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"I'm curious- what was the process like?" - Doug
"Does your hair break more easily now and do you have to give it special treatment? I'd love to have straight hair, too. How curly was your hair before you straightened it and which chemical did you have used?" - Rick
Ok i'm sorry for the late response. I had a busy weekend. I went to my nephews HS graduation and to a party. Now to the questions.
Well doug, The process was ok. I was nervous at first, But then I felt ok. I went to the salon, my stylists saw me. She felt my hair and said "your hair feels so much better now"..."I can tell you have been listening to me" "It has integrity". I went for a consultation like a month ago and she told me to use some salon products to give my hair "integrity". So I went to sit down she came out with the chemicles. She told someone to help her with the process. I believe she was learning how to relax hair and was my stylists lil helper for the day. She looks at my hair and says "hmm I don't know what i'm gonna do with the top section of your hair." "Since you highlighted it, that hair is weaker than the rest." "Do I compromise the integrity of your hair or do I leave the chemicles for less time here, but it might not come out as straight as the rest" She ended up putting the chemicles on the top section of my hair for 4 minutes less than the rest of my hair. So she put the chemicles in my hair. She said she will do the back section first then the front half. She works slow but is very careful she said. That some ppl can do the whole head in the time limit, but that when they do the back half and they get to the front, the chemicles are not in long enough sometimes and you have to go rinse it out, or your hair will fry.I hope you understand what I am saying. So she did the back half and left it in for 18 mins I believe...I could be off by 2 mins I forget. Then she went to go rinse the back section of my hair for 10 minutes. She put conditioner and neutralizer I believe. Then I went back to the chair and she did the rest. Went back to the sink and she rinsed my hair for 20 mins about. She put in the neutralizer and conditioner.
While she was applying the chemicles she was always telling me do you feel anything on your scalp? any tingles? anything at all? I said no. Then she said to her helper you see how I am applying the chemicle on the hair? It seems that I am doing it far from the root, but when you comb it through, It gets on the root anyway. I did feel some tingle/burning on my forhead hehe. I told her. She told the helper to get a wet towel and some neutralizer and she wiped my forhead and put the neutralizer on. Then that feeling went away. The process took about 3 hours. That is longer than usual. My stylist works slow but she is very very careful, She rinsed my hair for like 30 mins...hehe. It felt good on my scalp. :)I really like my stylist, she is an experienced professional stylist, I am glad I found her.
Rick, no my hair does not break more easily now. It could very well be weaker now, but I do not notice anything. My hair feels really good and strong. I do not really have to give it "special treatment". You just have to have it well conditioned. I wash my hair every single day now ever since I saw my stylist for the first time. I am using Aestelance line of products. I do not know the chemicle that was used, I never asked. Next time I speak to my stylist, should be by the end of this week, I will ask her for you. She is going to call me for a check up to see if I need a touch up. Because she put the top section of my hair for 4 minutes less so it might not be as straight as the rest. At the moment, I do not notice a difference between the top of my hair and the rest. I have 3 pictures of me before I relaxed my hair, but it was done with a crappy polaroid camera, So you can't see my curls in it. If I were to compare my curly hair to someone famous, My hair would best match Orlando Bloom. My hair is exactly like his. About 1/4 to an inch thru 1/2 an inch was cut and 3 inches in the back towards my nack was cut; To make it look better and even. I agreed to it, she didn't get scissor happy. She also cut my ends in a certain way to give my hair more movement and "play" as she calls it. I am not sure what you call this style of cut.
Here are a few pictures of my newly relaxed hair, this was taken today(sunday). I bought a disposable camera for the HS graduation I went to. I used the last few photos on myself. I told my g/f to take them for me. She was like" go pose by the flowers and trees," "So you can have a pretty scenery and backround." hehe. Anyways, the first 3 pictures were before I relaxed my hair and it was taken with a polariod. The rest were with the disposable camera I bought.
http://www.villagephotos.com/pubgallery.asp?id_=702685
I am still getting use to the new look. I havn't washed my hair yet. I had my hair relaxed on thursday so it has been over 72 hours(3 days). I think I will wash my hair tonight or tommorrow. I havn't even combed my hair. I don't need to. It doesn't even get tangled, it falls right back in to place. I havn't put products in my hair either. I am not allowed to yet. I havn't styled my hair either.
If you have anymore questions feel free to ask. Comments wanted!
How much did the consultation, procedeure, and follow-up appointments cost? How much will it cost for you to have the regrowth done and how often did they recommend you go back?
Rick, the consultation was free, they didn't charge me. Procedure was $350 minus 2 products that I bought so hmm...$315 dollars. That was for the relaxing and haircut, not just the relaxing. I have not paid for or made any follow up appointments. Not sure how much the regrowth will cost. I believe the price starts at 110 dollars. The longer your hair is the more it costs. My stylists said she doesn't want to see me back for 6 months lol. No matter how much my hair has grown. She doesn't want to compromise the integrity of my hair so she says. She did say after, but if I must she said 4 months. She said most ppl say 3 months, but I don't go for that. You need at least 4 months for your hair to recover. Also for the hair to grow long enough sothat she can apply it without getting so close to the root. Then she uses a combs to get to the root. Also long enough so she doesn't go over the already relaxed hair. She said she would put a protective substance (don't know the name) over the relaxed hair just in case she does go over the already relaxed hair.
I have been growing my hair since late september, so that would be approx 8 months and 2 weeks. I had my hair highlighted 2 or 3 months ago.
