BY: Rebekah Schweiger

I have a confession: I agonize over my hair. You might not know it to look at me, but inside I long for perfect, straight, thick, shiny hair. While some girls dream about getting a pony or meeting Mr. Right, I dream about waking up and having model hair. Hair that came straight from a red carpet or Pantene advertisement would suit me just fine. Instead, each morning I dedicate an hour to washing, conditioning, blow-drying, flat ironing and then hair spraying my mane into a semblance of normalcy. Sure, this sounds superficial, and I am sure many people would say that hair does not make the woman (or man). But I ask even one girl to disagree with me, when your hair looks fierce, your day rocks. You feel confident, gorgeous, almost like you could conquer the entire Millersville campus in one day. I want a day like that every day.
Now, what if that could happen? What if someone promised you that every day if you just washed and ran a blow dryer over your hair it would be perfect? Would you cry? Beg for whatever treatment promised those types of results? I would. In fact, when I heard about something called the Brazilian Blowout, a keratin treatment that would transform even the most unruly hair into perfect, voluminous, straight-from the salon gorgeousness, I read everything I could get my hands on about it.
I discovered that the Brazilian Blowout originated in Brazil where, thanks to naturally curly hair and terrible humidity, women begged for a product that would give them straight, shiny, humidity-proof hair. A treatment was developed called the Brazilian Blowout, and it began spreading across the country, shocking desperate women with its previously unachievable results. The miraculous results women saw after receiving a Brazilian Blowout had women in the US and Europe clamoring to receive the same treatment. Now the Brazilian Blowout, a brand-name product manufactured in Brazil and managed by the Los Angeles headquarters, is taking the beauty market by storm; promising three months of shiny, humidity proof, and health-improved hair.
The Brazilian Blowout is not the newest hair treatment to hit the beauty market, but it is the most controversial. This month’s article in Cosmopolitan magazine declared the Brazilian Blowout to be unsafe and potentially harmful and admonished readers to avoid salons where they even performed the treatment. The New York Times reported that interviewees who tried the treatment found the results to be so spectacular some even wept. So what is this mysterious treatment that has some beauty editors gasping in horror and other major media outlets detailing the rapture consumers are expressing? The Brazilian Blowout is a keratin smoothing treatment that is coated over the hair shaft and then blow-dried and heat sealed into it. The reviews were so glowing, and the testimonials so intriguing, I knew this was something I had to experience to believe. The Veranda Medical Spa and Salon located on Centerville Road was my first stop. They have been giving customers the Brazilian Blowout since September. Stylist Manager, Jaime Pratt briefly talked me through the procedure while Victoria Brown, an accomplished hairstylist and color artist readied the solution.
The first step in a Brazilian Blowout is to make sure that the hair is squeaky clean; this means three to four washes to ensure that there is no dirt left on the hair shaft. Next, the hair is towel dried about 75 percent before the Brazilian Blowout solution is carefully painted on divided sections of hair. The nice thing about the Brazilian Blowout is that it is customizable to the customer’s needs. I didn’t want to lose my volume so Victoria made sure to leave the first two inches of my hair untouched. The next step was to blow dry the solution into my hair and then flat iron it in sections to bond the product with the hair shaft. After all that work, Victoria rinsed my hair and then sealed in the Brazilian Blowout with a deep conditioning mask. Finally, it was time for the results! She got out her blow-dryer and, without using any brushes or even a comb, my formerly unruly mop behaved and quickly dried into a shiny straight mane.
Where were the adverse side effects I had read so much about? During my treatment, Jaime mentioned that I may experience some mild discomfort, but I have had a harder time breathing in some of the stuffy classrooms here at Millersville than I have during the entire treatment. I did not notice any chemical smells and my eyes only watered once when I got a rough air gust to the face during the blow-drying.
Currently there is no competition on the market for the Brazilian Blowout. It is the authoritative smoothing treatment available. While its price can be considered steep (it retails for around $300), I found the results to be well worth it. Jaime and the staff at Veranda were pleasant and professional, the salon was gorgeous, and everyone took their time to make sure that I understood the entire procedure. Victoria especially made the entire experience. I spent about two hours with her one-on-one and when I left I knew I would recommend her to everyone looking for a stylist. She took her time and really made sure she understood exactly what I wanted. It is vitally important to have a proper consultation before undergoing any hair treatment option similar to the Brazilian Blowout.
So for those of us at Millersville University, sick of remaining a slave to our ponytails on the days filled with humidity, and tired of scorching our way through a morning flat-ironing, the Brazilian Blowout is for you! I walked to class in the rain today sans umbrella and my long hair didn’t frizz up at all. That in and of itself is a small miracle. I absolutely would undergo this procedure again, and I highly recommend it to anyone looking for a solution to hard-to-manage hair. Also, if you bring in a copy of this article, you will get $50 off, so why not start out the summer right and look your best throughout the coming months with a little help from the staff at Veranda, who are more than willing to aid customers in their quest to look their best!