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"What I&amp;#x27;m about to write may sound totally insane to you... which I fully expect, because it sounds totally insane in my head when I think about writing it: I have no idea what my natural hair actually looks like anymore. I&amp;#x27;ve been professionally straightening it for nearly ten years. Yes, really. (And yes, before you ask, it&amp;#x27;s been a major financial suck.) And it was damaged. Like, really damaged. So, after some deliberation, I took Danica&amp;#x27;s advice to just let it go... and here&amp;#x27;s what&amp;#x27;s happening.My natural hair has always been crazy. When I was younger, people used to call me Shirley Temple because of my ringlet curls. Somewhere after age 8 the ringlets, like, explode... and then some: Please enjoy this ridiculous picture of me when I was eight years old. It is proof that I love you readers so much, I will put my second grade photo on the Internet. My hair only seemed to get bigger, too. Somewhere in middle school, it&amp;#x27;d gotten so unmanageable, I pulled it back into a bun every day. For fancy events, my mom would flat iron it for a painstaking hour-plus to still-puffy results. So, when Japanese straightening became an option, I opted-in, and never looked back. Lately, though, between some health issues and a decade of chemical and heat assaults on my hair, it had become so damaged and thin that it didn&amp;#x27;t even feel like my hair any longer, and what&amp;#x27;s more--I didn&amp;#x27;t even know how curly it still was. After talking about my prospects with Danica, she helped me decide to cut off all the dead stuff (about six inches!), let it grow to see if it was still unmanageable and get help from some products along the way. I&amp;#x27;ve been using CHI Enviro American Smoothing Treatment series to help tame the frizz and give me something to work with. About every four to five days, I use the Smoothing Shampoo, Smoothing Masque for five to eight minutes and then finish with the Smoothing Conditioner. So far? I&amp;#x27;m actually really surprised, but because my curl has naturally relaxed (time has been kind!), the Smoothing Treatment has really killed a lot of the frizz and pouf. It&amp;#x27;s not a straightener, so I still have kinks in my hair, but I&amp;#x27;m not petrified to air-dry, thinking my hair&amp;#x27;ll swallow me alive: You can very obviously see the line where the straightening from months ago has grown out. On the whole, it&amp;#x27;s texturally a lot smoother and about nine gazillion times healthier. Everyone&amp;#x27;s noticed. Most days, I don&amp;#x27;t spend more than five minutes with my CHI ceramic hair straightener, and I haven&amp;#x27;t been horrified at the idea of wearing my hair without straightening it. In fact, I came into the office on Friday au naturel (and in need of some of my favorite eye cream): The only reason my bangs are swept to the side is because they&amp;#x27;re in dire need of a cut! I&amp;#x27;m usually a strictly straight-bangs kind of girl, though. Another product that&amp;#x27;s helped me rescue the most damaged parts of my hair is Aveda&amp;#x27;s Damage Remedy, which I run through my damp hair before I blow dry. For now, I&amp;#x27;m sticking with the CHI Enviro Smoothing Treatment line. Come New York&amp;#x27;s famous summer humidity, I think I&amp;#x27;m going to have to make a decision about straightening treatments again, but I&amp;#x27;m pleased for now--it&amp;#x27;s miraculous how amazing I feel living without damaged hair! I&amp;#x27;ll keep you updated with my next adventure. Do you use a straightening treatment? What would you recommend besides Japanese straightening and Keratin treatments? PLUS... &amp;amp;#183; Justin Timberlake straightened his hair! &amp;amp;#183; How many hair gadgets do you have? &amp;amp;#183; Do you think men are drawn to a certain hair texture?"^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.glamour.com/lipstick/blogs/girls-in-the-beauty-department/2012/03/a-9-year-japanese-straightenin>