EWP Reviews: Keratin and Aveda Keratin Treatments (With Before & After Pics!)

Keratin treatments seem to be all the rage right now, and I obviously had to find out what all the fuss was about.  It's supposed to give good protein or something to your hair, thus taming frizz and making it easier to blow out.

As I've mentioned before, basically all my hair fell out after I had a baby, but it's begun to grow back, which is good except for a curly-haired person, new short hair just leads to a crown of frizz.  See below:

The frizz was making me INSANE.  And I decided I needed to step into the world of keratin.  I did my first treatment in November (with Alex and Michael Anthony Salon on North Avenue. I LOVE him) and had planned to do a before and after post for all of you, but never got around to taking pictures. Oops.  But the treatment's lifespan had ended (as evidenced by the above photos) and it was time to re-keratin myself.

I went back in for the keratin blowout since I liked it so much the last time, but out of stupidity and scheduling issues, I did not go to my styling love Alex but another stylist I'd never seen before.  She told me about how Aveda has their own keratin treatment now and, while it is more expensive, it uses much less chemicals and is more natural and lasts longer.  After some convincing I upgraded to Aveda's treatment.  Whichever treatment you get, it has to be flat-ironed to seal into your hair, so this is me post-flat ironing.  No, this is not what your hair looks like regularly after a keratin treatment.

And then I completely forgot to take the real "after" pictures where I just let it air dry normally.  Oops.  I then proceeded to go on a trip to the Bahamas where I washed my hair daily, if not twice daily depending on pool visits.  So these pics (which I lazily took with my phone) aren't a fresh post-keratin look.  You're not supposed to wash your hair everyday as to extend the life of the treatment.  But you can get the idea.  These are just air-dryed, nothing done to my hair days.  Please note the significant decrease in the crazy halo of frizz ridiculousness.

This one is post gym, so I'm especially gross but it seems to look only slightly frazzly.

Please don't judge my chipped nail polish, I'm doing my nails tomorrow. 

Okay, picture time is over, now it's time to get reviewing.

First of all, there are two different levels of keratining, one lasts, I think, 6 weeks (if you don't wash your hair everyday and use certain types of shampoo) and the longer one lasts... 3 months?  I've never done the longer one.  Michael Anthony Salon (not sure what other salons do) has you do a consultation first to figure out what works better for you and at my consultation we discussed how the longer version would be too heavy for my hair.  And I like a little bit of wave/curl left so I didn't want to do the whole shebang. Plus it's twice as much and I'm loathe to drop that much on my hair in one visit.  And with each of the services you can't wash your hair for 1-2 days.

1) The keratin treatments.  There's the full treatment at... $300?  You get a free shampoo and conditioner that is compatible with keratin with your treatment.  It lasts about 3 months.  I did the keratin blowout which was, I think, $175.  It's labeled as lasting 6 weeks, but I found it lasted much longer than that.

2) Aveda keratin.  This is the one that was kind of sort of pushed on me as "better."  This too has the longer version, which I have no idea how much it costs, but does not come with the free shampoo and conditioner, which are Aveda and pricey so sad not to get them.  The shorter version was $225 and SMELLED SO BAD.  I seriously was ready to vom for most of it.  It's done just as good a job at de-frizzing but it's left my hair feeling really dry and strawy.  For being the more "natural" option, I would've expected it to be easier on my hair. I was pretty annoyed about that and called to complain, and in the 5 years of me going to this salon I've never complained once.  Lastly, I only got it 3 weeks ago, so I can't vouch for how long it lasts yet, but having been washed extra, it's still holding up well.

EWP Grades.

Regular Keratin: A- (minus for the price)
Aveda Keratin: C+

Updo? Don't Mind If I Do

Sorry for the lack of posting round these parts. Blogger has been giving me lots of trouble. I do believe it's time for me to throw in the towel and move on over to Wordpress. But that's a headache for another day. I'll let you know when the big move happens.

For now, let's chat about my hair.

My trusty stylist asked me to be her hair model Monday afternoon. The salon was closing for a mandatory updo class for all its stylists to learn and practice looks they normally didn't do. And my stylist wanted me to be her updo guinea pig. I've only seen my stylists for cuts, so I actually had no idea what her updo capabilities were, but an afternoon of having my hair played with sounded just too fun to pass up.

So we hired a sitter, (Yes, I got a sitter just so I could get a bunch of updos for an afternoon) and I went off to be the best hair model I could be.

First thing my stylist exclaimed was how I had so much hair. This was a surprise to both of us as we both have been waiting for it all to fall out. (Apparently after you have a baby, you go bald. Who knew?) Lucky for both of us, I have not yet gone bald and she had plenty of hair to style.


First up: the french twist


Verdict: it made me feel very fancy, but I don't think it looks very good on me


Style Two: the smush and pin.

