The Brilliant Brazilian Blowout

Laura Dahl Brazilian Blow Out

With the arrival Spring, I was due for a hair makeover.  So, I chopped my ‘do’ into an edgy bob and got my second keratin treatment.  It’s amazing how a new look has the power to reinvigorate and renew the spirit.

This time around I went with the celebrity recommended Brazilian Blowout instead of the Keratin Complex by Coppola, and I’m amazed at how different the two products are from each other.  So, to add to my previous article on keratin, here’s a more specific look at the Brazilian Blowout process and results.

To begin, I needed to find someone nearby who was well versed in all things keratin and I landed on the fabulous Jordana Lorraine.  Being that she is one of the rare stylists who works with several different keratin products, she fist interviewed me about my hair’s natural texture and the results I wanted.  We spoke about the effect the Coppola treatment had on my hair and we determined that this time around, my fine, wavy, frizzy hair would be best suited for the Brazilian Blowout.

Jordana worked her magic and the treatment made great improvements to my rad new cut – making it effortless to keep the geometric style in place.  My fine hair is free of frizz but still has the natural body and movement that I want.  In comparison, the Coppola product seemed to be a bit more aggressive in that it made each strand of my hair thicker and more course thereby leaving it stick straight and a little stiff.  It goes to follow that the stronger treatments like the Coppola complex are better suited for people with very curly or naturally course hair.

In addition to delivering different final effects, the Brazilian Blowout salon process is quite different too:

  1. Shampoo 1 to 3 times with a clarifying shampoo.
  2. Towel dry and apply a small amount of the product to damp hair.  There’s no need to dry the hair first and there is no processing time.
  3. Blow dry with the product in the hair.
  4. Seal in the product with a 450 degree iron.
  5. Rinse the treatment out and apply Brazilian Blowout deep conditioning masque.  Rinse, dry and style as desired.

Brazilian Blowout is the only keratin treatment that is rinsed out during your appointment therefore allowing you to see the results immediately.  And, most importantly to me, allowing you to avoid the 24-96 hour waiting period before sweating in your hair, washing it, styling it or being terrified that a ponytail or clip will result in a semi-permanent crimping effect.

As with all other keratin products, sulfate and sodium-chloride free shampoos are recommended to prevent the treatment from fading out, but Brazilian Blowout takes it a bit further.  The company recommends their own Brazilian Blowout Acai Aftercare system of shampoos and conditioners.

The skeptic that I am, my inclination is to believe that this recommendation is just another way for the company to squeeze more cash out of their customers, but they claim that the ’system’ contains many of the active ingredients of the treatment itself so that every time you wash your hair you are actually enhancing the effects.  I don’t know if I really believe all of that but I figure, you have to buy shampoo and conditioner anyway and their product smells delicious, so why not buy into their claims.

Overall, I have been very happy with both the Keratin Complex by Coppola and the Brazilian Blowout, but since I have the luxury of choice given my natural hair texture, I will stick with the later and take my shiny frizz-free coif right to dance class, forgetting all about the after-care ‘rules’.

A big thank you to Jordana Lorraine for sharing her professional expertise, and for helping me look fabulous with little effort :-) .  It goes without saying that if you’re looking for a keratin pro in the LA area, tweet or call for an appointment and, as Jordana likes to say – ‘Kiss Your Frizz Goodbye’.

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This entry was posted on Thursday, March 25th, 2010 at 11:01 am and is filed under Feel Good, Look Haute, Treat Yourself and tagged with , , , , . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.

  • http://twitter.com/jordanalorraine Jordana Lorraine

    I am so glad you love it! Thanks for the fantastic write-up!

  • http://twitter.com/BrazilBlowout Brazilian Blowout SM

    What a great review! Thank you for the detail and product comparison. Enjoy!!!

  • cubandolls

    Awesome! Thanks for this review. I have my appointment in 30 minutes and am veryexcited :) xoxo

  • http://twitter.com/hairbycassandra Hair By Cassandra

    Great story! I'm a hair stylist in at Kud’Ci Salon in Corona Del Mar, Ca. I'm a skeptic too! I started using the shampoo, conditioner, and mask and smoothing serum a month before I did the Brazilian Blowout on myself. I cannot believe what a huge difference it made for taming my frizz!! Also, for some people with thin fine hair, the Brazilian Blowout may make their hair too flat, so I recommend using the home care products alone without the treatment. You will be amazed! I do several BB's a week and everyone loves it!!

