Straight hair made its return debut in the 90s and the trend is not going anywhere. You may have noticed that perms are coming back too but the frizzy messes are still in the past. With the revolution of straight hair has come countless straightening and smoothing treatments. The most well-known I feel is the Brazilian Blowout and I think there are a lot of misconceptions about what it actually is. So I’m gonna break it down for you and give you the low down on how it works and what the maintenance looks like.
First of all, the biggest misconception is that it’s a straightening treatment. It’s NOT. It’s a smoothing treatment. That being said though, it can pull out some wave/curl pattern if you are interested in that. In fact, as far as how much wave/curl you want to pull out, it is customizable to a point. For example if you want to keep your curly hair but want to cut down on the frizz, it can do that. If you have curly hair and you want to relax your curls just a bit and make it easier to style- particularly straight- it can do that. However, if you have curls that you want straight all day, every day, without styling at all, an actual straightening treatment is the treatment for you.
Essentially, the Brazilian Blowout is a keratin smoothing treatment. But, it’s a little different than most. How? Well keratin (the protein found in our hair) is made up of teeny tiny building blocks called amino acids. The BB actually uses these amino acids, along with conditioning agents, to fill in the gaps of the hair’s cuticle and then creates a tight seal around the outside of each hair shaft. This creates a smooth, shiny result that is quick to style.
So do I have to wait a certain amount of time to use any bobby pins or to be able to put my hair up? HECK NO. It makes me very happy to say that because seriously, how inconvenient would that be if you did? Ain’t nobody got time for that! 😉
So here is what maintenance looks like: use the Brazilian Blowout shampoo and conditioner at home and get it done every 12 weeks. Literally that’s it. As soon as the treatment is done you are free to live life like you normally would. Need to put your hair up? Do it. Want to go to the gym and sweat like you’ve never sweated before? Go for it. Fancy a swim? Knock yourself out. Feel the need to shower? By all means. Just use the shampoo and conditioner I send you home with!
Not only is it beyond easy to take care of, it makes your hair a dream to style. It can cut down your blow dry time by 50% and you don’t have to blow dry any fancy way. I do still recommend using a brush to blow dry (specifically a vented brush, whether that’s a round brush or a standard vent brush) because it helps dry your hair more evenly and efficiently.
The ideal hair type for this treatment is anybody with hair that’s prone to frizz, excessively damaged hair, or someone who wants to loosen their wave pattern a little with a treatment that won’t damage their hair (as opposed to a relaxer or actual “straightening” treatment). You may be wondering why I say it’s also for someone with damaged hair… Reason being is that it literally uses the tiny little building blocks of protein and conditioning agents (both of which are fundamentals of repairing damaged hair) to fortify and seal down your cuticle, which is raised due to excessive coloring or heat styling and causing it to feel dry and be prone to tangling and breakage. The Blowout will help heal your hair so you can grow out the damage, have an easier time styling it (and hence avoiding more damage), and improve the look and feel of your hair. You can even reap the benefits of the treatment if you have extensions in!
So that’s the low down on the Brazilian Blowout… if you have any other questions about it, feel free to reach out and I’ll answer whatever you got for me (and update this post because if you’re asking, someone else probably is wondering too!)
XOXO,
Rachel Fry