Post Keratin - I had a Terrible Hair Day 9

Lets recap.

I washed my hair on Saturday- it felt a bit slimy afterwards but it dried nicely. After washing my hair on Saturday, I cleaned the house anyway and didn't pay much attention to my hair. It was up in a pony tail most of the day actually. I showered before bed and called it at 11pm. I woke up on Sunday with stringy hair; the starting-to-look-oily-and-clumped-look. Which, because of my natural hair texture, never happens. I'm wondering if its because of my hair wash routine, maybe I should have shampooed and not just co-washed? Maybe I shouldn't have finished with a dab of leave-in conditioner? Whatever, Sunday was an all around busy day anyway and I had a bunch of stuff to do before taking off for NYC again for the work week,

Woke up Monday morning at 5:30am and noticed my hair is now oily...? This is new, it has never been oily. I'm not sure if it's the leave-in conditioner that is causing this new look, (post keratin treatment). See for yourself, oily and clumpy with strands sticking to each other! High pony tail day for me! I have no time to wash my hair Monday morning when I'm trying to catch a train into NYC at the crack of dawn. Well, hopefully none of my colleagues notice (or comment) on the below look:

Let's not fret though. Tonight is wash #3 post treatment. I'll be using the Matrix Keratin shampoo and conditioner. Two shampoo rounds and 1 minute with the conditioner in before I rinse. Maybe I'll blow it out too, see how long that takes and what the final results look like. Stay tuned!

Here's an update of what the hair looked like after washed:
(doesn't look so oily anymore)

Post Keratin - Day 7 - Product

Lets talk about product!

What the salon gave me: MATRIX BIOLAGE KERATINDOSE 

I used this for the first hair wash on Tuesday night (72 hours after initial application). I did two shampoo rounds and one minute conditioning application. I applied the shampoo only to the roots and crown of my head, while avoiding the middle and end strands. This is typical of how I always shampoo my hair. I generally stick to removing the build up right at the scalp and avoid applying any shampoo to the rest of the hair, especially the ends which suffer the most heat damage. my hair felt so soft it boarded on slimy. I'm accustomed to the feel yet. Not only was it slightly slimy it was flat, and felt like I had a quarter of the amount of hair I normally have. to my surprise, I lost much less hair during the wash and rinse that I had before doing the treatment. And recently I was seeing a lot of hair loss after washing. I may like this product. But like any product, I like to switch between washes so the hair doesn't get used to it.

I didn't take pictures of the first wash because I hadn't started this documentation yet. Sorry! 

I will need to take a picture of the ingredients list and post later. Since this weekend I was at the boyfriends house, and I didn't take my keratindose combo with me, I used the stuff I would use normally for my curly hair: Curls Coconut Curlada conditioner (two co-wash cycles) followed by a dab of Kinki-Curly Knot Today leave-in. No Shampoo.

Here were pictures post shower:

Not bad- just feels a bit slimy still, and I still have no had any of the natural curls come back.Its very straight in my opinion. My boyfriend wasn't sure how he felt about the hair either, commenting that it looked a bit flat, with no volume compared to before. I told him that was the point of the treatment, to get rid of the frizz (and the volume). Let see how long it takes before the curls return! =)

To Keratin, or Not To Keratin? - Finding the right Salon

Yesterday's post was more of a...background. The pics are pretty old too- the newest pic is from May 2015. I had really been considering getting the keratin again for the last three months, especially because it had been so long since the last treatment and because of all the damage.  For the past 2 years I have been getting highlights done regularly. I have seen little to no growth because of all the hair breakage. But it's the constant heat from all the styling tools have continuously damaged the hair and it's very noticeable. I ended up buying some over the counter hair color and did an at-home-DIY dye job. It evened out most of my color and hide the past dye jobs. But the damage is permanent. 

So I did some research!

I live in NYC and there are a LOT of options in the city for one to get the keratin done. The prices range from the average $200-$500. I have long, thick, coarse hair (a lot of it too). So the cheapest I usually get quoted is around $300. But I don't want to fork over $400 after process, products and tip. And I also didn't want to get the low to non-formaldehyde formula because the results will only last 2 months, even thought I know its cheaper. 

So what about a Groupon deal?

NO. I don't trust getting a Groupon for this type of process. I have had terrible Groupon experiences when it came to hair / salon services.  First with a highlights package, where the salon told me on the spot after I walked in that there would be an additional expense even with the coupon, because my hair was "longer and thinker" than the average. So they had me pay an additional $80 bucks, which ended up being the normal price. plus the highlights were chunky and not what I wanted.  the second (and last time) was for single process hair color at a different salon. This time I walked in, was greeted ever no nicely and once placed on my stylists chair (recommended by yelpers), I was "recommend" a more natural and healthier single process hair color (henna actually), an oil treatment and a hair cut, to help reduce the damage to my hair. I didn't take the Henna color or the cut, but I took the oil treatment. I will admit, I should have asked what the oil treatment price was beforehand- that was my fault. I was expecting $15 maybe $20 bucks for a TINY vile of oil to be place in my hair- you know? the same treatment that you can buy a sally beauty supply for $2... but no- it was $45. I could have bought a years supply for that much! Needless to say- I have stayed away from both salons, and Groupons for hair services. It was also around this time I became very weary about yelp reviews.

