You may have seen before and after photos where the before is curly and the after is stick straight, you know the ones. For women who dislike their curls and long for straight hair that may be compelling, but that’s not us. We love curls, coils and waves in every shape, size and color. We love to play with our hair and style it in a variety of ways, as long as we can feel confident that our curls will come back healthy and well, curly! So three of our own NaturallyCurly team members headed to the salon to try Brazilian Blowouts out on their own curls, coils and waves and reported back on how it went.
Kami’s Type 4 Blowout
First up was Kami, our Account Manager who big chopped just this year. She wanted to try the Blowout for some more definition and hydration, and she likes “the flexibility of easily temporarily straightening my hair if I choose to do so.” Before getting the treatment she “wasn’t sure what to expect, honestly – it’s not something I personally have seen on many women with 4B hair. Those who do have 4B hair usually choose to wear the finished look straight. So I was a little nervous on the impact the treatment would have on my curls.”
As you can see from Kami’s before photo (above, left”> and after (on the right”> her curl pattern was not drastically altered, in fact you might not even notice the difference unless you felt her hair for yourself. Kami says “my hair is so soft! As the weather gets colder my hair is constantly breaking and getting firm – after the blowout, my hair feels so hydrated. I had no idea my curls could pop like this. I also feel like my curls are more stretched than they were before the treatment. I love the bit of extra length it gave me.”
So the Brazilian Blowout definitely doesn’t straighten hair every time, it really depends on your hair, your goals and of course your stylist. It’s extremely important that you have a consultation with your stylist before getting the treatment to give them a full understanding of what you would like to achieve with your Blowout (for example, that you want to keep your curls”>. This, along with your hair type and curl pattern, will determine how the stylist carries out the treatment.
Make sure you’re in good hands
Your stylist should be certified in using the Brazilian Blowout, as in they should have a valid certificate to show their clients. Make sure they’ve re-certified within the last 12 months to make sure they are up to speed on the latest and greatest techniques. During the client consultation make sure to share with the stylist that you want to customize the treatment to keep your curls. It’s up to the certified stylist to customize a treatment based on the porosity of the hair, coarseness, etc. For a true Brazilian Blowout, the steps of the treatment summary sheet should be followed, but most frequently skipped is the last step of masking and rinsing out the treatment. This is a no-no! A client should NEVER leave the salon with solution in their hair. EVER.
Susonnah’s Type 2 Blowout
Susonnah is our SEO Strategist and resident Type 2B expert. Susonnah’s hair concerns are obviously very different to Kami’s! Type 2B hair can be very fickle, some days the waves decide not to clump and some days your Holy Grail does absolutely nothing for you. Depending on the weather, frizz can be a big issue. As you can see from Susonnah’s before photo (above, left”> she experiences a small amount of frizz, and after her Blowout she was expecting “to have absolutely zero frizz. Brazilian Blowout is known to smooth out the hair and get rid of frizz, so I was hoping to see that.” Susonnah definitely did not want to lose her waves in the process, and as you can see in her after photo (on the right”> she still has her waves, they’re just a little looser, “my hair is so much softer and lighter than it was before. It also has absolutely NO frizz, and my waves are looser.”
How to care for your Blowout
The effects of a Brazilian Blowout are meant to last up to 12 weeks after the treatment. Curly girls tend to wash their hair less often, so depending on your routine this time period may be even longer with curly hair. When washing your hair, the brand recommends that you cleanse and condition with their Anti-Frizz Shampoo and Conditioner, which includes the same ingredients found in the treatment so “the hair is infused with the Super Nutrient Complex with every wash, gently washing out impurities and conditioning without compromising the treatment.” If you want to prolong your treatment, then avoid “other shampoos and conditioners that claim to be ‘sulfate-free.’ Just because they say they are, doesn’t mean they work with the treatment and, over time, could wash out the treatment.” As far as styling goes, you can style your curls just as you normally would.
Jamie’s Type 3 Blowout
You can probably see the most drastic difference here with Jamie, our Account Manager with a mix of 3A and 3B curls. We get a lot of questions from our curly community asking if they can have more than one curl pattern, and the answer is yes! Jamie’s curl pattern varies on different parts of her head, “the crown of my head bears the brunt of my frizz and has a tighter curl pattern than the bottom half.” Jamie says “As you can imagine my main reason for trying the Brazilian Blowout was to minimize the frizz and take down some of the volume, while keeping my natural curls. I also wanted to be able to better define my curls, especially on day 2 and 3 of my wash. The left ‘before’ picture is how I woke up on second day hair.”
This was not Jamie’s first Brazilian Blowout, and she keeps going back because she loves the effect they have on her hair. But the first time she got a Blowout she felt “nervous that the treatment would straighten my hair and take out the curl, but neither was true.” You can see a visible difference in Jamie’s curls, but in terms of her hair regimen Jamie is finding that her “curls are drying faster, the frizz is better controlled, and I am using a fraction of the product that I was before.”
We hope this gave you a better idea of what to expect if you’re considering a Brazilian Blowout. If you have curly hair and have tried one, please share your experience with the curly community in the comments below!
Let us know, have you had a Brazilian Blowout? How did it affect your curls?
This post is sponsored by Brazilian Blowout.
