Chillax, curls. It’s summertime and the livin’s easy.

By contributing writer MArgaret McConnell

 I’m a curly girl and like many, I have a love/hate relationship with the natural state of my hair.  I also firmly believe that hair is your most important accessory.  It’s what people see first since it surrounds your entire head.  (Be honest, how many times have you described a colleague by their hair color/length/texture or lack of?)  So I want my hair to make a good impression and no offense to all the curl girlz out there, but I never felt that my curly hair put my best lock forward.  It took way too many products and frequent cuts to get rid of the straggly, straight bottom layer and keep it shaped nicely.  And when humidity strikes, forget it.  I have an instant ‘fro (again no offense, I love a good Afro and have certainly rocked my own on occasion).  Regardless, I spent a lot of time fighting the frizz in the morning in order to smooth things out and make the hair follicle chillax.

 So when my hair dresser (Allison at The Salon on Walbert in Allentown, Pa.) told me about a Keratin protein smoothing treatment that wouldn’t kill my overall body (“it’s you, only better”) and keep some of the curl but make it less aggressive, I was sold.

 So, this June, I took the big summer plunge.  And after 4 hours in the salon, 3 days of no hair washing, and two months of living with the new hair, I can report that I’m a fan – a BIG fan.  The treatment I had was Keralyze roseoil based keratin (no formaldehyde, actually very good for your hair since it’s a protein – it helps to heal the follicle and smooth out split ends).

Before

To do my normal, full-on blow-out (segment hair, round brush, pull-pull-pull) took at least 15-17 minutes.  After Keralyze, it was down to 10 and I still have some body in it.  It actually doesn’t look a whole lot different, but the process was easier, and it feels better. On “lazy days” I would normally segment my hair into sections and just use my fingers to pull my hair semi-straight to get the kinky curl out. This resulted in an updated 80’s mall hair style or something similar to Farrah Fawcett’s feathers minus the bangs.  Nothing wrong with that style, but the texture of my hair was very unruly and unkempt. And on days when it was just too darn hot to blow dry or too humid to attempt to fight the frizz, I’d air dry it or use a diffuser and at least 5 products to get the curl to look like this.

 Post treatment, when I straighten my hair it’s incredibly smooth with 90% less fly-aways and frizz, and unless humidity is 95% or higher, it doesn’t curl up by the end of the day.  And my “lazy routine” – well, it doesn’t exist anymore because there’s no frizz or tight curls.  So if I do the “lazy” no-round-brush routine, it just gets straight with a very slight wave. In 5 minutes. Period.

After

 And as for air drying…  well see for yourself.  

 Warning: if you’re looking to go from curl girl to super model straight hair girl, this is not the treatment for you.  You won’t wake up, wash your hair and let it air dry to a perfectly straight coif.  As my hairdresser told me, this will just make your curls chillax.  It will (as quoted on their website) “make your hair more manageable and take much less time to style. It will be noticeably softer and straighter, with added life and shine as well as a lengthened look and no frizz. Your hair will retain its natural volume.”  I can vouch that this is a completely true statement and was exactly what I was looking for.

 The cost and time commitment for the treatment to “cure” is annoying but doable.  I thought my hair after day 2 of no washing would look like an oil slick, but it really looked fine.  

 Cost… 400 smackaroos for a 6-month treatment.  To me, it’s been worth every penny.

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