Here is what I look like after a cut + keratin treatment. OMG, Aaaaaaaahhh!!!
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It was when Adrienne, my hairdresser, started to cut that I freaked out.
You remember, I had promised I would take action to eradicate the bun…
Voici le résultat de ma coupe + traitement à la kératine. OMG, aaaaaaaaaahhhhhh !!!!
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Au moment où Adrienne ma coiffeuse a commencé à couper, j’ai carrément flippé.
Je m’étais promis d’agir, certes, mais quand on commence à voir les mèches qui tombent au sol, ça file toujours le vertige. Dans ces cas-là, je m’efforce de penser à autre chose, je fais des blagues à la con,
But seeing locks falling like that on the ground always gives me vertigo. In these cases, I try to think of something else, I make stupid jokes, and I mantra myself that if my hairdresser has listened well, after the cut, I should still be able to put my hair up in a bun.
No cause I have tell you. Last year, I had already tried to eradicate it. I had had my hair cut at the same length of the picture, but it had been BAD – so bad that I literally went Total Recall and erased the event in my head (and never told you about it, sorry) waiting for them to grow into a shameful little bun.
Back in the day, I was convinced that a keratin treatment wasn’t for me. I did it once and I thought it made my hair too straight. I wanted to embrace my curls and the length that came with them (When I say curls, I mean curls. Okay, well, I mean, I guess my curls aren’t as curly as this but they’re not that far off either). They are pretty… unmanageable. Ouch. Such. A. Bad. Hair. Memory.
But let’s get back to now and to Soho, a Wednesday afternoon in our hair salon*.
Right after the half-hour of internal tears in front of my chopped locks (as they lay lifeless on the floor), the time came for my keratin treatment.
I had made Alex, my new favorite physician, promise that my hair wouldn’t come out straight as chopsticks. He promised me twelve times, twenty times even, but despite his bearded angel from heaven looks, I still doubted him.
He explained to me:
“Okay, Garance. The wavier you want your hair to look, the shorter time the treatment will hold. If you want big curls, you’ll just have to redo your treatment every two months or so. But if you let it be a little more straight, you’ll be set till September.”
“Okay, that works. Let’s say… till September.”
He started to apply the keratin. We chatted, I read all the magazines in the world and a few hours later (cut and treatment all together, count about four hours)(here is why I wanted to be set till September) I was out of the salon, with Japanese straight hair and I was freaked.
It’s like that for two days, you have to let the treatment settle. So for two days, Japan. Plus you have to be careful not to touch your hair hair because of the treatment’s chemicals**. Argh. Difficult.
And then one morning, I finally washed my hair. And then, PURE HAPPINESS. New woman. New life. Victory.
Alex kept his promises. My hair was soft but not bone-straight. Super soft, extra shiny (one of the AMAZING secondary effect of the treatment) and I wanted to go happy dance in the streets, actually I totally happy danced in the streets.
So now I don’t have to do ANYTHING to get my hair to fall perfectly (and when I say perfectly, I mean not so perfectly, because I’ve never liked when my hair is too perfect. I want it to look “natural”).
Like what you see in the photo, it’s just shampoo, conditioner ***, and air drying without thinking about it, don’t even need a moisturizing thing or anything. So pretty much it’s just happiness and joy and amazingness.
What’s awesome too is that I have the impression of having my real hair back, the hair I had before it decided to go all frizzy on me a few years ago. Give me two weeks and I’ll have completely forgotten that I got a keratin treatment.
I have 12 friends who asked for the name of the salon, which had never happened to me before, ahaha.
I’m even starting to feel like cutting it shorter, seeing as this whole new world of being a girl with manageable hair has opened up to me.
But I think I’ll keep what I have for now. It feels so good to go dancing in the streets!
Tell me you like it !!??? ;)
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* The salon: Found on the internet by Alex (the angel of beauty in the studio) is in Soho and called The Drawing Room.
My hair dresser fascinated me with her technique. I did a pre-consultation where I showed her photos. We decided to start with mid-length and adapted the cut to my face structure.
And then she cut with such precision, for one second I thought she was a hair surgeon or something. Then Alex came around, who is the colorist, but also does the keratin treatments and he started with his promises we already talked about.
The price wasn’t ridiculous. I payed a lot more for my first treatment but let’s be clear about this… Keratin is expensive.
** I’m not a chemist and I can’t write you a thesis about it, but the keratin contains formaldehyde, which is super toxic. In the States, the dosage in the products are regulated but obviously, I don’t want to go saying “Whoa, this stuff is amazing!!!” without mentioning this. Alex (my stylist) and I talked about it at length and he seemed super up to date on what’s in his products.
Anyway, make sure you get any work done at a reputable salon and be cautious. Also, try not to have them done every other day, it’s not a luxury.
*** It’s best to use a shampoo that’s made for post-keratin treatment.
The photo was taken by Scott. It’s pretty cool to have a photographer around the house, you can bug them with your blog pictures :)
