I like to get a Brazilian Blowout done once a year at the start of summer.  Unfortunately, the stylist who normally does my treatment every year no longer offers the service.  Great.  Now I have to search for someone new...

Brazilian Blowout
by a Certified Educator

Is it worth the cost?

WHAT DOES IT DO?

Per Wikipedia as they can explain it better than I can, "Brazilian hair straightening (is) a semi-permanent hair straightening method done by temporarily sealing a liquid keratin and a preservative solution into the hair with a hair iron."  That's pretty much it in a nutshell.

As I was saying, I was in the market for a new stylist to perform my Keratin Treatment this year.  My requirement being that he or she must have an online portfolio and many years of experience.  I would also like them to adhere to the proper ventilation requirements for this treatment.  As far as brands are concerned, I have used both Coppola and Brazilian Blowout in the past and felt that Brazilian Blowout had better and longer lasting results; so I would prefer if the new stylist had experience with this brand.

My search led me to a stylist with over 10 years of experience, who was also a Certified Brazilian Blowout Educator.  We'll call him "John." What caught my attention about John is that Brazilian Blowout sends him all over the USA teaching other salons how to properly perform the treatment.  I also stalked him on Instagram in order to find more candid photos of his work, and to see what other people were saying about him.  Everything looked good.  Though his experience and certification did come with a hefty price tag.  He quoted me for $300 for my length of hair; which is significantly more than what my other stylist used to charge ($120).  My original stylist was... unkempt, but the price was right so I continued to go to him, even though he sometimes missed a few spots... you get what you pay for.  I was interested in seeing the difference in care with the new guy.

I had also texted several other stylists to get prices.  One charged $250 but her online portfolio did not look polished.  I also thought, if she charges $250 and the certified educator guy charges only $50 more then I should just spend the extra $50.  Another lady I texted said she charged $275 and included the after care products such as shampoos, etc.  This isn't my first rodeo so I already knew how to take care of treated hair.  She also did not have an online portfolio and when I did find her on LinkedIn... she had only been working at a salon for the past two years.  Before that, she worked at Whole Foods and a bunch of other non-beauty related retail stores.  Yeah... no.

At this point I was feeling pretty justified in spending $300 on the Brazilian Blowout Certified Educator with many years of experience.  Hey I only do this once a year.  Might as well be fab, right?

THE PROCESS

When I arrived at the salon John was already waiting to greet me.  He took me to his chair and asked what my desired end result would be.  I was wondering what he meant, but he explained that with the Brazilian Blowout brand, you can customize your results.  Unlike Coppola, or other "Keratin Treatment" brands - you can only get one result.  For example, if you prefer your hair to still be curly, but not frizzy; Brazilian Blowout can do that.  If you want your hair to be mostly straight, Brazilian Blowout can do that too.  I told him I would like to still have the beach wave when my hair dries naturally, and he agreed that leaving some wave would be the best look for me.

John also explained that the Brazilian Blowout brand and other Keratin Treatments are completely different.  Apparently the formulas are not similar and achieve their end result in different ways.  He said Keratin Treatments (like Coppola) break the bonds of the hair to get the shaft to lay straight, but as the treatment wears off the bonds are still broken; so your hair ends up frizzier and more damaged than before.  He said Brazilian Blowout uses an "Amino Acid based" (sounds gimmicky) formula that does not break or damage the bonds of the hair.  So when the treatment eventually wears out, your hair will not be worse off than before.  With this brand, your hair can't get protein overload and won't start to break if you do it often.  But considering what happened to Jennifer Aniston's hair... who knows if that's true... I'm exactly not sure what brand she actually used though.  People often refer to the keratin treatment as a "Brazilian Blowout" but not actually use the Brazilian Blowout brand.  Like when we refer to adhesive bandages as Band-Aids but they are not actually Band-Aid brand.

Everything he said above sounded like a sales pitch so I just smiled and nodded.  On to the process...

STEP 1:  Clarifying 
John took me to the washing station and rinsed my hair thoroughly.  He then used a liberal amount of a product called Brazilian Blowout Professional Ionic Cleanser.  He massaged it into my hair and scalp vigorously and rinsed it completely away.  He did NOT shampoo or condition my hair.  This is the only product used to wash my hair, and I believe it did a good job.

STEP 2:  Application
John poured the Brazilian Blowout Professional Smoothing Solution into a bowl and parted my hair into four equal sections.  He explained that this and the next step will be the most time consuming because he has to work with very very small sections of hair at a time to ensure even application.  Focusing on one section at a time, he would take about a half inch width worth of hair and apply the product evenly throughout until my whole head was done.

STEP 3:  Blow Dry
Starting one section at a time, John blow dried my hair with a paddle brush until it was completely dry.  He also pulled my hair taught as he was drying to stretch and straighten the hair.  He didn't focus too much on smoothing it out completely, but he did make it somewhat smooth.  He also took time to work through my cowlicks to undo them in order to prepare them for the next step.

STEP 4:  Flat Iron
John used a 1" Brazilian Blowout brand flat iron.  I didn't even know they had their own brand of flat iron.  The iron was set to exactly 429 degrees (Fahrenheit).  Once again, he took extremely small portions of hair which were half inch width or smaller, and did six passes with the iron for each bit.  Sometimes he did eight passes in the problem areas.  It was at this time he worked hard to undo my cowlicks and even used a 0.5" size flat iron on the cowlick in my bangs.  He did get close to my scalp as he said treating the roots are very important.  Overall, this step took the longest.

