Straightening Your Hair

STRAIGHTENING YOUR HAIR PERMANENTLY.....proudly brought to you by our friends at Virtual Haircare

GOING STRAIGHT?

Straight hair is all the rage again, so after all that rejoicing in our curls, waves and general kinky bits, it's all about how to get your hair back under control. To get an idea where we are coming from, think Sarah Jessica Parker and her new 'straight look'. So we set about finding out exactly how to do that especially when you have the type of hair that really doesn't want to play the game and be 'straight and flat'.

Belinda Jeffery of Synergy Hair Sydney is not just renowned for her colouring abilities; she is the 'queen of the permanent straightening technique'. She believes that: "this is a very specialised area and the hair must be assessed for suitability as the process won't always work and can be very damaging to some types of hair". She also recommends that a piece of your hair be tested to see how it reacts before you have a straightener.

With most products on the market today you can't permanently relax or straighten your hair:
· if it has been permanently coloured/tinted or bleached. Even if only a little is left in the ends of your hair you will need to have it cut out first! Semi or non-permanent colours do not affect the ability to straighten hair chemically.
· if you swim in chlorinated water a lot (salt water is fine; in fact it's good for it!).
· if you have fine blonde hair. It can be done but can look dry and damaged and frizz easily.

NOTE: There is an ammonia free product, that comes in both a straightener and relaxer variation, which can be used on old permed or coloured hair (in its relaxer formula) if the hair is in good condition. However it still cannot be used on previously bleached hair.
And it works best on:
· Strong dark hair
· Grey hair

Belinda reckons that "Hair has to retain a healthy shine and dark hair does this naturally and is not adversely affected by the chemicals used in the process. Really curly hair will never go dead straight but will relax to such a degree that you can get it straight easily when you blow-dry it".

What's involved?

The process and the associated treatments and cut, will take from 2 hours for short hair to about 5 hours for really long hair. Anthony says "a treatment is always necessary to restore moisture and sheen, and a cut is needed to remove dry ends and because a cut that works on curly hair never works on straight". It will cost between $AU80 and $AU200 and then you need 'at-home' products to go with it. "For me take-home products are the most important area of the whole straightening process, if you don't use all the right shampoos, treatments and blow-dry protecting sprays it doesn't last and can look dry and frizzy" says Belinda.

'At home' care:
· It is very important not to wash your hair for 2 days following a chemical straightening process as washing prior to this can cause the curl to come back.
· You will need a specially designed shampoo and conditioner.
· A once-a-week treatment is also a part of keeping your hair in good shape.
· Always use a thermal protector when blow-drying to prevent heat damage from your hairdryer.

Up keep:

Depending on the length of your hair, every 2 to 3 months is the average time between straightenings. If you decide to grow it out, i.e. go back to curly, some curl will return overtime to the straightened hair but it will only be completely gone when it's cut out. If you decide to colour your hair again, you will have to wait until the straightened hair has been cut out as the colour over the old straightened hair is damaging. You can however, use a semi/non permanent colour with no problems.

At the end of the day, choosing what you want is what it's all about and we hope these tips will help you make the right decisions about how to go about it.

With thanks to Belinda Jeffery of Synergy Hair Sydney, Anthony Nader of Raw Hair Sydney and Margaret of Makarizo Perth.

Try Bio Ionic Hair Straightening through www.girl.com.au/bio-ionic-hairstraightening.htm

Bio Ionic Hair Straightening Products - www.girl.com.au/bio-ionic-hairstraightening.htm