“Some of the worst mistakes in my life were haircuts” –Jim Morrison
I hear you Jim! Some of the most hideous negative memories I have centre around terrible hair decisions I have made. Or Hair-Mares, as I now affectionately refer to them as.
Being a mixed race girl makes the hair battle all the harder. As does living in a country where the mixed race/ethnic population is significantly lower then for example the USA .I also live in a county of England where I’m reasonably confident that apart from my siblings, both myself and my hair type, are almost as rare as unicorn sightings.
My poor mother used to brush and shout at my hair hoping to terrify it into submission and willing it to yield. It only ever served to make the hair more determined until I ended up resembling, quite literally a microphone.
I would look at straight, glossy haired girls with envy and covet their beautiful manes. I would dream about jumping into swimming pools and emerging with long hair down my back (think mermaids), which didn’t spring into a “side-show-bob” style as soon as it began to dry. Incidentally I managed to get out of my school swimming classes for almost 2 years by feigning illness. I’m quite sure my teacher looked at my hair, realised the potential “situation” and thought to herself ” I’m gonna let this one slide”. Like many great women, she picked her battles wisely.
You can only imagine my delight when hair straighteners were brought to the mass market in the late 1990’s early 2000’s. GHD’s quite literally revolutionised my life! It was only surpassed when chemical straightening arrived on British shores, all the way from Japan. Yuko chemical straightening was supposed to herald straight hair for all hair types including Afro hair. I travelled to London with my little sister in tow and sat for 7 hours whilst the miracle Yuko was applied to my hair. My hope was crushed however when after returning from the basin after the final wash and my hair corkscrewed back into it’s original shape. I swear I heard my own hair laughing at me! The hairdressers looked bemused, “but we’ve straightened worse” the said in hushed tones. Back to Dorset I went with my “fro”.
I got by with straighteners for several years but my poor hair began to fair worse for it. Brazilian blow outs have held me in great stead, but they’re an ordeal. You’ll understand if ever you’ve had one.
My best friend went off to train as a hairdresser with the illustrious Tony and Guy many years ago. He later opened up his own T&G salon and opened a second salon a few years later. We had always avoided my “hair-mare” because quite frankly, we were friends, and neither of us needed that kind of negativity in our lives. That was until last year. I got a call from my best friend to tell me about a product that had been introduced to the salon called Kerasilk by Goldwell. Apparently this was a Brazilian blow dry to rival all others. This treatment from Goldwell claimed to control your frizz for between 3-5 months- “transforming your hair”into perfectly soft manageable and frizz free tresses. I was sold. Off course.
I’d had many Brazilian blow dries up to this point and whilst yes, they were marvellous at reducing the frizz and helping to improve manageability of my hair, they were alarmingly uncomfortable to have administered. The standard Brazilian contains formaldehyde, which whilst being stronger and certainly, I would imagine, more suited to particularly curly frizzy hair, this is toxic and so not good for your lungs. No fun having good hair if you dead!
So, we fixed a date for the “taming of the fro”. I travelled to my best friends salon and relaxed in his capable hands.
The treatment took around 2 hours to complete. The process is the same as most Brazilian Keratin treatments except for the final wash is omitted thus reducing time and also a second round of straightening with heat. It was so much more comfortable and much less toxic. My eyes didn’t sting or water and I was’t gasping for breath in toxic plumes of smoke.
The results were fabulous! My hair was smoothed and shiny. The curl was noticeably relaxed and the blowdrying time was cut in half if not more. This product was amazing. I was hooked.
I now have the treatment every 8-10 weeks. Depending on how curly or frizzy your hair is you may be able to go longer. For girls with straight hair just looking to improve the condition of the hair you would need it much less frequently, perhaps even as long as 5 months as the manufactures suggest.
It’s not cheap but you get results. The condition of my hair has been drastically improved after years of using straightening irons and botched attempts at chemical straightening. It is quite literally worth it’s weight in gold to me.
I am now able to colour and style my hair so much more easily. Of course much of this is down to the expert skills of my talented best friend. He has helped me to find a perfect colour and cut which, several years ago would not have been possible to achieve. I currently have a “stretched root” and Balayage which gives my hair a lovely, soft and natural colour look. I also recently sported a “lob” which again, only a few years ago I would have thought impossible as my hair would have been horizontal! My lob has grown out now and I have a few layers to reduce some of the weight and to soften the hair around my face.
Thanks to my friends genius and generosity, I am able to look and feel human. Whilst I loved my curls at times, I never had the knowledge or resources to manage them. My hair now feels more like me and I love it.
Your dream hair is only a Kerasilk blow-dry away.
You’ll find my real life hair magician at Tony and Guy Ask for Jason, or Hair-God, as I affectionately behold him!
But of course a good hairdresser is imperative! “I think the most important thing a woman can have- next to talent of course, is her hairdresser” True that Joan Crawford, true that.
What are your hair reduce secrets? How do you tame your mane…spill
Amellia Mae
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