Beauty Digest: Hair Straightening

I'm not sure if it would be too much of an exaggeration to say that the invention of the hair straightening cream and technology has changed the lives of many, many women around the world. In a good way, of course.

I have often heard many females with straight hair say they envy the natural waves of those with curly hair, citing their lack of need to get their hair permed.

In reality having wavy hair isn't really that easy. Yes, there could be the lucky girls with really healthy and shiny hair that happens to be neatly curled and flow their shoulders in beautiful waves. Unfortunately, not too many are that lucky. I for one possess wavy hair that is neither naturally beautiful nor easy to control. Apart from the uneven waves around the head, my hair is dry, puffy, and just unhealthy. It neither looks nor feels nice.

Hair straightening or rebonding started becoming a "hit" when I was in second year of college. Before, it was expensive, and not many people were known to have done it. All of a sudden the price was lowered and more girls were doing it, with very satisfying results. So one Saturday I went to a salon with my friend (who, honestly, had nice natural straight hair - but wanted it 'perfectly' straight) to get my hair straightened. And that had basically changed my life.

From that day I've been straightening my hair roughly every six months. After doing it a few times I realized the wiser thing to do each time I went to the salon was to straighten only the roots (the newly grown, curly hair) - as the rest of the hair was already straight from the previous session; redoing it would just do more harm to the already damaged hair.

I've changed salons a few times as well. The quality of hair straightening really depends on the brand of the cream they use, and on the expertise and care of the hair stylist. The ones on the careless end could leave out a few small strands of hair unstraightened, for example.

Hair straightening has not only gave me a new (prettier) look, but it has massively reduced the time needed to style my hair every morning. Rather than blow drying it for at least 15 minutes, I can simply blow it for less than 5 minutes, and then I'd be ready to go.

If you're someone who's extremely bored of your uneven waves and get frustrated trying to style your fluffy hair, hair straightening is definitely something you should try.

Image from: harpersbazaar.com

Review: Toni&Guy Tame-It Serum

If you're someone with relatively dry and unhealthy hair, but still have the need to blow dry and style your hair everyday (hence worsening its already fragile condition), Toni&Guy's Tame It Serum is the perfect product for you. I have natural wavy hair (but not exactly to the point where you can call curly), and I've been straightening it for the past seven years. Hair straightening/rebonding is probably one the the fastest shortcuts to damaged hair. And if that isn't enough, my hair's been colored countless times during the past three years. All of this has resulted in a hair condition that is dry, unhealthy, and somewhat fluffy.

I am not craving for a pefect soft and silky hair look, yet prefer it to have a softer feel and look not so damaged. Given what my hair has being going through (did I mention about the 10-minutes blow dry every morning?), I wasn't expecting an easy solution.

I have been introduced to Toni&Guy's Tame It Serum by a friend - who by the way has, literally, a pefect solft and silky hair look. She said it's a little pricy, but it sure does its job.

And I've been impressed by it from my first try. You can apply it to your hair either when it's totally dry or moist. What works best with my schedule is applying it after I wash my hair in the morning. I let my hair dry off, but not completely. Then I apply the serum. I use about 3 quarter-size drops of serum for my long hair (now stretching to the middle of my back), with extra focus on the split ends. Then I blow dry and style it as usual.

My hair has clearly had a softer feel, and has become less fluffy and dry. Unlike some serums, the moisture added isn't excess, so it doesn't give you that almost 'wet look' that some other serums do. And plus, the serum has a nice smell that sticks around for the entire day.

I feel myself enjoying caressing my hair more than before, and the serum has officially become something I can't live without. If I run out of it, I'd rather not wash my hair than style it without the serum.