Hair today, straight tomorrow

Anum Khan, a student at Whitney High in Cerritos, writes:

I have Indian hair. Meaning curly, frizzy, tangly, hair. Many of my worst childhood memories, in fact, come from my mom trying to brush my hair.
I would straighten it for dances and parties. But after a shower, I felt like Cinderella: Like her carriage, away went my smooth mane, and back came my mess of hair.

And going to a majority Asian school didn’t help either. Asian hair is practically a synonym for straight hair.

I hated always having to tie my hair back, never being able to let it down, and having to spend an hour to straighten it if I went anywhere special. But then I heard about Magic Straight. Cheesy name? Yes. Effective? Yes. Worth the $150 I spent?

YES.

Magic straight really was magic for me. It made my hair completely straight, smooth, and silky. Basically Pantene Pro-V shampoo commercial ready.

And it stays like this!

Before shower: straight hair.

After shower: straight hair.

I guess “magic” is the right word.

Here’s how it happened: On New Year’s Eve, I finally decided to permanently straighten my hair. Which meant staying from 10am to 5pm at the salon.
The process basically meant coating my hair in creams, placing plastic over it, and then letting a heater go around my head. This must have been repeated at least four times.

Then it was time for a rinsing of the hair.

But lo and behold, my curls were so strong that I had to do the process twice again.

Then came the final wash, a straightening with a ceramic iron, another washing, some extra cream, and, finally, the finished product -- my straight hair.

Now I can run my fingers through it for more than millimeter. Now I can leave my hair down without fussing over it. The only problem is that I have to get my roots touched up every six months, when the Indian hair grows back? I guess even with magic there’s still a catch.