Product Review: Keratin Straightening Treatment

I've been meaning to get to this post for a week and a half, but you know how it goes when I have to rely on someone else to take pictures for me.  Either I forget, he forgets, the timing isn't right, the nugget needs me, yada, yada, yada...

Anywho, here it is.  The lowdown on the Keratin Straightening Treatment.

This treatment (sometimes known by its brand name counterpart, The Brazilian Blowout) aims to do as it says and straighten your hair...sorta.

I have been dying to have this done ever since Baby G was born.  I have naturally wavy hair.  Not quite curly, but definitely not straight.  It exists in such an in-between state that I cannot simply air dry and go.  I must blow dry and straighten with a round brush.  My hair is also long and THICK.  And this process take approximately FOR FREAKING EVER.

I would much rather have that 30 minutes with my child than sitting on my bedroom floor in front of the full length mirror, drying and pulling and pulling and drying until my arm feels as though it will certainly fall off at any second.

Enter The Treatment.

The Treatment typically costs somewhere in the neighborhood of $300.  This, I do not have.  But, for the love of all things good and wonderful, Living Social exists.  Not too long ago, they featured The Treatment as a $99 Daily Deal.  I snagged it.

Now the danger in this deal is that it was to be used at a salon I didn't know.  But I was willing to risk it.  So two Saturdays ago, I kept my fingers crossed that the stylist wouldn't burn my hair off and off I went.

**The salon turned out to be a tiny little hole with absolutely no signage inside of an apartment building.  Yep, I was terrified.  Although the stylist didn't burn all of my hair off, she did take some skin with her when she waxed my eyebrows.  I will not be returning.**

As for The Treatment.  Here are some before and after pics.

Pre-Treatment, after washing and air drying.

Post-Treatment.  I didn't have the patience to air dry, so this is blown dry.  BUT, without a round brush or any product.  Sorry for the crappy phone pic.

Friends, I've gotta tell ya, The Treatment was not the dream come true that I hoped it would be.  BUT, it's not all bad.

Pros:
*My hair is obviously straighter.
*The frizz is virtually gone.  This, I love.
*Blow drying takes a fraction of the time that it did before.
*My hair feels silky and looks shiny.

Cons:
*My hair is actually too straight at the ends, and there is still some random wave near my neck.  (According to the stylist, the aim of the treatment is actually to de-frizz, and not completely straighten.  So I was warned that only 95% of my curl would be removed.  Huh, you'd think they'd name it the Keratin Defrizzing Treatment.  But I digress.)
*Due to the too much straightness, I have to use a curling iron.  I may have replaced one form of styling with another.
*My hair gets greasy much more quickly than before.  I am not an every day hair washer.  By the time my every other day wash comes around, it looks as though I may have actually waited four days in between shampoos.
*My hair has a horrible smell every time I wash it.  Thankfully the smell dissipates as my hair dries. 

Overall, I'm okay with The Treatment.  Would I pay $300 to have it done again?  Absolutely not.  Would I snag another $99 deal in three months when this Treatment wears off?  Perhaps.  I think that my styling time has decreased, if only by a bit, and that was my goal.

My official word?

Meh.