Hair straightening

You know what really gets me? When a product claims that it "helps straighten" or "fights frizz" and it actually does, like, the total opposite. Why would I want to waste my money and time on something that makes my hair look worse than it did to begin with?

In one of my many attempts to prevent further mass-frustration, I give you the list of TotalBeauty.com readers' least-favorite hair straightening products. Read them, click them (to see why they're lame), and then don't buy them. Instead, buy one of these products that are actually worth it.

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You need to know about this. At least, if you're somebody who's shackled to a blowdryer and round brush every summer, like me:

I blow-dried my hair in 10 minutes today with a paddle brush -- and got a look that would normally take me over an hour ... and one or more of these products.

Hooray! And so begins my public service campaign to all my frizzy-haired sisters, spreading the word on the newest thing in straightening treatments -- Brazillian Blowout. Basically, it's a layer of keratin (the protein that makes up hair/skin/nails) applied to your hair, sealed in with a flat iron, then rinsed away. The result: Healthy, straight, frizz-free hair -- that lasts four months.

Since it takes two hours, I had plenty of time to grill the stylist, Michelle Vance, and owner Tom of the Tom Brophy Salon in Beverly Hills:

Q: Who does this treatment work best on?
A: Anyone with curls, waves or frizz, plus anyone with color-damaged hair -- it actually works best on them; you see the most remarkable difference, it's so shiny. New clients usually come in and have a "strand test" done, just to see what the results will be like before they commit. Read More »

We do some crazy stuff for beauty. Injecting Botchulism, slathering bird poop on our faces (this is not a joke) and letting fish eat dead skin on our feet (again, totally serious). But that stuff probably wont kill us. Certain hair-straightening treatments on the other hand … just might.

A warning about Brazilian keratin salon treatments containing formaldehyde has been issued by the Professional Beauty Association.

Granted, while formaldehyde is most commonly used to, well, embalm the dearly departed, it's also in quite a few cosmetics -- but it's most dangerous when it's made into vapor, which is exactly what happens when you get your hair straightened (they put on chemicals ... then flat iron your hair).

That means dangerous formaldehyde fumes, known to cause cancer.

Eek, I'm out. There are plenty of safe ways to straighten curly hair. Or why not just embrace your curls? These celebrities do.
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