Hair: Coppola Keratin Complex Treatment

In general I love my hair, it was only after I moved to Japan where it is extremely humid in the summer that I noticed how frizzy it can get. For the past few years one of the ways to tame my frizzy mop was to get a Japanese straight perm. I loved the way it looked and felt, but usually after a few months I would get bored with my hair having almost no volume. In addition during that time, I couldn't dye or highlight my hair due to the amount of damage that the straight perm had done. This left me with straight hair and really obvious roots each fall.
So when I heard about the Brazilian Blowout and Keratin Complex treatments earlier this year I was very curious to try it out because I could have my color and also tame hair. I would say from about April till August I spend many hours trying to find a salon here in Tokyo, Yokohama or any other place in Japan that offered the service. I had almost given up hope in trying to find a salon, that is until it came up when I was having lunch with the ladies. My friend Karen (Hi Karen!) said that she had recently read an article in a magazine called "Being A Broad" (a magazine for female foreigners in Japan) that had advertised something similar to the process I was describing. When she got home later that day she sent me the link to the article, and I checked it out. It was an ad at a local international salon called Sin Den. I had heard about the salon before, but never been there. I initially contacted them for more information and a price quote, then after a bit of consideration I finally decided this was a chance I couldn't pass up.


This salon used the Coppola brand Keratin Complex treatment, which overall took about 3 hours to do on my hair. It began with getting my hair washed 2-3 times with a clarifying shampoo. Then afterward my hair was dried to the point that no water/moisture remained in it. It was then time to apply the keratin, while the smell was not as bad as your average perm smell it the fumes did get to my eyes. After the keratin was in my hair I got to enjoy a coffee (complementary of the salon) and read the latest British In Style magazine while I waited the 20 minutes for it to process. When the 20 minutes was up they then flat-ironed all of my hair in small sections, this is probably the most time consuming aspect of the process. Then I was done at the salon, at this point my hair felt very heavy and brittle. The stylist assured me that this was normal and that when I could finally wash my hair (3 full days later), I would have the silky smooth hair I was after. So I waited 3 days, I'd like to add they were 3 days of hell. In general I wash my hair about every other days or every 2 days, so 3 days is pretty hard for me. In addition the heat was really bad during those days and I became paranoid that the copious amounts of sweat from my head would void the process. Finally that Friday morning I woke up and ran into the shower to wash my hair, I was in heaven, my hair was exactly what I had wanted.

Here are some pictures to compare:


Before:



After:


The Pros:
* Soft/silk hair as promised.
* Can still color my hair if I want.
* Lasts for 4-5 months with the proper care.
* My hair is straight, but not so straight that it looks un-natural.

The Cons:
* Expensive! It was about double the price of a Japanese straight perm here in Japan.
* Have to use special sulfate-free shampoo and conditioner.

Overall I am really pleased with the results, it is a great alternative to the Japanese straight perm and is very gentle on processed hair!