Every one loves their hair — be it a man or a woman. I am sure all of us dream of swaying, waving, healthy hair they show in those hair commercials. But when we descend back into the realm of reality, there is no denying the truth that having and maintaining such lovely hair is a whole mammoth task in itself. If every time I had a rupee for hearing from one of my friends, “I think I will get my hair straightened”, I would have been pretty financially secure. So here is the thing, we all crave for shiny straight hair and yet there are a lot of questions that loom over our heads. Where to get it done? What’s better — Straightening or Smoothening? Which products to use? Now, honestly, I do not have an answer for these questions because I never got it done myself. So I asked Deepika to take over today and she has been kind enough to accept my request. So, over to her —
I had pretty nice hair, but I was so obsessed with straightening them that I kept ironing my hair every day with a flattening iron. Also, most of the times I used to skip applying the serum before ironing as that would make my hair greasy. I was too naive to ignore the implications of it. Within a few months, my hair became extremely unmanageable and I just could not step out without ironing them. Since that had become a bit tedious, I thought of getting my hair straightened once and for all. I chose L’Oreal for my first time in my hometown of Jamshedpur. The cost was INR 5000.
Straightening Procedure:
It’s a 3 step procedure. The first step is to apply a chemical to unfold all the curls. Applying this takes around 30 minutes depending on hair length and density. It is left for 45 minutes or so and then washed off. The Hair looks extremely frizzy at this point, something akin to the center-shock look. But remember, like all good days, the best part takes its own sweet time to settle in. For the next step, the hair is straightened with a flattening iron. One decides the position of hair partition at this point, because they in stay in the same position for a few weeks i.e till half an inch of hair grows that makes it possible to play around with the hair. Then another chemical is applied that keeps the hair the way it was set with the iron. This is left for 20 minutes or so and then washed off. The entire procedure easily takes 4 hours.
Post Straightening Experience:
I hated it for the first few weeks as it was just plain flat, but as my hair started growing, the overall look got better and eventually started looking amazing. I was asked to use only the L’Oreal Professional X-tenso Care Straight shampoo and conditioner. I didn’t feel the need to get hair spas in the first 2-3 months after which I got it done once in a month or so. My hair looked healthy and moist. It was always camera ready! After a few months when my hair had grown too much , it looked quite odd. By that time, I had moved to Bangalore.
Retouch Process:
I saw a Groupon offer for hair straightening and I went for it right away. But the problem with such offers is that they put it up to finish their stock. So they don’t really care about the hair type before applying the chemicals. Also, retouch needs to be done with care. Chemicals absolutely should not be applied on the straightened part but only on the grown part. If not done carefully, hair can become extremely brittle and also suffer from tremendous hair fall. The chemicals should not be applied on the scalp. Thus, this entire process requires an extremely skilled beautician. I have seen people in parlors complaining about scaling on their scalp or split ends af
ter hair straightening. It is all because of careless application of chemicals. Coming back to my experience, I got my hair root touch-up from C-Salon (Jayanagar). It was okay for the first month or so. After that, my hair looked quite dry and I started suffering from a lot of hair fall. No amount of hair spa helped me. After my hair started growing, it looked pretty weird but I resisted another touch-up. I kept getting shorter hair cuts to cut off as much straightened part of the hair as possible each time. Those were hard days, as I was so used to my straight hair look.
Smoothening Procedure:
I just had around an inch of straight hair left in some areas when I visited this parlour called Viviana in Kormangala for a haircut, on a friend’s recommendation. The lady there, Diana, understood hair very well. She told me that my hair became dry after the retouch probably because a very strong cream was used. I don’t have very curly hair. They tend to be wavy and unfortunately, frizzy too. Apparently, my hair didn’t need a very strong chemical to straighten them.
This time, the brand was Schwarzkopf. She applied it to the last one inch of hair after 10 minutes of applying the cream to the rest of my hair. This was done to reduce the effect on the already treated hair. Instead of straightening the hair, she blow dried it as I wanted a natural look. I was not a fan of poker straight hair. In the end, she did give some finishing touches with a flattening iron. She made it a point not to straighten the ends so that the whole look can be kept natural. This, ladies and gentlemen, is called Smoothening.
Post Smoothening Experience:
After the entire session was done, my hair looked fabulous. It looked flat till the first hair wash but after that they looked bouncy and full of volume. She used a very light chemical because of which my hair looks healthy. The straightening is not very obvious. The ends of my hair are wavy which I totally love. She didn’t even ask me to use any specific shampoo. All she asked me to do was to keep changing my conditioner. Unlike the last time, my new hair growth looks good. It’s been 3 months and I haven’t felt the need of hair spa because my hair is almost always shiny and moist. I loved what she did to my hair. I was charged INR 6000, but it was totally worth it.
So I suggest you go for Smoothening rather than Straightening unless you really like the poker straight hair look!
I am sure even I would not have been able to give such a detailed and fantastic experience. The fact that Deepika got her hair done from two different places also added to the richness of her description. Smoothening is her choice for some good and healthy looking hair.
As I always say, Don’t forget to Keep it Stylish and Stay Beautiful! 🙂
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