I have curly hair. That wasn’t always fun when I was a kid, because straight hair ruled, but I’m pretty OK with it now. The trouble is, in spring and summer, I don’t get to control how curly my hair is, or when it’s going to go into hyper-curly mode. Or full-blown galactic frizz, like the photo above.
My hairdressers know this well, especially Anthony Lombardi at Anthony Robert Salon in Verona, who has been in charge of my curls since way before he became famous. So early this spring he suggested I try something new, a keratin treatment that would calm my hair, but not kill it.
Please don’t take offense if you’ve had a keratin hair makeover, but I didn’t like the way they looked. They seemed to leave hair unnaturally flat and lifeless. And I’d read enough about the early versions of the so-called Brazilian treatments that I knew I didn’t want formaldehyde dumped on my hair, or to subject a salon worker to that chemical.
The product that Anthony wanted me to try–Angel Organic Anti-Aging Keratin–had no formaldehyde. No “aldehydes” of any kind, he said. It certainly didn’t smell like the chemical that pretty much decided, in my Verona High School biology class, that I would never have a future in science. But there was still the flatness problem. I didn’t want Barbie hair. Anthony promised that wouldn’t happen.
So I blocked out three hours of salon time and took the plunge. The Angel product is worked in like a conditioner, then you spend a short stint under a dryer before having everything flat-ironed. And when it was all done, my hair was straight, but not limp. I had to commit to not washing it for 48 hours but when I did, Anthony promised my hair would go back to being my hair “only better”.
It did. Even through the worst of the rainstorms these past few weeks, the curls have been curly, but in control. A home blowout worked, although it will never work as well as a salon blowout because I don’t have triple-jointed arms. Was the Angel treatment worth the time and expense (it starts at $250 and lasts for several months in most cases)? I’m happy.
