You know you have thick stubborn hair when your hairdresser insists on having two appointments just to cut it. After years of experimenting with products and refining my finishing technique I had finally learned how to whip my hair into submission with little to no fuss at all – weather permitting of course.
Just as I had a handle on it I started hearing about this revolutionary technique called the Brazilian. Mostly from my friend Amanda who painstakingly took two appointments every month to make me look semi-human with her outrageous haircutting skills.
Being a skeptic - had she not been a life long friend, I would never have believed the words she was using to describe this treatment – “life changing, makes your hair soft and glossy - you don’t have to blow dry – leave your house with wet hair” WHAT????
This sounded too good to be true. Of course the treatment came with a pretty hefty price AND since I frequently cut my hair short, I decided that I just wasn’t ready to make the splurge.
However – recently, I had the opportunity to be a model for a friend who had just taken a “Brazilian Straightening” class and wanted to practice. I jumped at the offer and had the oddest experience.
First of all, everything Amanda said was true. My hair was soft and unbelievably shiny. It sat close to my head and had weight to it (completely opposite to the coarse wavy weightless space fro I was born with) – the ends of my hair looked shattered without me having to plaster them in oil, in fact I stopped using hair products altogether, I only needed shampoo and conditioner. I took full advantage of the fact that I could wash my hair and leave the house sans blow dry, straightener and product rigmarole. What an experience – it not only shaved hours off my “get ready” time - it had me fully convinced “I was a low maintenance chick after all”!
What’s so odd about that right? Well, what I hadn’t bargained for was the realization that the hair I thought I always wanted wasn’t as perfect as I had imagined. Washing my hair became an every day event because by day two my hair looked like it hadn’t been washed in a week. It was so straight that getting any kind of bend in it was more than a challenge. Essentially I had a new hair type, which I had to learn how to take care of in order for it to look its best.
Overall, the Brazilian treatment has a lot of benefits. It certainly is life changing - for about three months. For me, the benefits outweighed the negatives but I must warn you – Whilst the Brazilian addresses many hair problems it also kills volume!
