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+

Michael Anthony 20th Anniversary Celebration

Last week was Michael Anthony Salon Spa's 20th anniversary celebration. Staff from all 4 salons, plus their new Canadian business partners, and the 20 clients from the photoshoot were all invited.

Look! It's me!

They had the party at this adorable floral shop/event space with a darling outdoor area.

I dragged my friend Kim with me. She was more than happy to show up to an event where people actually dressed well. We'd both seen enough shabby lawyers and were excited to be among stylish stylists. I figured as this was a fun salon event, it was definitely a place to whip out the ol' fascinator. It looked awesome.

I, however, did make a bit of a miss on the dress choice. In my head I know I went up two cup sizes from this whole nursing BabyWP thing, but I guess I hadn't really noticed in real life, so I donned a Nanette Lepore dress that had previously been borderline appropriate in the cleavage department and now was just plain scandalous. And I didn't realize until I got back and looked at the pictures. What a hoochie I am! My weirdo pose isn't helping matters either.
Left is my aesthetician Tilly and right is my colorist Allie. They're both fantastic, you must see them.

Kim decalred at the end of the night "I know why you spend so much time at your salon, these people are so nice!" It's true, the Michael Anthony folks are super wonderful. We had such a great time! And I did score some swag: a yummily soft robe, a giant picture of me (which was a nice gesture, but, um, what on earth am I going to do with that??!), and a $250 gift card. I'm going to spend that in, oh, .23 seconds. Mr. EWP definitely appreciates that last gift. Sadly, no digitals from the shoot, which I was really looking forward to. I'll have to harass them for those.

It's Here! It's Here!

Well, sort of. My big modeling gig photoshoot made its first appearance in the following invite for an event for the salon. Can you find your favorite EWP?

Look at me getting my model face on. That was the face I made when he told me to "smile, but not really" I had NO idea what I was doing. I'm pretty sure I look very confused.



My move is tomorrow and I have no idea when the stupid internet installation people will be showing up, so hope to see you within a week.



xoxo,

ModelWP

I'm Definitely Not Meant to Be a Model

Yesterday was my big photoshoot for my salon's 20th anniversary/thank you to clients/ad campaign/thingamabob.

Every girl at some point in her life has dreamt of being a model. Admit it, there was a time when you dreamed of getting your picture taken and walking the catwalk - maybe just at the mall's fashion show when you were 8, but you definitely thought about it.

I fully admit that I had many times growing up thought how fun and glamorous it would be to be a fancy model, try on clothes, have all the attention as people take my picture. Yesterday was my big day to live out that fantasy. And, oh my god, it is really not for me.

The getting my hair and makeup done part I truly enjoyed - you know me, I'm a sucker for pampering - but the whole stand there and get your picture taken thing made me so uncomfortable. I actually felt really self-conscious with all the attention and camera in my face. I didn't know what to do with my arms. I didn't know what to do with my mouth. If you've met me, you know I'm a big grinner. I have never taken a closed-mouth, non-smiling picture in my life. But this was serious photography, I couldn't be grinning like an idiot (even though I tried to). This was a close-your-mouth-smile-but-not-really photoshoot. Yeah, I had no idea what I was doing. Add on top the whole crane-your-neck-to-elongate-it-in-the-most-unnatural-position-ever thing. My neck was so tired at the end. But it was fun to see photography tricks, like having my hair pinned forward to make it look like I had lots more hair. And there was definitely a fan involved.

Oh, and there was my constant embarassment because my hair is falling out. Yes, I'm going through that fun post-baby hair loss everyone had warned me of. Just globs of it coming out. And when the salon mogul/photographer would adjust my hair for shots, his hands would come back covered in clumps of hair. It was both gross and horrifying. He, thankfully, understood, but it didn't stop me from feeling so so bad. By the end of the shoot there was like a carpet of hair around my feet. I'm super surprised I'm not bald.

And so ended my first and last day of modeling.

I'll get digital copies of the pics eventually once they've been edited. Can't wait to get them and post them for y'all!

ModelWP

No, I haven't taken up modeling. I just got a very exciting phone call today.

You know my salon Michael Anthony, the one that I frequent ENTIRELY too much?


Well, I got a phone call from them this morning saying they were doing a new ad campaign and wondering if I'd come in for a photoshoot to be part of it!!!! Two whole hours dedicated to making me pretty and taking pictures of me. You know I can't turn down an opportunity to have my hair played with, so I obviously said yes. And luckily this time my mother-in-law can watch BabyWP so we don't shelling out a bunch of money for me to have my hair played with, like we did last time.

The pictures will be used on their website, in their salons, on their facebook page, and other promotional materials. Eep!

They'll be doing my hair and makeup, but they asked me to bring in 3 outfits for me to wear. OMG WHAT AM I GOING TO WEAR???? I'm particularly fond of this new dress of mine (yes, I bought it. No, I shouldn't have). But the salon person said that they would prefer solids. And that dress is very not solid. Once again, WHAT AM I GOING TO WEAR?????????????????????????

I think I'm going to have to try on outfits and post pics and have y'all decide.

The photoshoot isn't until July 13th, so there's time. Anyone want to come over and go through my closet with me? Or, you know, go shopping and pick out all new things to wear?

I knew my salon addiction would pay off eventually! And by payoff I mean not pay me anything but let me live out a modeling fantasy for an afternoon.