Calling all lady dopers (and perhaps a gentleman or two?)! Come, give me your tales - good or bad - of your experiences with the Brazilian Blowout.
A long-time sufferer of extremely curly/frizzy hair, I’m seriously considering treating myself to one. After the last couple of years I’ve damn well earned a treat, but at a cool $200 a pop, I want ammunition!
Perhaps you could clarify what a “Brazilian Blowout” is. Because I don’t think it’s what first came to my mind. (Though the mention of having unmanageable curly hair did cause me to go :eek: )
Apparently, the chemicals contain very high levels of formaldehyde. (Cosmetic industry review critiques Brazilian blowouts' safety).
Wow… thinking of something else entirely.
I got one and hate it. I have naturally wavy hair, which I really like. But every time I went to get my hair colored, they’d blow it out straight, and I’d get loads of compliments on it.
So finally I sprang the $400 it costs here. It’s a long process and the stylist wears a mask over his nose and mouth while applying it, but didn’t offer me one for some reason. 
Now it was probably partly my fault for not confirming, but I thought this would be like a straight perm–as in, I’d wake up every morning with my hair silky and straight like after a blow out. NO. All it does, as the stylist told me, is coat my hair so that it isn’t frizzy and is EASIER to blow out. WTF? I don’t want to sit there with blow dryer and flat iron every morning; that’s what the Brazilian is supposed to do!
I tried blowing it out once, but you really have to work hard with the brush, pulling and drying thoroughly, to get it straight. Otherwise it looks like crap.
I used to be able to go 2-3 days between shampoos, but now with this nasty coating, my hair looks greasy and limp. I can’t put too much product on it, since it already looks kind of nast.
Plus I have to use this special (ka-CHING!) shampoo/treatment, as (this could be horsesh*t, don’t know for sure) regular shampoo will cause the treatment to wash away faster.
I’m going in for another coloring tomorrow, and will get him to teach me how to blow it out, and will go buy a flat iron. Because unlike with my regular wavy hair, I can’t just wash it, scrunch it with some stuff, and be out the door. BAH!
heh.
Wait - you hate it, but you buy expensive shampoo to maintain it? What on earth for? Go get a gallon of Suave and start lathering!*
*Don’t do this without checking with someone who knows about the stuff, just in case it makes your hair turn green and fall out or something.
My wife did something called Japanese straightening a few years ago. It left her hair completely stick straight. It never washed out and lasted until she grew it out. Her hair is somewhat frizzy and curly so it was an immediate difference.
She did the Brazilian blowout as well, but she said it left her her more manageable but otherwise not much different.
Yeah, no.
It was pulled here because it has high levels of formaldehyde and the news mentioned stuff like chemical burns and hair loss iirc. On my phone so I can’t look up the articles but if you search Brazilian Blowout on CBC I’m sure you’d find them.
My hairdresser friend has other ways she prefers to use to straighten hair. (iirc she told me you can use the same stuff as you do for perms but only the first part of the process and instead of curling it you blow dry/iron it flat. It works because the chemicals used in perms don’t curl the hair but makes it so what you do to it next will stay that way.)
I have Japenese Thermal Straightening. I love it ever so much. It physically changes the hair and makes it straight (basically it is a “straight perm”). I get it done every 9 months or so (because the top part of my hair is flatter and it doesn’t bother me when it starts to grow out) and it costs around $325 at a salon in NYC where they specialize in the technique. That price includes two hipster Japanese stylists who work on it for 4 hours, a haircut, plus a shiatsu massage, some tea, and help with my Japanese pronunciation.
I wouldn’t pay $300 for a hair treatment I still have to blowdry.
I got a Brazilian Blowout in December and I loved it. I have naturally frizzy hair (not pretty-curly, icky-frizzy) that requires blowingout/flat ironing to look decent (and it’s getting more and more frizzy the older I get). It worked great on my hair, smooth and silky and stick-straight.
It lasted about 10 weeks and it did make my morning routine so much easier. I could go 3-4 days between washing. When I did wash it, I could blow dry it like a normal person (no round brush needed, just waving the hair dryer around) and then I would flat iron just a few pieces of hair. My hair routine went from 40 minutes to 10 minutes, a big improvement.
I did buy the fancy (ie godawful expensive) shampoo/conditioner, but I still have half of each bottle left. The blowout cost me 200 + tip. It was a Christmas present to myself, I might do it again for my birthday in August.
The worst part was how LOOOONGG it took, probably 3 hours from start to finish. I see why it’s so expensive, 3 hours of a hair stylist’s time is not cheap!
I wouldn’t do it because of the formaldehyde. Manufacturers lied about what was in the stuff, so even the stylists were misled.
I was considering it but from the research I’ve done decided to not risk it.
My mother has hair straightening done. I would assume it’s the Japanese style. Before she had it done, her hair was a permanent poofball. Since, it’s straight. Looks very nice, actually, and she says it’s really easy to manage. Needs a touchup every 6-9 months, I think.
Me too. I like our thing better.
Daughter is South Korean. Has that slightly wavy hair some Koreans have. She detests it, and yearns for poker straight hair. She has this done too. Also uses a hair iron after showering.
At least she doesn’t want to go blonde :eek:
You can’t have color-treated hair and use the Japanese process. You’re safe (for now).
I would be cautious. While there are disputes right now about whether the brand name Brazilian Blowout contains formaldehyde, others that are not that brand do. Personally, I’m very sensitive to the stuff and even a whiff of it will give me a bad headache. I have to be very careful around biopsy jars which are formalin and really similar. Stories are conflicting, I think I would at least wait until the hype blows over and the real story remains.
Right now, OSHA is recommending anyone using this product to wear protective goggles, breathing masks, and splash-proof clothing protection with gloves. This includes the clients along with the salon workers. Good ventilation is also recommended, like a door open with fans running. That sounds crazy to me!
Since a little formaldehyde is released at home each time the hair is washed, they’re also warning people who may be sensitive that they could have a reaction to it at home, too.