I often wake up and wonder what on earth has gone on in the night for me to possess the craziest hair known to man. Sticking up at angles, tangled beyond repair and to top it off – frizz you can’t do anything with, it’s a recipe for a bad hair day. Every day. And it’s sometimes no better when I’ve washed it. Oh to be blessed with great hair. If only you could fake it every day.
The Brazilian Blow Dry – in case you haven’t heard – is a revolutionary keratin based deep treatment, renowned for its ability to tame wild hair, keeping it frizz free and making it far easier to manage, lowering styling times from 45 minutes to a mere 10. It’s not going to enable you to wake up with poker straight hair every day (that’s more of a permanent relaxant treatment) but it will eliminate the above paragraph and leave you with great hair days, every day.
With a frizzball of my own to take care for, when I was offered the opportunity to review the treatment at Rush Hair (House of Rush) in Piccadily, I couldn’t wait for the ‘big’ day to arrive. Living up to it’s name and showing the staff just how lovely and frizzy it could be, my hair was ready to be blow dried – and despite my usual irrational nerves (what if my hair falls out?!) I was excited to get started.
Arriving at the House of Rush in itself is an instant reassurance, with friendly staff on hand to greet you, answer any questions and thoroughly explain the process. The décor is very luxurious, with chandeliers and gold mirrors, but similarly, the laid back layout suggests that it’s not pretentious – you know you’ll be taken care of, but you can relax and read gossip mags til’ your hearts content.
The Brazilian Blow Dry starts off with a little consultation, before being clarified over at the sinks. A clarification shampoo is left on for a couple of minutes – removing any build up of shampoo, conditioner or hair treatment oils (the latter of which mine was full of in a bid to control it) before the special keratin formula is added to your hair in sections.
The treatment itself has gained exposure (good and bad) for it’s inclusion of the ingredient formaldehyde, which can be said to cause temporary eye irritation and headaches. Rush’s treatment does include this ingredient however a very, very tiny amount of it and I personally experienced no eye irritation or headache of any kind when it was applied or given heat treatment. If you’re particularly concerned about this, the staff here are more than happy to reassure you – but before you follow the media’s coverage and panic – from first hand experience, this isn’t something you need to be concerned about.
Once the formula has been applied to the entirety of your hair (although please note, it’s not applied to the scalp area, and so those with sensitive scalps – like me – needn’t fear) it is left on for 45 minutes to penetrate the hair cuticles before then being activated further using heat treatment. Your hair is blow dried with the formula still on your hair, before then being activated further using straighteners.
What you are left with after all the heat treatment is poker straight hair (which was a shock to me initially as I hadn’t seen my hair that straight in months) which feels so soft, silky and smooth I could hardly believe it was attached to my own head. I had to refrain from running it through my fingers too much, since the aftercare states you cannot wash your hair for three days after the treatment – and with my hair usually appearing greasy after just one day, I needed to prolong it as much as possible.
Aside from the three day washing drought there are surprisingly few steps in the aftercare, especially considering this silky soft, healthy hair feeling is going to last 14-16 weeks. However, the company do suggest you use a sulphate-free shampoo and conditioner, as anything with lots of nasty parabens and sulphates is going to strip your hair of the treatment and return the condition to how it was previously (please no!). Upon arriving home, I was rather shocked to discover that the majority of my shampoos (although no conditioners) contained what wasn’t allowed – and can actually strip your hair of its natural oils too, making it far more greasy, more quickly – so kindly, I’ve been sent some sulphate free shampoo to trial. Watch out for a review coming very soon.
Overall, I was extremely impressed by how the treatment has turned out, how it has left my hair feeling and how wonderfully welcoming the salon was. I would return in a heartbeat, although luckily for my bank balance – it will be 14-16 weeks before my hair needs any TLC. The Brazilian Blow Dry treatment starts at £200 but dependent on the length of your hair, it might be a little more. It’s expensive sure, but if you tot up the amount of hair oils and leave-in treatments you might use in an average 3 to 4 month period, and the amount of time you spend styling your hair – it all adds up. I must spend an average of half an hour each day blow drying or taming my hair – that’s 210 minutes each week and 2,940 minutes in a 14 week period. Shortening the time my hair takes to get ready for the day – opening up a 10-15 minute window for a little more time in bed. You simply cannot put a price on that.
I will let you know how my hair is doing (for those interested) at several week intervals. At present, my hair is greasy but still silky smooth. I’m really excited to wash it on Saturday (odd expression I know) and see how much more manageable my hair is. Wish me luck!
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For more information on the treatment or to book, please visit Rush Hair. They have several salons in London, including in Baker Street, Aldwych, Camden, Covent Garden and Soho, as well as further afield including Sevenoaks, Richmond, Sutton, Reading, Camberley, Horsham and Maidstone. Make sure you check their salon finder to discover your nearest salon.