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  • C.Ann

    Hi. My new stylist just returned from Coppola's Orlando event & mentioned this process to me. I have lots of volume, but pretty thin hair that takes a nice curl at the tips naturally. My stylist recommended the treatment to improve my hairs texture & shine, but having searched online, I've seen gobs of side-effect comments re:hair loss & breakage & I'm now afraid of the Coppola process/not to mention the fumes causing nausea & migraines & sore eyes/throat, etc. Any advice? I'm so scared–there are so many comments about this. Thanks, C.

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  • Identicalcousins

    I have an appointment to get a BB soon. I've been terrified that it will make my hair really flat and pin straight but I am a little less scared after reading your post. I think we have similar hair–shortish, angled bob, wavy, super frizzy and fine but it has body (probably because of the frizz). I like to wear my hair slightly curled under and I like to have body at the roots. Frizz has always made my slightly curled under ends twist around and curl upward after a few hours. I'm not sure if you ever had that problem before getting the treatment, but does your hair stay as nicely curled under (as it is in your photo) all day and night long?

  • Dahlight

    I can only speak for myself and say that over four treatments (Coppola and Brazilian Blowout) I have never experienced any side-effects. That said, I was careful to go to professional and experienced stylists. I can only recommend that you interview your stylist and make sure you express your concerns. A good stylist should be able to put you at ease and will do a professional job. Good luck and let me know how it goes!

  • Bountifulgardens

    I have moderately wavy hair with lots of volume and now, two days after a Brazilian blowout my hair is flat, with no volume, no movement, no bounce. I hate it. I was told this flatness will go away after a month, but since the treatment only lasts 3 months, seems like alot to go through and a ton of money to get (hopefully) nice looking hair for only 2 months. Will not do again.

  • Dahlight

    I understand your fear that fine hair might end up lifeless after keratin, and again, I can only speak for myself. Neither of the treatments resulted in flat hair but the Coppola product definitely made it pin straight. The Brazilian Blowout on the other hand allows my natural wave to come out (if I want it to) so my coif moves like hair instead of becoming a 'Lego wig'.

  • Cappy

    I had the blowout done this past Friday. I love how fast I can blow dry my hair now, and do enjoy the shine and elimination of frizz, but as what has already been stated, I did loose lots of volume. To help with that I put large hot rollers in my hair after blow drying, which does produce very nice results and it doesn't take long at all. Overall, from start to finish, it take me less than 30 minutes to style, and most of that time is spent doing other things while the rollers are in. I'll brush out my hair and then not touch it afterwards unless needed; however, the volume I'll gain does eventually relax, but not completely. I will have another blow out whenever the time comes. The freedom I've gained from unruly curly/frizzy hair far outweighs volume loss for me. Plus, receiving the compliment “Your hair is beautiful” from an older man at my workplace speaks volumes! Whenever a man speaks up like this about hair (since they normally don't notice), you know it's a good thing.

  • Claire

    I believe you meant to say “latter” in your last paragraph rather than “later.”

  • Jennylewis

    Well, it's been two weeks since I had it done. I have hated my hair everyday until today! My fine wavy hair did turn out flat and very straight. I figured it would but the thing that has puzzled me most is that my hair has a lot of flyaways and it's static-y (the weather isn't even dry where I live. It's beyond humid)!! I thought BB would get rid of flyaways.

    I went to another salon just to get an undercut so that the ends would curl under better. It has helped but the front of my hair has still had a lot of static until today, so this is the first time I'm going to attempt to wear it down. I've also been playing around with products since it's been so flat and am today only using the Acai Shampoo and a little Moroccan oil because it's light and I don't really care for their Acai Serum. I haven't used any conditioner in the past two days and I think that's helped it not fall flat (I have never in my life skipped conditioner). I also blowdry with a large round brush and then use my flat iron on a very low setting to help smooth it out.

  • Jmichelle06

    First off I love your hair color! I'm a stylist and offer the Brazilian Blowout. I'm wondering if you know the brand of color your stylit uses? I've been looking for a bright red like that and just can't seem to find it. I'd love for my hair to be as red as yours! Thank you very much, Janet

  • Dahlight

    Hi Janet. Thank you for the kind comment! I have great fun with my color and have gone through countless versions of red in an effort to find the 'perfect' tone. Though my exact formula won't work on every skin tone, here it is! Good luck and send photos!

