Regretting hair straightening

[Layton]

My hair was 6-7 inches when I straightened it at saloon today. And I actually kinda regret it because my hair is too flat now. So flat that I looked like a failed scene kid. Damn, I only know a mistake when I do it. I feel so stupid right after finishing it. So right after that I immediately went to barber to cut about 2-3 inches off so I wouldn't look like failed scene kid but I still look ugly as hell because it's so flat. There's no volume at all :(

Anyway, can anyone tell what kind of hair straightening I had? I know there are keratin straightening, chemical straightening and brazilian straightening. Hope that somebody can tell what straightening I had from the procedure. The procedure is kinda like this if my memory serves me right, when I first go there they washed my hair, blow dried it, and then apply some wax or gel or something on my hair, heat up my hair, wash the stuff of my hair, and then blow dry it again, flat ironed my hair,and then apply something to my hair again, and then wash it again and blow dried it and done. About 2-3 hours.

Is it chemical straightening? Does it mean it is in no way reversible? Yeah I know I'm stupid now and because of my mistake I'm ugly as f... I have a friend who have straight hair that looked great and I want hair like that which is why I straightened my hair. But it is a mistake it doesn't look natural at all like him.

Why do I have to be so stupid. I have something to attend in like 2 weeks... and now my hair is ugly like this... I don't know what to do now :(


<Images removed per user request.>

[Firefox7275]

Welcome! You need to ask your stylist what kind of straightening you had, they should have explained it to you properly before you went ahead - risks, permanence, aftercare etc.

[Layton]

Yeah I think what I actually looking for is "relaxing" not "straightening" which is too flat. But it's too late right now

[ositarosita]

Firefox7275 is right. Before they started anything they should have explained it all to you.

[cathair]

Have you tried washing it yet to test it's permanence? I think even chemically relaxed hair will become less straight after washing a few times.

[Hootenanny]

Awww, I think you're being too hard on yourself. It really doesn't look bad at all (although I do prefer your natural texture :) ). I also agree with Firefox, you should ask your stylist what he/she did. And cathair is right, many kinds of straightening will begin to revert to your natural texture, at least somewhat, as time goes on. After washing it a few times, you might begin to like it better. :)

[Layton]

Have you tried washing it yet to test it's permanence? I think even chemically relaxed hair will become less straight after washing a few times.I washed it immediately after heading home. They told me not to wash it till 4 days because it won't stay put so I wash it immediately as trying to reverse this and it didn't really work. Still straight and flat as hell.

[stachelbeere]

Awww, I think you're being too hard on yourself. It really doesn't look bad at all (although I do prefer your natural texture :) ). I also agree with Firefox, you should ask your stylist what he/she did. And cathair is right, many kinds of straightening will begin to revert to your natural texture, at least somewhat, as time goes on. After washing it a few times, you might begin to like it better. :)

I agree, I think it looks really nice! You're maybe being a bit too hard on yourself?

[cathair]

I washed it immediately after heading home. They told me not to wash it till 4 days because it won't stay put so I wash it immediately as trying to reverse this and it didn't really work. Still straight and flat as hell.

Try not to be too disheartened. It may change it you give it a couple of weeks and wash it more times. Perhaps scrunching it to encourage it to not be straight might help.

Can phone the place you had it done and find out exactly what they used?

For what it's worth, I think you hair looks nice both ways. Your straight hair reminds me of anime characters :)

[Layton]

Try not to be too disheartened. It may change it you give it a couple of weeks and wash it more times. Perhaps scrunching it to encourage it to not be straight might help.

Can phone the place you had it done and find out exactly what they used?

For what it's worth, I think you hair looks nice both ways. Your straight hair reminds me of anime characters :)
Well I didn't put the front view photo and here it is. https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/1UarQdRHOSNpp3oostw8qnM3kpvwFnHjGGjYxSaJ-34=w457-h609-no

The side looks okay but the front looks too flat and it looks like I just cut someone else hair and pasted in on my head. It makes me look weird

btw why is there no edit option i wanna link this on original post. need certain amount of post?