Finding the right stylist/salon.

I needed a stylist that has done this before and wont complain about my long thick hair either. So I hit up Google and Yelp for the most rated (good or bad) salons with keratin treatments and made the rounds (as in actually walked in, saw a stylist, and had them give me a quote. None of it mattered, since I ended up going to a place a friend of a friend actually recommended due to personal experience. but had it not been for her, these were the runner ups mostly because they were direct, honest and very customer friendly:

THE KERATIN LOUNGE

39 West 38th Street, 2 Floor, New York, NY 10018

212-477-2088

They do the LASIO brand. which is highly regarded for its effectiveness.

I was quoted $275 (with a recommended 18%-20% tip, plus products).

Final price would have been between $350-$370.

THE KERATINBAR CHELSEA

175 7th Ave, New York, NY 10011

212-898-0889

I walked in wanting the EZ Keratin Smoothing treatment at their discounted price of $175.

They recommended me they K-Gloss Smoothing Treatment for my hair type instead at $250.

Again setting the final price between $350 and $375.

MIGUEL LOPEZ SALON AT SERENITY SALON

458 W Broadway New York, NY 10012

212-343-2643

I walked in wanting the Keratin treatment that starts at $250, which is what they quoted me. Perfect! But they recommended I also get a hair cut (which would have placed my at $300). After adding tip and products- that would be about $400.

Where I ended up:

HAIR LE PELL - in Chinatown

Somewhere I never thought to look, but found because a friend of a friend recommended it from her own personal experience. "Have Nelson give you a quote", she said. 

So I walked in and met Nelson, "Do you want a hair cut too?" he asked. "No, just the keratin treatment" I responded just like I did at every other salon. He gave me a $170 quote, SOLD! With tip and products I was looking at less than $250! I made my appointment for that Saturday.

And it was worth it.

Note- the actual process took a VERY long time, almost 4 hours, because the stylist was very thorough sealing the treatment in with the flat iron. I spent 1 hour under an alien looking heater with the product in, and the another 2 hours between the blowout and the sealing of the product with the flat iron. I received zero complains from Nelson, the stylist, and was charged the exact quoted price. I went home and washed my hair after 72 hours. It air dried practically flat with zero frizz. I curled the ends in less than five minutes, since I need a hair cut badly, I cant wait for the next couple of weeks to go by and the natural curl to start to appear again. Then I get my hair cut!

FRIZZ, CURLS, WAVES, & MORE FRIZZ - To Keratin, or Not To Keratin?

I have awesome hair days and have I crappy hair days. I have weeks where all I do is wear a bun and weeks when I feel that I look fabulous! My hair feels like the 8th wonder of the world- mysterious and always awing - as in, "Weren't you cooperating 10 minutes ago?" because, eventually, it reverts to a lion's main. Big, wild and unruly. I have spent quite a few years learning to tame it. 

I need to constantly try new things and get down to the next level of hair expertise to make my hair look decent day after day. It's exhausting - and one of the reasons why I decided to try to Brazilian Keratin Blowout 4 years ago. I don't have before pictures, because it's been four years, and who takes pictures of bad hair days?

This is 2 weeks after my first BKB, letting it air dry and then applying the flat iron:

 October 2011

This was after 3 months, letting it air dry:

As you can see, the effects lasted quite a while, about 4 months of frizz free hair.  And as the months crept by my curls kept getting better shape. But I heard about all the formaldehyde in the BKB - the original purple bottle- and decided not to get it done until a safer version became available. About 18+ months (and some hair color) later I had it re done- this time it was a LASIO brand- which apparently only had 0.02% formaldehyde.

June 2012

Unfortunately it washed out rather quickly, and about 2 months later I was back to frizzy hair. I didn't think the $200 (plus tip) price tag was worth it. So I quit the keratin treatment and went naturally curly for a while. This no-poo, co-wash, naturally-curly thing was becoming a trend, and I decided to see what it was all about. A lot of products later, and a lot of time devoted to maintaining the hair and my curls looked great. Some days- like below:

And other days, not so great. Let me think, do I look like a broccoli or cauliflower head?

Or what about when the wind helps you out?

So my hair ends up in a bun:

I don't particularly take pictures of myself when I have bad hair days- so there aren't that many to add to this group, even though they are the majority of my days. If I had to quantify it, I'd say I have about 20% good hair days- and the rest is questionable. I'm tired of long hours taming the curls, or flat iron the frizz away- I want my evenings back, so I'm pulling the plug and getting the keratin treatment done again. I'm hoping to log/document how to care for it, and maintain it (longer), so I can learn from my trials and errors.