    Schwarzkopf Professional – IGORA – Royal in color 6-888 with Red Booster

  • Diana

    Hi! I just discovered your site tonight while looking for the proper care for after Brazilian Blowout hair. I had my “BB” done about a month ago from a very reputable salon, who failed to mention that I wasn't supposed to use products containing sulfates!! I was wondering why I wasn't as happy with my BB results as everyone else. I feel like my hairdresser wasted my money. I will NEVER go back. Before I'm able to get a new keratin treatment, I'd like to salvage what's left of my BB. Do you, or any of your readers, have any suggestions for an extremely moisturizing shampoo and conditioner WITHOUT SULFATES?? I'm currently using Redken All Soft shamppo and Heavy Cream conditioner. I live in Florida, have bleached blonde hair and drive a convertible so I need all the moisture I can get. Thank you and I love your site!! Diana

  • Sarah

    I had the Brazilian blow out done a month ago. I HATE IT! It made my hair frizzy, no volume,
    my hair feels very dirty. Not to mention all the health problems I have experienced with this procedure, and the stress that has come along with it. I am now under the care of the doctor due to this Brazilian Blow Out. I am horrified that a company can get away with producing a product that offer such great results, with such empty promises. If anyone is considering getting this procedure done, I STRONGLY suggest not to do it. As of Oct 15, the city I live in has banned this procedure to be done in any salon. It has not met Canadian Health standards.
    Every day I regret getting this done, and now each day I have to live with the my consequences.

  • Keyonah123

    i got the brazillian blowout done a month ago and I ABSOLUTELY HATE IT!! I'm half black and half white so my hair was really pretty ringlets but it would not grow and kept breaking off at my shoulders. After hearing about the wonders of this product and how it makes hair healthier (to help it grow and not split off at the ends) I decided to try it even though I was scared out of my mind. I loved my curly hair, I just wanted the curls to be looser and not AS frizzy. Now I have to apply more heat to it than ever before, I can't let it air dry from the shower without looking like a wet rat, parts of my hair is curly and others straight…. its awful.

    All of the advertisements are really deceiving because they don't tell you how your hair will look after you wash out the press from the salon. You have to apply a good amount of heat to it every week just to look nice and you can't let it air dry, even with using sulfate free shampoos. It's totally not worth it at all.

  • Anna

    Hi, I had a BB and I love them, as a rule, but the first week or so–it's too flat!
    I almost want to use a regular shampoo and try to get it rinsed out a little.
    Any suggestions?
    Also, I just had it done last night, and I didn't realize that color should be done beforehand.
    Is it ok to do color after the BB, and could the color, in fact, help get rid of some of the flatness?
    I just do all over color
    Thanks,
    anna

  • Kateva

    Hi Anna! I just got the BB done two days ago and although I LOVE how I can blow dry my hair in half the time I absolutely hate how flat it is. Before my hair was thick and wavy when I wore it natural and when I took the time to blow dry it it was perfect, it just took an hour. So I got the treatment just hoping it would cut down my styling time, which as I said before it did. I was thinking about washing it once with a regular shampoo too but didn't want to strip the treatment completely. Have you heard anything more about this?

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  • Lucy

    absolutely agree with you on this one – my hair is exactly the same after this stupid treatment! I just want my curls back! Any ideas?!

  • Lucy

    If you like your curls and are just looking to make them smoother with less frizz DO NOT get this treatment! It has taken all my curls and replaced it with an in between mess. I hate it :-( have always worn my hair curly and just wanted something to eliminate the frizz and my stylist who did the BB actually reassured me that my curls would still be there just smoother as I did have concerns about it before getting it down. On washing my naturally curly hair and leaving it to dry naturally (as normal) it wasnt even wavy so I profusely scrunched it and still nothing :-( I just want my curls back, could anyone recommend something I could do to make them come back quicker than waiting another 3-4 months for this stuff to wash out?? Its been a month and I have no hair style anymore please help!

  • Lucy

    me too Sarah am gutted I had this done now :-( Am going to try washing it out with my normal shampoo which has sulphate/sulphur in it, as am currently using that one I got from hairdressers at mo but I want to get rid of it so it cant do any harm can it? What are you doing? :-)

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