Gollan the before pictures are those first 3 pictures I took with a crappy polaroid camera. I do not have better pictures than those. They're my only pictures as well. My stylist also said that to hehe. She said " damn, we should of taken a before and after picture". I am going for shoulder legnth hair. I don't want my hair as long as most ppl on this forum. Basically enough for a pony-tail and about 4 inches of hair haning out of the tail. so I think thats about shoulder legnth. I am not sure about the coloring. I may recolor my hair something different in one year when I reach my goal, but as of the near future/this year no recoloring will be done.
I am also not sure if i'm going to relax my hair again in 4-6 months. I may just leave it. I think my curly hair will be nice when it is longer. It looks like crap in my opinion at this legnth. Also this just might get me pass the "awkward phase" easily and once I can do a tail, I won't really have a problem. Thank you for the compliments!
If you live in the NYC area and want to see the salons website and prices the adress is http://www.artistasalon.com/contentbuilder/layout.php3?contentPath=content/00/01/34/03/47/userdirectory0.content
Regarding the HS picture, what did you do to your hair on that day to make it look that way? It doesn't appear to be that curly, except for maybe at the ends.
I wore a hat so that flattened my curls. makes it look more waveyish than actual curls. hmm My hair doesn't have very tight curls, but it has like loose curls almost wavey. I always tried to flatten my curls by wearing a hat for a certain amount of time. My hair looks like orlando blooms hair in the movie (but shorter obviously)pirates of the carribean. Look at pictures of that it was just like it. Hard to explain in words, wish I had a good picture of me with curls. Another thing I use to do was use this product called style straight by John Frida. You could either blow dry it straight or let it air dry and have loose curls. I always had loose curls. Hope this helps a bit.
OK, thanks for the info.
If I want to have my hair relaxed, what should I look for when deciding what place to go to?
When I was looking for a Salon, I was looking for a place that looked extremly professional. The salon it self had to look professional, the workers had to look professional. They had to speak professional and sound like they know what they're talking about. I asked my sylists how much experience she has with relaxing etc. I also did not want to go to a cheap place. You know the old saying, you get what you pay for? I could of went to the corner salon 2 blocks from my house and have gotten my hair relaxed for 60 dollars, I am not about to risk it in a salon like that...One more thing, If all the workers hair in the salons sucks, thats a sign! Get out! The salon I went to, just about everybody had good hair, maybe I saw one with hair that wasn't all that great. I personally also figured that this salon must be good since it looked so fancy and it was on 5th Avenue in New York City.
Thanks Surferdude!
I'll admit that I generally prefer natural hair just on principle. Having said that your relaxed hair really does look good and it suits you well. It would be very helpful if you put a 'before' picture in there. You've already been asked the question about fixing new growth, so I'll find your answer on the other thread. I'm glad you like it. So what length do you want now that you have straight hair? Do you plan to let the color grow out or recolor it? Good luck with your long hair goals.
Just remembered that I had taken a B&W HS picture. I added it to my website. That picture was taken like 2 months ago, maybe you can see my curly hair better.
http://www.villagephotos.com/pubgallery.asp?id_=702685
How long were you growing your curly hair before having it straightened? Did you have your hair colored before then?
Great looks and fantastic hair!
Thank you!
Hey Bebo, I'm glad it went alright for you!
It's great you had the courage to get it straightened, it looks wicked! I hope you don't get any problems with it.
How long can relaxed curly hair grow after being straightened like that? Would the hair be able to reach just-below-shoulders, or "Gollan-length"?
I'm having a hard time understanding this question. Do you mean how long can your hair will grow after it has been relaxed? if thats the question, it will grow normally until terminal legnth.
Well, almost everyone says that relaxing is somewhat damaging to the hair, resulting in it being weaker and I'm guessing this means that the hair would break easier after time meaning a shorter terminal length. I get the impression that many of the guys here are against straightening because of not being able to grow it longer, but I thought that there were women with much longer hair who have this done. So I don't really know, and is why I'm asking.
Thanks
Well it is dmging. Hair may be weaker, but hair is very strong to begin with. The way I see it is, women do anything and everything bad you can think of to their hair, yet their hair looks very good. If women can pull it off, men can to. So far my hair is great, no breakage. I finally washed my hair it turned out well. I styled it today and it looks good. I don't see my hair getting brittle and breaking etc, if I keep it well conditioned. Keeping relaxed hair well conditioned is key or else it will dry out. I took a risk of dmging my hair and it frying, but it all went well and I am greatful. I was already accepting the fact that my hair could of fried and I would of had to regrow it. Either way, I would of had no regrets. I am at a point in my life where I am experimenting, with hair and a lot of other things in my life. I just want to have fun! Good Luck to you and whatever you decide.
If you have anymore questions I will be happy to answer you to the best of my ability. I can also ask questions to my own stylist then tell you the answer.
Oh, one more thing. My stylist knows my goals and I did ask her if relaxing my hair would be bad if I wanted to grow my hair to shoulder legnth. She said if I followe her directions everything will be ok! So far she hasn't lied to me because my hair is doing really good. Like I said before, she doesn't want to see me for 6 months to relax my hair again, because she doesn't want to "compromise the integrity" of my hair. So I trust her, she sounds like she knows what she is talking about.
Hey, thanks very much for all of your responses. If you're trying to grow it longer, let me know how it comes along. I'm curious as to how curly the regrowth will end up being, after being weighted down by the existing hair. How long was your hair when you had it relaxed? Did your stylist give you any advice about how long it should be?
I'm trying to grow my hair to shoulder legnth and I will keep you updated. My hair was hmmm 8 inches(bangs) more or less. No my stylist didn't tell me how long my hair should be. I told her how long I want my hair to be, so she knows my goals. In a month or so I will post again about how the regrowth is doing. Nice talking with you and good luck!