Verdict: this is actually something I do with my hair all the time. Who knew that I was such a master of hair that I could do my own updos? Definitely not shelling out $65 to have someone do this for me.

Style #3: The Sexy Pony

Verdict: Y'all, I am a big fan of the sexy pony. I myself suck at making a nice, clean, high ponytail. Shameful, I know. What girl doesn't know how to do a ponytail? But this sexy pony was, well, sexy. I liked it. I think I need to do that more often.

Random in between looks shot: There was A LOT of backcombing involved. I looked kind of like the bride of Frankenstein in between each style. Also, man oh man was my scalp sore by the end of the afternoon.

Style #4: Chignon

Verdict: I've never had a chignon before, though I feel like I see it sported on celebs for big events all the time. And, well, I liked it. It didn't really go with my casual dress, but if I was being fancy, I'd def love to have a chignon. I felt uber fancy in it.

Style #5: The 20s finger wave

Verdict: I was most excited for this look. I am a huge fan of the retro glam finger wave look. Alas, it was the first time my stylist had ever done it (hence that whole learning in a class and practicing thing) and I was not fond of how it turned out. So disappointing because it was really how I wanted to spend the rest of the day, but it all fell out basically as soon as I left. Oh well, you can get the basic idea and I def think it's an updo I should get (albeit from someone else) for a future event.

What do y'all think? Do you do updos? Or are you a hair down kind of gal?

Confessions of an EWP

It's been a while since my last confessions, and I have more to get off my chest:

1. I haven't worn makeup in a week. I know there are a bunch of you who don't wear makeup everyday (and we seriously need to have a talk about that), but I do. So a week is a long time. I fear I've turned into one of those gross preggos. But in my defense I've been really sick this past week and didn't leave the house. The only person I've seen is my husband. Who I guess I should still put makeup on for, but when I confessed it'd been a week since my last mascaraing Mr. EWP said "what? You're not wearing makeup? I can't tell." Oh sweet sweet Mr. EWP. I don't want to know if it was a lie or the truth. But before you think he's too sweet he did follow it up with "I used to be able to tell because of your circles, but you don't have those anymore." hahahahah, well, at least my unemployment has helped with catching up on my beauty rest.
2. I'm headed to Michigan today via train (the hubs will be coming on Friday after work) for my little sister's big engagement party weekend. She has very nicely asked if I would do her makeup for the big event because I do it so much better than the professionals she's used. Flattery will get you everywhere. And because I'm crazy, I can't take a few colors, no, I worry that I'll be leaving something necessary behind. So I'm taking my entire makeup case with me. On the train. In addition to my giant bag of clothing, because you never know what I might want to wear this week. I'll look like a crazy bag lady. Thank God Amtrak doesn't have baggage restrictions. And while I've already made confession #1 to you all, maybe we shouldn't tell my sister I haven't put any makeup on in a week.....
3. I need new gold shoes. Badly. Please someone find some for me. All suggestions welcome in the comments or email me at esquirewearsprada@gmail.com
4. We are drowning in clothes. Not laundry. But clothes I've pulled out of my closet to donate. Someone please come to my house and take them to Goodwill (or your own closet, I don't care) for me.
5. Pregnancy has made me go gray. There are a MILLION grays on my head that weren't there before I got pregnant. The situation is getting out of control. I'd pluck them all except I have a fear of going bald.
6. I fear I'm going bald.
7. I have really short legs. Like seriously disproportionately short legs. I finally admitted this to myself a couple weeks ago and bought my latest pair of Joe's Jeans in a petite.... and I still need to have them hemmed. I really hope BabyWP doesn't get my midget legs.
8. I'm addicted to massages. Like seriously addicted. I may need to go into counseling for it.
9. When I get my toes painted a hot color, I stare at them all day.
10. I can't sleep without my husband. Like not at all. Is that weird? I already have weird preggo insomnia, but couple that with being Mr. EWP-free for the next two nights, and I'm in a bit of a panic. Maybe my little sister will cuddle with me....

How about you? Got anything to confess?

EWP's Favorite Things: Aveda's Be Curly Curl Enhancer

I have very curly hair. It sort of baffled my family as they don't have crazy curly hair, and I had stick straight hair until the age of 12. They weren't quite sure what to do with it. Which led to some years of just brushing out. *cringe*

But then I figured out that I should stop with the brushing and start with the curl product. I tried this, I tried that. One frizzed out by the end of the day. One made my hair gross and crunchy. After much trial and error, I found this:

Aveda, $18

and I never looked back. It gives just enough hold for the day, but without making any crunchiness to my hair and leaving it natural and light. No frizz, just knockout curls. I couldn't imagine my life without it.

My and Drew's Ombre Hair

Ombre, for those of you who don't know, means shaded or graduated in color. This, for example, is an ombre dress.


