Girl's Day Out

Julia and I had a Girl's Day Out today, just the two of us for 5 hours. You're probably thinking that we went to lunch and perhaps did a little shopping, but you'd be wrong. Of course, some of you have probably figured out by now never to assume the obvious with me, and you'd be right. Today I gave Julia her 12th birthday present 3 weeks early. I got her a Braziliano conditioner.

No, it's not what you're thinking. Scenes from Sex in the City when Carrie got a Brazilian wax come to mind, but even I, a super cool mom (kids I heard those snorts), wouldn't give my daughter that gift, no matter what her age. But it does have to do with hair.

Poor Julia was blessed with bad hair genes. With my thick, thick hair, hair thick enough for 2 people (as per many a hair dresser) and Darrell's curly, wiry hair... well, poor Julia. Every day for the last school year has been a struggle with Julia hating her hair almost every single day. If that's not bad enough about 50% of the time it ended in some type of disagreement between us over her hair. Apparently the phrase "You're not going to school with our hair looking like that, are you???" doesn't go over very well. Go figure. Throw in the nearly nightly rat's nests in her hair and you've got some fun times baby.

A few weeks ago when I got my hair cut my hair dresser was telling me about a new conditioning treatment they have for hair like mine, wild and out of control frizzy hair. I've seriously considered relaxing my hair before but cost was a huge issue. But the conditioning treatment, called The Braziliano*, was fairly new so they were offering it at half price. It doesn't relax your hair but conditions it so that the frizz and extreme fullness are removed. What I liked about it was that your hair is still curly, the conditioner just makes your hair either look good curly or much easier to straighten. It sounded like a win/win situation and I made an appointment for Julia before I left.

First Julia had her hair shampooed with a special shampoo that opens the cuticles of your hair. Then Travis, her hair dresser, added the protein serum to her hair one small section at a time.

(I apologize for the poor quality of these photos but I forgot my camera and took them with my phone.)

After the serum is applied, her hair was dried and then it was dried again with a round brush to straighten her hair.

After her hair was straightened with the dryer and brush it was then straightened even more with a flat iron.

Then Travis added another serum to her hair and combed it out. All in all it took her about 2 hours. What did we do with the other 3 hours?

I can't walk around in public with hair like this can I? Remember how I said I have super thick hair, enough hair for two people (as per many a hair dresser)? Well, all that hair just means it takes me longer.

Well worth the wait! My hair's never been that flat in my entire life! And Julia, the soon to be birthday girl? What did she look like?


Julia is thrilled with her birthday gift. Right now away. The hardest part of this process is that we can't wash our hair for 4 days and not only that, no pony tail holders or anything that could leave an indention in our hair. Otherwise, we'll have a permanent one, or at least until it grows out. Word to the wise, stay back about 3 feet come Sunday and Monday.



*For those of you who are interested in how this works, Travis told me that the shampoo opens the cuticles of the hair. The serum he puts on fills up the gaps between the cuticles. The heat and the straightening helps the serum set and the hair be in a good condition for the serum to set, which takes 4 days to harden. My hair is not tacky or anything to the touch, but apparently it could still be washed out or the hair could be molded. I could have some real fun with Julia's hair...