process goes something like this:
She segments your hair and then applies this stuff to each small part of hair (it looks like thick lotion) afterwards they sit you under a hair dryer for about 20 minutes and then they (2 people) blow dry each segment of hair while pulling taut and your hair actually steams up (I was really afraid they were "Frying" my hair and it would be ruined! ) Then after that, they take very,very hot flat irons (hair straighteners) and go back over each piece (the whole time your hair is (steaming/smoking) Oh yes, you must wear a mask due to the chemicals. Afterwards my hair was pin straight, but a little gummy/greasy looking. I was very surprised that unlike other hair procedures I have had in the past (perms, color) the product does not get washed out.
As I paid, it ended up being $300 (my hair was longer than shoulder length and an extra charge for my very, very thick, resistant hair! Also included the $15 haircut!) Amy emphasized very strongly that I was NOT to wash my hair for 4 days! So, gals (or guys for all I know), don't plan on getting this done prior to any important events, because you cannot "hide" the hair by clipping it up or ponytailing it, (the object is to reinforced the straightn-ness as the hair "cures") . So for four days everytime I got my hair even slightly wet (rain) or shower steam, I used my flat iron over it. After all, I had a $300 investment!
So today, I washed my hair for the first time. Oh my, it is so soft, so straight (but not pin straight, but that's good) There was a little breakage, but I expected it, I get that from every hair process I've ever had. My hair air dried so much faster than usual, and I then ran a flat iron/straightener through it for about 2 minutes and I was done. I LOVE IT, and will get it done again in a few months or however long it lasts.
One word about Amy, I noticed she had a lot of "senior" clients. Getting their once a week "hairdos", I suggested she might want to increase her haircut price ($15!!?) She said, "I'm fine, it's okay", with a sweet smile. Gotta love that! read more