Ok, so I have really curly hair. I mean frizzy, curly, thick, unruly, takes forever to blow dry hair.

I hate washing my hair because it takes so long to dry it and then flat iron it. I mean literally more than an hour. And then it takes just a smidgen of humidity and foom! It’s curly and frizzy again. I've been hearing about all these treatments that are supposed to straighten your hair – all the Brazilian Blowout brewhaha. But I've also heard that it's stinky, it uses formaldehyde and it could have some hidden health risks. So I thought I'd just stick with the hand (or hair) I was dealt, but then my hair stylist told me about the Keratin Smoothing Complex treatment.

Bryan Barnes at Nevaeh salon in Roseville has been my stylist for several years and he is one amazing guy - he can work wonders on my hair and he is an expert on color. Besides my curls I am also very very quickly turning gray so Bryan takes care of that problem for me with a beautiful chestnut color. Anyway, back to the Keratin thing. I trust Bryan implicitly so when he suggested I try this process and take pictures of it to show all you Style readers I didn't hesitate at all. It's a long process actually.

On Saturday I had my hair cut and colored as usual. Then I had to make sure I washed it every day for 3 days to get all the excess color out so my hair would absorb the product. The process of putting on the product took about 30 minutes and he left it on my hair for 30 minutes. There was no odor to this at all. He didn't wear a mask either as there were no fumes. There's a different make-up of this Keratin stuff - it's not the same as other treatments out there. After the 30 minutes Bryan didn't wash it out, he proceeded to blow my hair dry and then take 1/8-inch sections and flat iron them stick strait. It did NOT look very good – way way way flat. Bryan said that was to be expected. It is part of the process and I'd have to live with it…but I'd love the results. I couldn't use clips, pins, or scrunchies for 3 days after that and absolutely not to get it wet – not even a little bit. 

So the next 3 days I had plastered-to-my-head hair but again Bryan said it would be worth it. Finally the next Saturday came and I went back to Bryan and he washed my hair with a sodium laurel sulfate free shampoo. He says to always use this kind of shampoo to make sure the process lasts longer. Then he blew it dry. I was amazed. What used to take an hour now took about 20 minutes. I was so thrilled! It was shiny, smooth, straight and looked and felt healthy. A couple of days later I washed it myself to see how it would look when I did it myself and again - FANTASTIC! I have walked in the rain, worked out and gotten sweaty, and my hair still won't get frizzy. It's not flat either - it has lots of volume and body and I am in heaven. Bryan says that if I take care of it and don't wash it too much (I don't anyway as I have very dry hair so I only have to wash 2 times a week) that it should last 4 months or so. Take a look at the pictures - amazing, huh? Cost depends on stylist and length of hair but it's about $200-$300…and worth every penny!