Hair

I’m just going to say it. I have had a lifetime of difficult hair. I spent my entire pre-college life either trying to brush my naturally curly, sometimes coarse and always frizzy hair into a sleek blonde mane to match my waspy Birmingham friends, or trying to embrace my curls only to end up with wet and greasy looking tresses. In college, thankfully I had a league of Texas beauties who had already learned to master the humidity and the woes of Jewish-textured hair with an arsenal of expensive hair dryers, round brushes, flat irons and product and were kind enough to spend countless evenings tutoring me on how to tame my mane. After years of practice, at the age of 28, I can safely say am a master. Every morning I beat my hair into submission and people are shocked when I confess that my locks don’t grow out of my head this way. Even still, I obsessively check the humidity reports and dread the rain because I know that as soon as there is a drop of moisture in the air, my hair is sure to frizz, curl and grow 3x it’s size. Until now.

The answer is the Keratin treatment. It’s a Brazilian treatment that merely takes the frizz out of your hair and makes it virtually maintenance-free. It won’t leave your hair poker straight like thermal reconditioning will (otherwise known as the Japanese straightening treatment) (I am southern. I believe that the higher the hair, the closer to G-d.) My mom, sister, and bestie Jessica have all tried and loved the treatment so I went in search of someone to do it here. Fabulous EZ came to my rescue. She let me know that her salon, Blonde, in Buckhead offered this treatment and I was thrilled to find that they do the exact same treatment with the exact same brand of product (Coppola) for a mere $250, by far the cheapest I found. (I checked around all the usual suspects for comparison, am no stranger to the salon scene.) Changed. My. Life. For three months my hair was glossy and perfect and wonderful and best of all…EASY.

Here’s the Q+D(D): The initial treatment will last about 3-5 months depending on how often you wash your hair. Also, you must stay away from any product that contains sodium chloride, which will strip the Keratin out of your hair immediately. Also, you cannot color treat your hair for two weeks after the treatment. If you follow up with another treatment within about three months, the product is supposed to build up on your hair and last longer. I’ll let you know. I just finished my second treatment on Tuesday night.
What to expect: The application takes about 3 hours. They paint the product on your hair, then blow dry it, and then “bake it in” section by section with a flat iron. Thank goodness EZ was there to keep me company for a little while. Ken and I were starting to get sick of each other.
Here’s the thing: You’re basically a Gremlin for 3 days once it’s done. You cannot wash your hair for 72 hours. You can’t work out. You can’t get it wet in any way. You can’t put it in a ponytail, you can’t put a hat on, you can’t put a bobby pin in it, you can’t even tuck it behind your EARS. You can’t do anything that will crease the hair because it’s extremely moldable while it has the product in it.

It is absolute torture and let me just tell you, if you’re looking for a convenient time to have this treatment done, there is none. It’s gross and that’s all there is to it, but my hair is FAB FAB FAB. Sunday, Linds and I spent 5 hours in the raging heat and humidity at (an obviously fabulous) party she planned, and other than sweating like a linebacker, my hair was p.e.r.f.e.c.t.

So there you have it. My first salon post. I’d never steer you wrong – call Ken Garrison at Blonde, and book yours today! (But FYI: I will be mad if he starts getting all booked up and I can’t get an appointment. You’ve been warned.)

www.blondeatlanta.com 404 869 0900