Slave of My Own Hair

About 5 years ago I was introduced to Japanese straightening and ever since than I can't live without it. About every 5-6 months I spend a whole day at the salon and get my hair processed and the final hair is amazingly shinny, sleek and straight. So today is that day...I am spending a whole day (9am-7pm) at the Salon Oggi with the hair master @tommyfl who truly does wonders to my hair. Since I know that I will be here all day, I bring my coffee, breakfast, lunch and snack with me. @tommyfl is very good at keeping me well fed, but since I am trying to make better food choices, I brought my breakfast (yogurt) and snack, but didn't have energy to make lunch so I will be ordering something delicious later.

Every time I come here I feel like I am moving in for a day, as I bring all of my magazines, movies and books. So today I will be reading "Bon Apetit, Clean Eating, Martha Stewart Living, Body & Soul, Marie Claire and Vogue". It's only 11am and I am finished with Bon Apetit and found some amazing recipes for the chef to test this summer. More about the recipes a little later.

So the process...well, it's long and exhausting but it's nothing compared to what comes after it's all done today. The most important part - I can NOT sweat or get my hair wet or keep it in the pony tail or behind my ears for 3 days. I have a special silk pillow case so my hair doesn't creases, and I sleep with 60F in the house and a fan on just so I wouldn't sweat or by any chance ruin my hair. So pretty much until Tuesday, I will be a slave of my own hair. And the reason I make myself go through this process is that for 5 months I have perfectly silky, shinny, straight hair that needs no work - I shower and brush my hair and it looks perfect.

Update I: The first step in the process is washing the hair and protecting the scalp (9am-10am)

Update II:The next step is applying the chemical solution and processing for about an hour (for me a little longer as I have A LOT of hair) (10:30am -12noon).

Update III: The hair has been processing for 2 hours and it passed a knot test (this is where Tommy make a knot and unknots it and hair is straight) and now I am eating lunch. I was so hungry that I forgot to take a picture of my delicious chicken sandwich on multi grain bread. Now we will begin the longest part - flat ironing and it will probably go till 5 or 6pm.

Update IV: @tommyfl just finished flat ironing one side and moving onto the other. In about a hour and a half he should be finished with flat ironing and than the most crushing moment will happen - he will apply neutralizer on the perfectly straight hair and start all over again, but this time it will go by much faster. Needless to say I am still sitting in a chair, reading my magazines and catching-up on gossip and food blogs and seriously considering Bobby's challenge of push-ups and sit-ups.

Update V: So the hair is now completely flat ironed and the longest process is done.

Update VI:The heartbreaking part to all of this is applying neutralizer to perfectly ironed hair....It's on for 12 minutes and than shampoo and conditioning and the last segment - blow dry and touch up with a flat iron.

Update VII: And the final product - it's over. After exactly 10 hours I am finally on my way home with a perfect hair. Well, it will be perfect in two weeks once I get a hair cut and can color my roots. @tommyfl did an amazing job as always and he made this long excruciating day a fun and interesting and I have to admit it went by pretty fast. I just need to survive the next 48 hours.

I am off now to enjoy what is left of the weekend with the chef...cheers!!!