Anyone who’s read most of my blog posts, knows me In Real Life or has passed me on the street on a wet or humid day knows I’m folically challenged.
My hair is neither curly, wavy nor straight – it’s big, bendy and very, very frizzy.
(If you’re completely new to me and my blog, my school nicknames ranged from the fairly unimaginative Frizzy Lizzy, to the very visual Broccoli Head – it was that actual shape – and the frankly applaudable Fuzz Lightyear.)
Anyway, being unwilling to accept Mother Nature’s cruel gift, as well as incredibly susceptible to advertising and a great lover of bandwagons, I’ve tried countless lotions, potions, tools and processes. From serums (I don’t like any), to oils (ditto), to my beloved GHDs (I still maintain I’d be a virgin if they hadn’t been invented), to chemical straightening (the first couple, which I can’t remember the names of/didn’t have names as such, didn’t do much. The Yuko system was fantastic, but expensive and time-consuming).
I’d heard of the Brazilian blow dry, or keratin blow dry, a couple of years ago, and added it to my list of ‘things to do when I have more money’. As they became a bit more common, they started cropping up on the various voucher sites I subscribe to.
But it was only when my friend Andrea – one of the few people I’ve met with far worse natural hair than me – recommended her particular salon (Lime Blew, in Glasgow’s west end) that I decided to go for it. Her natural ‘do was truly enormous, yet she sat before me with sleek, straight locks that hadn’t been touched by a hairdryer or straighteners.
I was sold.
(I was also sold a voucher, meaning the treatment plus cut was £59 instead of £250. That is a key point.)
I won’t go into the technical details of how it all works, because I don’t know. Basically your hair is washed and half-dried, then a keratin treatment is painted on. It smells a bit like chocolate. It’s left until your hair finishes drying, then sealed in with straighteners. Including a cut, the whole process took around an hour and a half, which is a lot less than any other straightening treatment I’ve had.
You then can’t wash your hair for four days, which meant I couldn’t leave the house for three. But when I finally did, I was pretty chuffed (with the results, not just with finally feeling clean).
Before and after: blow-dried.
Before and after: dried naturally.
Afterwards, you have to use sulphate-free shampoo and conditioner, which I’m not a massive fan of as I tend feel like my hair isn’t *completely* clean. But the stuff I use – S-Factor by Tigi – does smell like Fruit Salad sweeties. So it’s not all bad.
I wash my hair most days which will make the treatment wear off quicker. For that reason I’m not sure I’d ever pay full price for it (as well as the fact I’m extremely poor).
But I’ll be watching those voucher sites like a hawk for another offer, as £59 is a pretty reasonable price to pay for far more manageable locks.
RIP, Fuzz Lightyear.
