Forewarning: This is probably, by far, the girliest, non-career related post I have yet to write here. I won’t be offended if you decide to click away now. But after mentioning this on Twitter the other day, it generated quite the response so I thought I’d go into a bit more detail about it here for those who were curious.
One of the hottest beauty services right now is the Brazilian Blowout. No fellas, this is not a waxing procedure. It’s a straightening treatment for your hair that softens, smooths, and gives wash-and-go ready locks that lasts up to 12 weeks. For any girl that has even the slightest curl or frizz to their hair, a solution like this is basically a gift from the hair gods themselves.
The treatment has been making the rounds in magazines like Glamour, Teen Vogue, and our very own MSP Mag. It’s gotten celebrity endorsements from Nicole Richie, Ashley Tisdale, and was featured in this segment on E!:
Sounds pretty great, right? But for $250+, you have to wonder if it’s actually worth it. Well, one of the benefits of not having a full-time job is that I get to have two part-time jobs. And one of those happens to be in a salon where I get to try all this cool stuff for an embarrassingly low cost. So I just had to try this out when I got the chance.
Although I wear my hair straight most of the time, it’s actually quite wavy. See Exhibit A:
Au naturel
And while it looks fairly decent there, it’s usually very unpredictable, untamable, and turns into a hot mess of frizz after an hour. Being able to control how my hair will look when I walk out the door takes precedent over throwing in some gel, diffusing, and calling it a day. Instead, I usually opt to spend 20 minutes blow drying (yes, 20 minutes), followed by 10 minutes of flat ironing, and a minute or two finishing (backcombing, hair spraying, etc.). Call me crazy, but it’s my routine.
So you can imagine how appealing being able to wash and be done with my hair in just a few minutes sounds. Especially now that it’s summer when curls and humidity really hate each other.
So fast forward to me getting the treatment done. Here’s me after blow drying and minimal round brushing:
Post-blow drying hair
My initial reactions:
- Drying time – 10 minutes!
- Texture – It feels like my hair got a healthy drink of water. It’s super smooth and incredibly shiny.
- Styling – As you can see, I could definitely get away with just blow drying my hair and leaving it. I flat ironed it after this was taken, but only a few sections. There is practically no curl.
- Color – I had my hair colored just before I got the treatment done. Reds are notorious for washing out extremely fast right down your shower drain. After the first wash, I barely noticed any color washing out. The treatment pretty much locks in any pigment you put on your hair. Good news for red heads.
- The big downfall (literally) – One thing I like about my hair is its ability to give some major volume. I’m kind of a big hair junkie. If I could, I’d have big Texas hair all the time. The treatment smooths down the cuticles of the hair shaft so much so that I felt I had about a third of the amount of hair I had before. That might be fine for some people, but I needed to do some major backcombing to feel like myself again. (Side note: if you’re on the market for a good backcombing brush, look no further).
Overall, the biggest benefit for me from the Brazilian Blowout is the cut down on drying time. Cutting it in half is pretty impressive. Also, I barely have any frizz or resemblance of an unruly mop. Would I pay full price to have this done? I probably would if I had a big trip coming up or special occasion where I didn’t want to worry about spending time on my hair.
I can see why this is generating so much buzz. It certainly worked for me. For those with even curlier hair than mine, I’d definitely recommend trying it out.
Have you gotten a Brazilian Blowout? Thinking about getting one? What did you think? Do the results outweigh the cost for you? Or do you find this excessive? Let me know!
