Japanese Hair Straightening - aka the single beauty thing I do that makes my life 1000x easier

I get a lot of questions in person about my hair and whether or not I flat iron it or if it's naturally straight or what? People in person always ask so I figured maybe some of my blog readers would be curious too :)

I do not flat iron my hair (anymore) and I haven't for years. I've had it permanently straightened which basically means I had a chemical process done to my hair so that it will be straight until I cut it off. I have to go in for touch ups every 6 months because the new hair that grows in won't have had the chemical treatment so it grows in just like my hair was orriginally. It looks totally fine though because my hair is long so it pulls the top few inches straight.

Before:

It was hard to find a before because I straightened all the time. But this is me after letting my hair air dry a few years ago, before I started having my hair permanently straightened. (I'm making a goofy face hehe)

After:

I just took this photo a second ago, this is how my hair looks after brushing but without blow drying or using a flat iron. It's basically how it looks naturally out of the shower! :)

Benefits:

• After I wash my hair, all I do is spray in a leave-in conditioner/detangler and comb and that's IT!
• I never flat iron and I never blow dry (unless I'm going somewhere I can't have wet hair when I get there)
• If you sleep on your hair funny or have it in a bun the folds will go away in a matter of minutes.
• If you're ever at a pool or a water park or it rains you can be the one girl there who doesn't care if they get wet because their hair will be perfect again when it dries :)
• You can live in Florida or Georgia or anywhere with humidity and it doesn't make one difference, your hair will look awesome there too
• Although the process is a chemical and it does damage your hair, my hair has improved because I used to flat iron it so much that even though I used a Chi ceramic straightener my hair was damaged a lot more than the straightening ever does. After I leave I'm always like stroking my hair, it feels so good!

Negatives

• It can be really pricey, I found a really cheap place to do it (initial costs $200 for long hair, $180 for medium and $160 for short, touch ups after 6 months cost $160) but you have to be careful. Some places don't use the best treatment (my guy uses Liscio which is one of the top ones) or they aren't really skilled at it which brings me to my next point:
• If the person doing your hair isn't skilled, they can leave in the treatment too long and I've heard of people saying their hair started breaking off!! I think this is something to be aware of but you can do things to make sure this doesn't happen to you: do some research before you start, call the salon and ask what type of treatment they use and do some review searches for that brand. Also, ask them how often they do the treatment, if they do it a lot then you are more likely to have someone who knows that they're doing. You can even ask for photos or testimonials from their other clients. I mean, if you're spending this much money then they should definitely be open to helping you out! But I've been straightening my hair for like 3 years and I've never had a problem and I think it's rare to have someone's hair all break off. Basically unless you're sure about the salon, I would reccommend paying more.
• The process takes 3 hours!! Sometimes I bring a book from school :)
• It smells a bit stinky at first, and you can kind of still smell it for a day or so because you can't wash your hair or get it wet for like 2 days after. My bf says he doesn't notice but he's about as observant as any other man (so not at all hehe)

The process (all from memory, so I might forget/mix up a step or two)

• First, if you haven't washed your hair that day they wash it for you
• They put this white goo (kinda smelly but not like overbearing) stuff on your hair (just your roots if you're getting touched up)
• They then wrap up your hair and put you under like a heating fan for like 30 minutes
• They check on your hair to see if it's the right texture, if not they may have you go for longer
• They rinse out the goo from your hair
• They blow dry your hair then straighten it with a flat iron
• They then put this cool white cream on your hair (the first time I went, I was like shocked because they had just spend all this time straightening my hair so perfectly then they got it wet! Which if you ever straighten your hair you know that getting it wet like ruins what you just did!)
• I think they rinse it off after that and give you a deep conditioner
• You sit for a while under one of those blow dry things you always see in hair salons in movies
• They rinse out the leave in conditioner and give you a haircut
• They blow dry your hair and style it

So I think that's it, let me know if you have any other questions or if I missed anything! This is a really cool process but it isn't for everyone. I hope that this information helped you make a decision or helped you think of some questions that you want to ask your stylist :)

***DISCLAIMER: This is just my personal opinion and experience, I'm just sharing my opinion and what has happened to me, not what I think will happen to anyone else. I am simply posting this as a story of the treatment I personally have done to my hair***