Now to the subject of this post. All I have heard for the last few weeks is how wonderful and amazing Drew Barrymore's "ombre" hair was. With her dark on top and light on the bottom. Every style outlet was praising her for her fashion forward coloring.

And here I was thinking I looked ridiculous with my grown out highlights, when really I was on the cutting edge of style with my own ombre hair.
I'm telling people I have ombre hair and I'm sticking to it.

Things That Worry Me

1. I got a very long handwritten thank you card from a store I recently shopped at. Does this mean I spent way too much money there?
2. The state of my hair. These early April highlights are grown out and faded; I just wish they'd grow out a little faster! Come on, prenatal vitamins, work your magic.
3. The state of my closet. I just tried on every dress I have and put away everything that no longer fits. This has left me with 2 things to wear. I'm in trouble.
4. What kind of world BabyWP will grow up in. All the hate speech and attacks on people for being Muslim or Muslim-looking have taken me back to post-9/11 when shots were fired at my mosque, my house was egged, I was chased down the street by men screaming "bin Laden!", and I just generally felt unsafe. I want so much better for BabyWP. No one should ever feel that way.

I'm a Pantenologist (& an EWP Giveaway!)

Today I was greeted by this ginormous box. I was so excited!
What was inside, you ask? Why, my Pantene Scientific Hair Test Kit, of course!

The folks over at Pantene identified four distinct hair structures and started developing products for these different hair types.

1) Curly - I can tell you right now this is me. No testing necessary.

2) Color - hmmm.... maybe I'll need this since I got my new highlights...

3) Medium-Thick - Oh, but I have medium-thick hair, too!

4) Fine - Okay, this one I for sure know is not me.

And to make this whole process very official and scientific, the folks at Pantene included these handy scientist glasses...

.....and a lab coat! I can tell you right now, I'm going to wear this lab coat everyday.

Don't I look very smart and sciencey? I'm a pantenologist!

Let the testing begin! Pantene sent me some tests to conduct to figure out my hair type.

First up, pull my hair in a ponytail and see if it's thicker than this coin they sent me. Check! That means I have medium-thick hair.

Then I brought out the curly card for the curly hair test.

I yanked a hair out and placed it on the card. I think this means I have tightly wound curls. Definitely not a surprise.

Testing complete! [Note my husband's penchant for taking pictures from a seated position leading to super unflattering pictures. What a jerk.] Now all I have to do is use the shampoo/conditioner corresponding to my hair type(s).

Want to try Pantene's new line for yourself? You can find it any local drug store or grocery store or wherever Pantene products are sold. Or you can go to Pantene.com for a free sample.

And to make things even more exciting, Pantene has provided me with a $25 gift card to Wal-Mart to give away to one of my lucky readers!

Just leave a comment with your email address or not if I know who you are and let me know what you think your hair type is:

And, no, I will not judge you for wanting to win a Wal-Mart gift card. My favorite pair of underwear is from Wal-Mart. "WHAT?" Long story involving flat tire in the middle of nowhere and killing time at a Wal-Mart til my tire was fixed which resulted in the purchase of many random things, including a pair of Halloween boy shorts that glow in the dark. I love them and wear them all the time.

Winner will be announced next week Monday when I get back from DC.

This is a compensated giveaway. Pantene has provided me with the Pantene Scientific Hair Test kit, information, and a $25 Walmart gift card to giveaway through MyBlogSpark.

Kate Gosselin's New Hair

Well, she finally listened to me and got rid of that awful reverse mullet of hers. And while this new look is a definite improvement over mulletville, I think she got some pretty terrible and cheap hair extensions. Is it me or do they just look icky, fake, and stringy?

What do you think of Kate's new look?

EWP Gift Guide - Feathered Headbands

I hate to rip off a Pioneer Woman gift idea, but I ordered these feathered headbands and went gaga for them. I'm a general fan of headbands, as it's about all I can do with my curly whirly hair. And I was certainly super excited when feathered headbands (aka fascinators) hit the stands. I bought a few from various outlets, and without fail, the feathers started coming out one by one. That's why I am a big fan of these headbands by "Feather by Feather."

The key here is the cloth backing, making sure all my feathers are nice and secure and don't get out of place. I put the backing to the test when I travelled with my headbands to Spain and they got tossed in and out of luggage over a 2 week period. And not one feather came out. It was a miracle..... or just well-done backing.


Feather by Feather has tons of different colors and styles of feathered headbands for whatever mood you or your giftee may be in.

And there's something about feathers in your hair that's just so feminine, throwback, and fun. My favorite combination.

So head over to Feather by Feather's etsy shop before they're all gone!

Feather by Feather, all varities $20

[EWP DISCLAIMER -- Please do NOT use the EWP Gift Guide as a shopping guide for EWP. It is not my personal wishlist; these are merely suggestions for others]