So, did Courtney's "good feeling" about the day pan out? "Absolutely!" she raves. "This is much more manageable than my "normal" hair -- I can wash it and go out for the day air dried and it looks good -- it's still curly, but they're nice, loose, beachy waves now. And, when I want to glam it up a bit and have the time to do it, this cut my drying time in half -- and that's even with my cruddy old hair dryer," she confesses adding that "Joseph did recommend a good dryer with a nozzle, but I haven't gotten one yet. I think it's a great sign that I have a bad dryer and my hair still turns out great!"
"It really does make my life much easier," she continues, "and even though I may be walking around with spit up on my shoulder, at least I am doing it with cute hair!"
So, will she do it again? "Oh, sure" she says, "it's a month later and I still love it and will 100 percent do it again," she says. "It's expensive, but I feel, for me, it's absolutely worth it."
If you read women's magazines or beauty sites with any regularity, you've no doubt heard of keratin hair treatments (aka Brazilian Blowouts, Brazilian Keratin Treatments, etc., etc.) -- the hair smoothing procedure that's all the rage these days with celebrities and mortals alike.
And, if you struggle with frizzy, curly, unruly hair, you've probably at least daydreamed about getting it done.
That was the case with Courtney, a 33-year-old mom of two who was more than a little fed up with wrestling her curly hair. "My hair is basically like a frizzy triangle," she says, "It changed a great deal after two pregnancies and the curls aren't uniform anymore -- the under part is ringlets and the outer layer is straight and frizzy. Not a good look!" Factor a newborn baby into Courtney's equation, and blowing her thick curls into submission every day becomes an unviable solution.
Determined to find a work-around, Courtney did some research and decided to have a keratin treatment done. Keratin, a strong protein that's a major component of skin, hair and nails has been used more and more in hair care treatments in recent years to coat hair follicles and smooth the shaft for a shiny, un-frizzy result. "I figured I didn't have anything to lose," she says of the Keratin Complex Smoothing Therapy by Peter Coppola (the name brand her salon uses) procedure that "infuses natural keratin deep into the hair's cuticle" and claims to reduce 95 percent of frizz and curl and impart great shine.
How'd it turn out? "The first attempt didn't take at all," she recalls, "and, although the second procedure was successful, I had 3 days of discomfort. For 72 hours, I was stuck with stick-straight, flat hair that I literally could not touch or sweat with or wash or do anything to! As someone who likes to exercise and has a baby at home, it was not very compatible with my lifestyle."
Feeling condemned to a life sentence of blow dry hell, Courtney got a sudden stay of execution when she was selected to get a makeover courtesy of TotalBeauty.com, one that would feature the $350 Brazilian Blowout (a different brand of keratin hair treatment) as the crux of the transformation!
As she settled into stylist Joseph Chase's chair at the ritzy Argyle Salon & Spa on Los Angeles' famed Sunset Strip on a recent Saturday, Courtney was psyched. "I can't wait to see how it turns out," she said, "I have a good feeling about this!"