*** I also want to note that during Steps 3 and 4 my eyes started to water.  I didn't notice the fumes too much at first, but then my nose and throat started to bother me, but what was the most irritating was my eyes.  He asked me to keep my eyes closed during these steps and gave me some plastic glasses to protect them.  I did have to remove the glasses when he got to my ears and sides of my head.  I also noticed that there was not much ventilation or even a fan, but I guess if you use the right amount of product the formaldehyde content (< 0.2 %) is still considered safe by the Cosmetic Ingredient Review Board.  It's hard to really know the actual percentage of exposure though because it depends entirely on the product and the application of the stylist... Since I only get this treatment once a year, I often forget how uncomfortable this can be.  A fan would have been helpful.

STEP 5:  Rinse
Back to the washing station where my hair is rinsed thoroughly with luke warm water immediately after flat ironing.  He said the purpose is to rinse off excess "unused" product that didn't fuse to my hair in the previous step.

STEP 6:  Blow Dry Again
The Brazilian Blowout Ionic Bonding Spray was sprayed throughout my damp hair.  John then blow dried my hair on High with the paddle brush again.  He said it is very important to always blow dry your hair thoroughly to protect it from humidity.  If you still feel a cold spot on your head then it isn't fully dried.  He passed the paddle brush through my hair repeatedly until it was completely smooth.

STEP 7:  Oil 
He put about a quarter sized amount of Açai Brazilian Dry Oil into his hands, rubbed them together and smoothed it throughout my hair.  He then went over my hair with the paddle brush again and the blow dryer set to Cool.  And we're done!

BEFORE AND AFTER

Brazilian Blowout - Before and After

Brazilian Blowout - Before and After (air dried curly hair)

The first set is the Before and After of me at the salon.  The second set is a Before and After of me at home.  The purpose of the second set is to show how air dried curly hair looks AFTER the Brazilian Blowout.  Most of the before and after photos you see online only show the hair straightened; which I don't think is very helpful to people with curly hair who prefer to air dry and be done with it.

Before I got the treatment, the weather was starting to get hot and humid again and therefore my hair became increasingly hard to deal with.  You can see in the before photos that my curly hair was quite frizzy and was only going to get much, much worse as the day went on.  Because of the Brazilian Blowout, I can let my hair air dry and not have to worry about frizz too much.  It still has a bit of a curl to it, but it is far more calm.  If I choose to straighten it, it can now be done in about 25 minutes as opposed to an hour like before.

FINAL THOUGHTS

This isn't my first time getting a Keratin Treatment nor is it my first time using the Brazilian Blowout brand.  I did notice that the Certified Brazilian Blowout Educator was very thorough and proud of his work.  I also liked how he explained every step along the way (it made writing this review a lot easier).  John did not cut corners like the previous stylists I've used.  He said they were most likely not Certified.  None of them did the rinse from Step 5, the bonding spray, nor were they anywhere near as thorough.  The end result of my hair is also significantly softer than my past experiences.  Like... really soft.  It doesn't even feel like my hair.  I have to admit that I did go home and flat iron my hair a teeny bit because I think it helps smooth out my hair more than just blow drying.

One thing I didn't like was that I felt a little too pushed to buy the Brazilian Blowout shampoo and conditioner.  I know how to maintain this treatment but he said that their brand shampoo and conditioner will make it last even longer than any sulfate / sodium free shampoo.  In the end, I agreed to buy just the shampoo at $22  as he said it was the most important out of the two.  At first he refused to sell just the shampoo as he said he only sells it in a set... but then when I no longer seemed interested he changed his mind.  John also gave me a free 3.4 oz bottle of the Ionic Bonding Spray from Step 6 to take home, as it was included with the service.  He said to use it once every four washes in lieu of conditioner because it will reinforce the treatment.  As far as other after care is concerned, he said I can wash my hair tonight or put it up if I wanted to and it wouldn't effect the results; as opposed to other keratin treatments which require you to not get your hair wet for 72 hours and to not put your hair up as it will create permanent kink.

In the end, the treatment took three hours and fifteen minutes.  It probably could have been faster but there were a few distractions.  I did spend $390.  $300 for the Service, $25 for a bottle of Shampoo (with tax), and $65 for the tip.  Would I go to him again?  Maybe...  He was much more thorough so I do feel like I got my money's worth, but the way he pushed the products on me really rubbed me the wrong way.  Only time will tell if it will last longer with this shampoo though... I will update this article in a year :).

I also want to note that I will be searching for alternatives for this treatment.  The amount of discomfort it caused to my eyes, nose, throat should not be ignored.  I used my trusty NeilMed Sinus Rinse when I got home which helped a lot.  I really wish he used a fan to be honest.

UPDATE:  I did not like the Brazilian Blowout Shampoo.  After just a few weeks I realized the treatment did not seem to last as long as my last treatment.  It turns out it was the shampoo.  I switched back to Shea Moisture Raw Shea Butter Moisture Retention Shampoo and my hair looked much better.  Maybe Shea Moisture weighs it down a little more, but in the end my hair is clean and not foofy looking so I'm fine with that.