Chemical Straightening

With the heat and humidity in China my unruly hair was just a frizz ball. All I could do was to keep it tied back. So I decided I wanted to get it chemically straightened again. The last time I did this was in April 2004 before I left to met up with Dan in Thailand. I swore then I would never do it again because it took so long and I had to stand up to have my hair painted to the boards to get it straight.

This was all forgotten. I'm guessing it's the same as those mothers who swear after the first child birth they will never do it again only to pop out more!

So I spoke with my Chinese hairdresser and they said it should be OK. I then contacted Aretha to get her opinion. I think Aretha's reaction was something like this - "maybe you should get half of it done first, the underneath half, so if it is a total stuff up you can hide it..... and if it is GREAT then you can do the top half." Then I had to find out the name of the chemical straightener they will use. I had to make sure I had a moisturizing treatment and a protein treatment in the bathroom. And finally I had to let Aretha know what products they use before they did it.

I found out from the Chinese hairdresser that they use Wella. Surely they couldn't do too much damage with Wella given when Aretha did it last time she used a straightener for black African women!

Armed with this information I pleaded with Aretha for her approval. I think her reaction this time was - "OK OK OK....
you can get it chemically straightened - but if I was you, I would get the underneath done first, as it is healthier under there, and if it gets ruined, the top will still be OK and it will hide the damage underneath! Then if all goes perfectly, you can get the top done!!!! See, that makes so much sense!"

Well I didn't take all of her advice because I thought that they couldn't do too much damage with Wella and I went to the hairdresser to have my whole head done. When I got there I learnt that it wasn't Wella but Loreal. Same difference couldn't do my hair too much damage!

I arrived at the hairdresser at 4 pm. I thought that they had told me it would take 2 hours. Although I do recall it was about 6 hours when Aretha did it. Anyway I was at the hairdressers until 10 pm! At one stage I had 3 Chinese men blow drying my hair. I got kicked out of the shopping centre by the security guards!

It was funny. In China the power goes off at a certain time in the shopping centre which is why they were frantically trying to dry my hair before the power went off. They didn't quite make it. But here I am in the Salon inside the shopping centre with no light. I paid and then I was escorted out by the security guards.

When I got out there were no taxis. So I started to walk up the hill to the main road. The young guy from the salon saw me and escorted me to the main road. He waited until a taxi was flagged down and then negotiated a fare. Very kind of him!

The one thing I forgot about getting your hair straightened is no washing you hair for 1 week, can't put it behind your ears, no ponytails etc. Now this would be OK, except it is so hot I need to put it up. Anyway I survived the week of rules and now I can wash my hair and let it dry naturally and it is straight! YIPPEE!!

Before I come home I will get it done again, because it's dirt cheap here!