Actually how bad is Brazilian straightening for your hair?

I just got my first one about six months ago and am getting another in a few weeks. It lasted longer than the three months my hair stylist said it would and made my life so much better. I could wash it, sleep on it, and go to work with it looking nice the next day with zero effort. Normally my super frizzy, wavy, frizzy, did I mention frizzy, hair took an hour or more to make look nice and then the minute any weather touched it all my work was ruined. One caveat: it did make my scalp a bit itchy and flaky so I had to switch to a sulfate-free dandruff shampoo for a while.

Oh I've had one before and absolutely loved it. But the amount of stuff people say about them put me off doing them every few months so I was weighing it up. I think I'm going to stick with them though. It was just so good and my hair looked and felt healthier than ever

I guess it depends on your hair type. I have 2c frizzy thick hair and it only lasts for a month when I wash my hair once a week. After 2 months, the effect is so small that it's basically gone. I would say the damage is worth it if your hair's just wavy because you can follow up with haircare like protein treatments

It destroyed mine. At that point I had thick, unruly and frizzy hair that was super hard to style and maintain so I got it straightened. The first few months, it was like in the movies, super straight and super shiny. Then it started to go downhill from there. Hairfall, SO MUCH hairfall. Dry hair that would get greasy within a day or two of wash (which wasn't the case before). And I was type who would get a haircut once in 1.5 years because I never developed split ends even when I used bleh products on my hair but now, it's been a couple of years since I got my hair done, and my hair is a split end galore. I lost a lot of thickness too. I used all the recommended expensive products mind you, nothing worked and nothing could salvage it. It culminated in breakage, and my hair literally broke off like 4 inches from my scalp! TL;DR: IT SUCKED AND DESTROYED MY HAIR BUT, I know my sister, who has even more thicker and curlier hair, that has flourished with even permanent straightening. Its been a couple of years for her too and it still retains that shine. I know a lot of lucky people who's hair took well to semi-permanent, as well as permanent straightening. I think I was the anomaly, I dont know what went wrong. I advice you to get it from a really good salon, who know what they are doing, if you do decide to get it. Nothing beats minimal maintenance post-wash like hair that has been chemically treated trust me. I've been permanently scarred from my experience but I'm hoping to get it done in a top notch place in a couple of years after my mind is at ease finally lol. Good luck OP! :)

Thanks! Did you experience hair fall / loss? And notice new hair growth? I'm losing a lot of hair and have completely stopped styling my hair, absolutely embracing a raw look because I have multiple bald spots and can't even manage to tie my hair up - bald spots are visible. Background - I had straightening done 2 years back, not sure if that has affected the texture, growth rate and loss. I used to have somewhat wavy-straight hair before but I wanted an-always ready look and hence i went from daily styling to getting straightening done. I'm not exactly sure what was the cause for extreme hair loss (I have had my TSH, iron, ferritin etc checked and all are 'normal' according to my doc).

I have a similar experience, I guess I'm the anomaly too. I posted my note as a reply to another comment above.

Do you happen to know what brand of treatment they used on you?

Loreal X-tenso!

I didn?t. I was really sick with an autoimmune disease the year before and lost a lot of hair from that but now it all seems to be growing back in with no impact from the Brazilian blowout.

Hello! I got one and I thought it was going to be like a dream. The process was super easy. The fumes weren?t that bad. To me it would be worth putting myself through the fumes and the heat. I had extremely thick wavy hair. Super frizzy and super dry. I walked out the salon with sleek hair. But it turned out to be a nightmare once I started washing it. It would take HOURS TO DRY ! Therefore I had to apply more heat to it because I didn?t want to walk around with wet hair. Also my hair was extremely tangled. My hair looked smooth and more calm (when blow dried) but it was a facade. After 8 months I had to cut off most of my length. Some parts didn?t curl up again. I felt bamboozled by my stylist bc I still love my waves and parts were left so damaged and permanentLy straight. A LOT of my hair broke off. I had to cut it short. TLDR: hair broke off. Some parts permanently straightened. Hair took forever to dry without heat. BUTTT. The Brazilian blowout is ALWAYS something I wanted to do!! I?m glad I did it and figured things out for myself. And I hope if you desire to get it done again it?s by someone who knows what they?re doing! Good luck!!!