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Thinking Straight
By Wendy Navratil
Chicago Tribune staff reporter
Published January 26, 2003
Shopping around
When Carolyn Brundage of Chicagobeauty.com
heard about thermal reconditioning about a year ago,
she made some calls to see where it was available. "Nobody
in the city was doing it," she said.
Now the service is popping up all over.
Here are the ones mentioned in this package:
Elizabeth Adam, 845 N. Michigan Ave.,
312-988-9611
Hair Base, 3631 W. Devon Ave., 773-539-0266
Red 7, 210 W. Kinzie St., 312-644-7337
Trio, 11 E. Walton St., 312-944-6999
Troupe, 46 E. Oak St., 312-587-2700
Check www.Chicagobeauty.com
for its recommendations. Or call salons to find out
whether they offer the treatment. (If so, ask to talk
with clients who have had it done.)
A six-hour, $600 hair appointment isn't
easy to reconcile with a Midwestern mind-set.
So when news circulated last year about
a Japanese miracle cure for unwanted curls (yes, there
are Asians with curly hair), most of the breathless
reports came from the coasts.
"In New York, [pricing] got stratospheric,"
said Mary Atherton, editor in chief of Modern Salon
magazine, based in Lincolnshire. "I heard $1,200 and
$1,500."
Largely for that reason, Atherton suspected
thermal reconditioning, a.k.a. Japanese straightening
or thermal retexturizing, might be just a fad.
But as thermal hair-straightening reaches
the year anniversary of its major rollout to the American
masses, there's no sign that the pursuit of pin-straight,
frizz-free hair has fizzled. Vogue reported that this
month's cover model, Sandra Bullock, underwent eight
hours of the straightening to save time on the set of
"Two Weeks Notice."
And stylists across Chicago are being
trained in the process or adding specialists. This fall,
for instance, Red 7 Salon near the Merchandise Mart
added Jamie Weaver, who performed thermal straightenings
for two years in Los Angeles.
The process combines chemicals called
thioglycolates and a flat iron heated to 355 degrees
to banish curl for up to six months. If performed properly,
it leaves most manes softer and sleeker than before,
with only a quick blow-dry at home to replace the tedium
of previous straightening efforts.
"We probably get 200 e-mails a week
asking where to get thermal reconditioning," said Carolyn
Brundage, director of marketing for Chicagobeauty.com,
which provides salon recommendations based on customer
feedback and its own Spa Girl reviews. "It's our most
popular request by far."
Chicagoan Laura Robinson, 33, who works
in pharmaceutical sales, went back for seconds about
a week ago at Elizabeth Adam Salon in Water Tower Place.
Before her initial $600 straightening in May, she relied
on "stupid spider clips" to contain her below-shoulder
coils, she said.
"This has paid off financially, emotionally
and spiritually," Robinson said. "That sounds so corny.
But I almost cried when I had it done."
And here's the good news: As availability
increases, prices are falling slightly, to about $400
to $800 on average in Chicago, Atherton said. The bad
news: That's still expensive. And the proliferation
of stylists performing the straightenings is raising
some concerns about quality control.
"We had a girl who came in, someone did
it for her at their home," said Philip Palmeri, colorist/chemical
specialist and co-owner of Trio salon, which has performed
about 150 thermal straightenings since the salon became
one of the first to offer the service last April. "Imagine
the crown of her head, with 60 percent of the hair broken
off. She said 'What should I do?' "
It's more what shouldn't be done--as in
heavily color-treated or highlighted hair.
These thermal straightening solutions
are distinct from stronger sodium hydroxide formulas
and aren't effective for most African-Americans and
others with particularly coarse hair.
Still, chemicals are at work. And too
many chemical processes on top of one another equals
"depilatory," Palmeri said.
"We've been saying no a lot," he said.
"About two in five would be a good candidate for it."
That's where the consultation, which
may include a strand test, comes in. Brundage and others
said any stylist who books a straightening appointment
for a new client without a consultation should be feared.
That argues for shopping around. The client
should interview stylists and compare training and experience,
not just cost.
"If they have a strong chemical background,
you're better off," said Graciela Santiler Nowik, who
has been a hairdresser for 22 years and owns Hair Base
on West Devon Avenue, which has done about 25. "I'd
ask, 'How long have you done it and how many have you
done?' I would ask if they're working with one person
or two."
She and Atherton agreed that at least
two technicians are ideal at some points--one can hold
the hair while the other irons it, for instance.
Then there's the budget. Are a haircut
and take-home products included in the cost estimate?
And how much do follow-up straightenings cost?
Most say that retouches, which may be
needed within a few months, are no less intensive--or
expensive--than the initial process, although some touch
up only the regrowth. (Elizabeth Adam Salon did Robinson's
follow-up for about $150.)
Price is based on time, Atherton said.
But time ultimately is what you save--perhaps
even money, said Serena Peterson, 36, dean of students
at Pulaski Academy in Bucktown and mother of 4-year-old
twins in Wilmette. She spent $600 for a straightening
from stylist Ingrid Trevino at Troupe salon in October.
"My husband wasn't thrilled," Peterson
said. "But I was going twice a month for blow-dries,
and those are $45, plus a nice tip, plus parking, plus
the time and--this is going to sound really dramatic--but
mental health. I don't stress about my hair anymore."
Now, even her husband--who "spends $15
for his haircut," she said--is sold.
Chicago
Tribune
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