[ErinLeigh]

Call the salon and ask what they did to it. If it was keratin or brazillian treatment sulfate shampoos will remove it and give some volume back. It will come out more and more each wash. I know how you feel about the flatness. When I did keratin my roots were so flat and the ends of my hair looked kind of ropey.

[ErinLeigh]

When you have 25 posts you will be able to edit.

[Aderyn]

Try not to be too disheartened. It may change it you give it a couple of weeks and wash it more times. Perhaps scrunching it to encourage it to not be straight might help.

This, this, this. One wash will oftentimes not be enough to judge the full extent of the damage. I remember I had my hair flat-ironed for my brothers wedding, had lots of hairspray and product in it and it took a good 4-5 washes with a harsh, sulfate shampoo to get back to normal, and that was just with flat ironing, so your treatment may take a bit more to determine the damage.

[CremeTron]

what about combing the front slightly back so it has a bit more height? It would look less "scene" I do think it looks nice, healthy and shiny.

[Anje]

When you have 25 posts you will be able to edit.

25 quality posts. It's not an automated thing but a privilege that's got to be manually turned on. Making lots of contentless posts won't get you there.

[maborosi]

Well I didn't put the front view photo and here it is. https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/1UarQdRHOSNpp3oostw8qnM3kpvwFnHjGGjYxSaJ-34=w457-h609-no

The side looks okay but the front looks too flat and it looks like I just cut someone else hair and pasted in on my head. It makes me look weird

btw why is there no edit option i wanna link this on original post. need certain amount of post?

Just going by this post, it doesn't look so bad. Definitely give your salon a call and see if they can tell you what kind of straightening treatment they did, and then you can go on from there.

~maborosi~

[fairview]

A relaxer is a permanent chemical straightening procedure weather it is lye based or thio type of relaxer. It works by rearranging the sulfide bonds in the hair structure. More than likely this was not used on your hair unless you are bi-racial and have predominantly extra curly/coarse hair. When used on other types of curly hair, the result is a greasy feeling to the hair. Very unpleasant. You need to go back to the salon and find out what procedure was used to understand the length of time your hair will be straight and what may be available to neutralize what has been done. If it is possible to stop or minimize the straightening procedure, now is the time to do it, not next week of next month.

[teenerz]

I'm not sure if this is what you had done (though it does sound a lot like it), but I used to have my hair Japanese straightened once a year. I couldn't wash it for 48 hours after so that it would "set" (those days were torture!). It would end up stick straight and very flat with basically no body - However, once my hair started to grow in I would get more volume at the roots. Although I was ok with it being flat I preferred it after about a month because by then the new growth would make it look a lot less flat. So I'm sure in a few weeks you will be much happier with it!

A good stylist can modify the technique they use with the iron to give the hair more body (starting to iron further away from the roots). If it is a Japanese perm you had, then it is permanent - the straightened hair remains that way until it grows out. If you had Brazilian, that will gradually fade in a few months.

If you like super straight hair then I really think you will be much happier in a few weeks to a month. (Although since you washed it right away I am not sure what effect that will have on it retaining its straightness.) I loved the fact that it was stick straight and I never had to worry about the weather. I did Japanese perms for five years but stopped two years ago as I now avoid all chemicals (and decided to embrace my naturally wavy hair).

One more thing - I was always advised that the hair is still in a softened state for about two weeks, so during that time you can't put it behind your ears/in clips/ponytail because it will permanently take the shape (like a C shape from putting it behind your ears or a bump from the clips/hairtie).

Edited to add: One way you can generally get an idea of what type of procedure you had is the cost (although it does tend to vary by location). Japanese perms tend to be much more expensive than Brazilian straightening, I'd say about twice the price. But again, it can vary by salon - some salons charge by the hour (I went to one that was $100/hr and it took four hours to do my hair).

[Layton]

Well I can't be bothered to go back to the saloon plus I don't have free time to do so. Anyway I think I might have panicked when I posted this thread due to the drastic change in my appearance. Well I cut my hair short from 7-5inches to 4-1inches so that it wouldn't weight my hair too much. If I pull out a single strand I can see it's starting to gain back some of the wave but it's still looks pretty much straight.

I prefer my old hair but I don't think the current hair looks too bad. And yeah, a few weeks later the wavy root will grow and give my hair some volume hopefully.