I Want Straight Hair!

Guest post by Sara Abbott (aka The Angry Shopper)

Introduction

So, I’m a curly hair girl. And when I say curly hair, I mean Orphan Annie curls. Plus I have very long hair. Needless to say, my hair is hard to manage. I always thought that straight hair would be easier. And guess what? I was right. However, it took me a long time to figure out what actually works on curly hair as opposed to what works on frizz. Now, don’t get me wrong, I also had frizz (what curly hair doesn’t?) but, the products and treatments that will “smooth” you hair are not the same as the ones that will “straighten” your hair. “Smoothing” literally means smoothing down the rough edges of the hair shaft that are responsible for frizz. “Straightening” will straighten the entire hair shaft, not just the rough edges.

About me

So you know I have curly hair. What you don’t know is that although I’m a natural blond, I also color and bleach (highlight) my hair. So not only do I need to find something that actually straightens my hair but it also needs to be something I can use on colored and bleached hair.

At-Home Methods

Liquid Keratin $59

Liquid Kertain is a similar system to the Brazilian Blow Out. The difference is that this is the home version and won’t be quite as powerful as the salon version. Why? Well, because there are certain products that are only sold to actual salon professionals. I used the 30 day system for my hair and I have to say I wasn’t impressed. After spending 2 hours getting this stuff into my hair it looked like I hadn’t done anything to my hair. I didn’t even get any “smoothing” effect to my hair. It seemed like a waste of time and money.

Ojon Super Sleek Hair Straightening Treatment $39

Ojon Super Sleek Hair Straightening Treatment : It’s a one-time treatment that straightens hair for up to 30 shampoos. This treatment is similar to a keratin-based treatment except this one uses a proprietary Ojon oil and Keratin mix. This is for someone looking to get rid of frizz, not actual curl. For curly hair, all this treatment will do is take out a little of your frizz and make your hair less prone to frizz. You also can’t color your hair two weeks before or after its use. This one, for me, had the same results as the Liquid Keratin.

Ogilvie Conditioning Hair Straightener $10.56

Ogilvie Conditioning Hair Straightener is an actual at home hair straightener. I used this and got decent results but found that I prefer the salon methods for straight hair that is “pool-safe” (I can get in the pool, let my hair air dry and it’s still straight and not frizzy). However, if your funds are limited this is definitely the way to go. I used this one and I can get my hair straight much faster with the flat iron after using it but, I wake up with loose curls and after it gets wet it’s no longer very straight.

Salon Methods

Brazilian Blow-Out $100 – $400

I know the big craze right now is the Brazilian Blow-Out. I had a hair-dresser claim that my super curly hair would be “sooooo straight” after she was done. My hair was not straight. In fact, it looked like nothing much had been done to it. What the Brazilian Blow-Out is supposed to do is infuse and “fill-in” each strand of hair with keratin making the hair smoother and stronger. Also, you should know that you can expect this treatment to take between 2-4 hours depending on the length and thickness of your hair. What is great about the Brazilian Blow-Out though, is that you can use it on chemically treated hair. That means if you’ve got relaxed, colored, or bleached hair you can use it. So if you’re looking for a smoothing treatment on top of your relaxed hair, this is definitely the way to go. Plus this will last about 2-3 months, sometimes even longer depending on your hair growth.

Japanese Hair Straightening $300 – $800

Very expensive and very time consuming. However, it is the most effective way to get your hair straight. Plus, you only need to do this process about once every six-months. Your hair dresser will tell you once every three months but, I’m sure you can flat-iron your new growth for a few more months to extend the life of this procedure. Here’s the big con though, you cannot bleach your hair AT ALL. And I’m capitalizing those words for a reason. You can’t bleach your hair now, at any time in the future while you’re using this on your hair, and if you bleached your hair in the past (up to 3-5 years depending on the length) but no longer bleach your hair you still can’t use this procedure. It will ruin your hair that has had any kind of bleach on it. Color is fine, not bleach though. The reason is because this is an extreme chemical treatment where your hair is essentially “broken” meaning the natural sulfur bonds in your hair are broken and then reformed by combing the hair completely straight and treating with chemicals for up to 4-6 hours. I’ve seen the results from this procedure and they’re great but, I couldn’t use it on my own hair.

Anti-Curl $100 – $300

This is my choice. It takes about an hour and is pretty low cost in terms of a salon treatment. I’ve done this treatment about 3 times now and have found that it lasts about 6 – 8 months. One word of caution, make sure your stylist knows what they’re doing. This process will ruin your hair if it’s not done correctly. You can buy this product without a stylist but, I wouldn’t recommend it. Also, you can use it on bleached hair (if using a bleach, wait about 2-3 weeks before or after attempting this treatment) but, the stylist needs to use the product in proportion to how much bleach is in your hair. My stylist uses the Rusk Anti-Curl Level 3. The results are that my hair is straight, healthy and still bleached. Here is my hair now…