Jennifro

To Straighten or Not to Straighten

That is (always) the Question

I have really curly hair.  MUCH curlier than it appears on the outside, actually.  It's been a struggle in some way or another for my whole life.  Some of my earliest (and best) memories are of sitting cross-legged on the floor with my wonderful mother while she tugged at my head with a round brush and blow dryer for what seemed like an eternity.  I can never thank her enough for being sensitive and taking the time to blow out my hair for at least ten years. Other memories involve breaking brushes over my head out of frustration--or desperately trying to straighten my humidified frizz under Magic Mountain's bathroom hand dryers during band trips to California, but why go there.....

It wasn't until my freshman year in college when I went to a really hip and handsome hairdresser, who after wetting my "straight" hair said, "Whoa, hon, you've got some really cool hair under here--you should think about going natural."  Being young and easily persuaded by a smooth talking Steven Michael, I changed overnight. Though it didn't hurt that 1989 marked the beginning of the granola era and everyone was going for Birkenstocks and whatever came "naturally."  However my curly was just too curly so Mom started giving me perms--to take the edge off (bigger curls, straighter roots).

  

So, for over twenty years I've been a devoted friend to the perm...until now.  I thought my mom would be especially interested to hear that I've made a change for the better.  After much googling I found a hair relaxer I was willing to try.  It got great reviews about being safe and non-damaging so I ordered it.

Last Tuesday, nice sister Jill, who has given me the majority of my perms (bless her) set me up in her kitchen to give it a whirl (pun).  Once the solution was mixed and and she had just saturated and smoothed the "test strip" of hair, I got a little nervous about the DONTS on the instruction packet.  

DON'T USE IF.....

•your hair has been previously permed

•you have used a henna on your hair

•you have color treated your hair

Hmmm.....yes to all the above.  Well, we figured they were probably just protecting themselves against freak hair damage but I called the 1-800 just in case. It went  something like this:

Me:  So, we're doing the test strip right now and I just read the warnings.  If  I've had a perm in the past three months do you think it'll be a problem?

Her:  Yes it will, don't use it.  I can't  recommend you using it--the two products don't mix.

Me:  So you don't think I should use it even if it's been awhile?  

Her:  No, don't use it.

Me: Will some hair break off--I've also used a henna.

Her:  A Henna!  Don't use it!  More like your hair will MELT off!  You'll have to wait until you cut every bit of the henna out before you use our product.

So there we were the two of us--thinking about her advice--just thinking and smoothing, smoothing the test strip.  After twenty minutes Jill rinsed it out.  No melting, no breakage, just stick straight hair.  STICK STRAIGHT HAIR.  Unbelievable really.  Jill then made her move.

"I bet I could do your roots without getting any on the henna part. The worst that can happen is you get a wig, one of the really good ones.  We'd find one you like.  That, or extensions."

Jill's always been a spiritual person, so I figured she was experiencing "a good feeling about it" so we went for it.  So... (get this Mom!) in exacty 10 minutes my roots were as straight as a perm!  No, rolling or stinky solutions...easy as pie.   I'm happy to say, I've reached a new landmark in my hair journey.

The curls are still there, but how great it is to have found a new trick.  I can't believe it's been twenty years since I tried something new.  Thank you Jill.

If you always do what you've always done,

you'll always get what you've always gotten.