Caring for Your Straightened Hair.

The First 48 Hours. The first 2 days after your hair has been straightened, there are a couple things you must do to insure that the curl does not return and that the hair does not become damaged.

• Do not to get your hair wet for any reason, under any circumstances, by any means for the next 48 hours. That includes rain, mist, bathroom "after-shower" steam, SWEAT, hair products unless approved by the manufacturer (most contain water), spit or any other form of H2O. You will be given a simple plastic cap to take home for use during showers. You need to follow these rules until you shampoo for the first time. The hair must not be air-dried for the first week after your first shampoo.
• Do not use anything in your hair that might leave impressions. NO clips, ponytail holders of any, headbands, hair sticks, scarves, hats, or barrettes. You are not to tuck your hair behind your ears, braid it, or make any other attempts at styling your hair. Since the hair has to be processed in the direction in which it naturally grows out of your head, you may leave the salon with an unusual part. Going against your natural part can cause breakage.
• For the first 48 hours, smooth out all impressions using a flat iron on the lowest setting as soon as you see them. Sleeping on satin pillowcase can also help prevent unnecessary impressions caused by sleeping.

Several people have been unhappy with their hair the day they leave simply because their part is not in it's normal place, or their bangs look unnaturally straight. Prepare yourself for a very flat, possible greasy looking, thin feeling head of hair during the first 2 days.

You will need to wait 2 weeks before coloring your hair using a semi-permanent color, and 4 weeks before highlighting your hair.

Products, Products, and more Products. At UnSprung you will find a nice selection of Japanese haircare products. These products are excellent for both straightened and unstraightened hair.

Shampoos are chemicals like anything else and overdoing it can lead to damage. People in general tend to rough up their hair when they shampoo, which damages the cuticle of the hair. Visit http://www.yuko-usa.com/homecare/index.asp for a great tutuorial of how best to care for your hair. The hair has on average 8-18 layers of cuticle on each strand. As the hair grows out and is exposed to damaging influences, the cuticles peel off, eventually revealing the hair's core. Good quality proteins reinforce the cuticle temporarily, helping maintain optimum hair health. Once the cuticle peels, off, there is no permanent replacement, yet.

Grow-out and Touch-Ups. Depending on how fast the hair grows and how curly it is, curl will be visible at the roots anywhere from one month to one year. 2-3 inches of new growth is needed to have the roots done. People who have longer hair have an advantage because the weight of their hair pulls the roots flatter than shorthaired people, allowing them to go longer between root touch-ups. In general, hair grows about 1/2 inches per month.

If your curl diameter is 1 inch across, it might take about 5-7 months for you to see a definite curl pattern. If a person straightens their hair twice a year, they will have an annual minimum cost between $800 and $1000 or possibly more if your hair uses more chemical than normal. Most people have touch-ups done about every 7 to 8 months.

The root touch ups usually take as long as the original straightening, give or take an hour or so. In one case, the roots took longer because the client had totally healthy virgin new growth at her roots compared to the bleached out hair at her ends that processed quickly originally.

The options you have when you want to go back to curly are: cut the straightened hair off or grow it out. So far, curly-perms have not been completely successful on straightened hair and so re-perming the straightened hair back to curly, is not an option you should count on.