Re-Bond Girl

I'm a rebonded girl, well my hair is. I never thought I'd have chemicals on my hair, because on my list of nevers, one of them is to never color thy hair.

It was just an urge, that made me do it. After all, i've been saving up for it, it cost me PhP2,500 (as of this writing october 24, 2008). My mind was fixed on the idea of sitting on a chair for hours to get me prettier, to have my hair noticeably straight. SO i did not just want to waste my money, I asked for friends where they think the best place for a rebond is. My mom and i asked around for price range.

That's how I ended up in F salon, retiro. The service was great, the owner would always attend to us, her customers and even gave drinks, C2 for moi! What more my stylist, Phil, was nice. He commented on my hair being soft and easy to rebond coz it was still "virgin hair", meaning it never had a treatment, Never been colored, permed or anything of that sort. He gave me tips on how to take care of my hair, he said that i should

AVOID

- mentholated shampoos- going for a swim, sea water, beaches and swiming pool is a no-no now
- getting a relax for my hair, because the relax treatment is acid base and would react harshly with the chemicals used for rebonding my hair.

He also RECOMMENDed:

- taking care of my hair, by having protien, keratene treatments or hot oils in the salon, every month if possible... I thought to myself that mayhbe he was just trying to get some bucks out of me, but hey it did make some sense, right?
what I liked most about the parlor that iwent to was they advised me to go back after three days, the day that i Was allowed to shampoo my hair. It was part of their service to shampoo rebonded customers and check on hair consistency, trim if needed.
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the tips that the hair dresser gave me urged me to look for more tips here on the net and i stumbled upon these:Below is a list of maintenance tips to ensure long lasting straightness of your newly rebonded hair:

1. Never wash the hair with hot water. Lukewarm and cold water is ok.

2. Use a "clarifying" shampoo once a week or twice a month to remove chemical residues, build-ups, mineral deposits. When hair starts to look dull and lifeless, it needs a bit of stripping of acculumated build-ups from conditioners, serums, oils, and other chemicals. If one relies heavily on treatment products and if your hydro supplier is deep well, then this is a must. It is also advisable to use a clarifiying shampoo after getting from chlorinated pools and seawater.

3. Use wide-toothed comb. Avoid using brush.

4. Always use a thermal heating protectant spray like Hairlight Biosilk PPT (available at R. Hortaleza branches) before using thermal styling tools (blower, curling iron, flat iron)

5. When blow-drying hair, use the cold air function. Direct the nozzle down the hair to make the cuticles smooth, flat and closed. This is will add more shine.

6. As much as possible, avoid pony tails, clips, headbands, cap or any way that will create tension to the hair.

7. If going to swimming pool and seawater is inevitable, saturate hair first with lots of conditioner and wear a swimming cap. The conditioner will create a protective barrier so that chlorine and other chemicals in seawater will not penetrate into the hair. FYI, chlorine, as well as UV rays is an oxidating agent and it can alter the structure of the hair, causing reversion to your rebonded hair. Forget the beach.

8. Bleaching/hilites to rebonded hair is okay, but it will create future problems in the succeeding retouch sessions. A temporary spray/mousse hair color or a clip-on colored hair extension is more favorable. Ask me about clip-on (neon-colored) extensions.

Bleached hair / hi-lited sections are processed differently from the rest of the hair. These sections are extremely fragile, and are very quick to process. While virgin hair may get "cooked" for 40 minutes, bleached ones are ready for around 10-15 minutes! The solution used for bleached/hilited sections is different from virgin hair. When ironing, the temperature level for the bleached sections is at lower setting, and the rest of the hair is at higher.

Think of the time-consuming, highly-skilled, labor-intensive method of picking small strands of these hilites sections and doing the said processing, ironing, separating. That is, if you can find a good stylist. Even the high-end salons end up with bad rebond jobs. Worst, burnt hair!

9. Using permanent color to rebonded hair is okay, but it is as damaging as the perm/rebond itself. I don't recommend do-it-yourself home color. It's a risky attempt and end consumer dont have the skills to troubleshoot their own mistakes.

For longer-lasting tint effect with less damage, opt for demi-permanent cellophane (L'oreal "gloss" diacolor, indola vitamin color, "tone-on-tone"). It gives color depth and shine. For washable cellophane with zero damage, look for semi-permanent ones (henna wax by shinemoist, colourshines by sebastian)

Do not undergo any semi-permanent "coating" cellophane treatment 2-3 months before rebonding session, either retouch or full head. This type of cellophane coats the hair strands with a protective layer but washes out after 20-30 shampooings. This layer needs to be totally washed out before undergoing any chemical process (perm,color,rebond) or else it will cause uneven permeation of chemicals, resulting to failure.

10. Recommended product: Kerastase line. Consult a kerastase administrator so he can give a customized ritual according to the texture and condition of your hair. visit www.kerastase.com for product catalogue.

11. Eat lots of protein. Hair is made up of protein. Red meat, soy.


if you're wondering about mentholated shampoo:
head and shoulders and i think the sunsilk summer edition