I used to have really thin straight hair as a little girl and as puberty set in, it grew thicker and instead of straight, it began to curl to waves by the time I was in my 20s.
I did my first hair rebonding in 2010, courtesy of my cousin Tyng who 'treated' me to my first hair straightening session in Nov 2010. I broke the rules for the first five days and ended up with less than satisfactory result.
WHAT YOU SHOULD NOT DO WITHIN THE FIRST FIVE DAYS (minimum THREE FULL DAYS) AFTER YOUR HAIR REBONDING SESSION:
Can I tie up my hair after rebonding?
1. DO NOT TIE UP YOUR HAIR (EVEN FOR SHOWER CAPS, I didn't tie up my hair and just let it roll up a bit but loose, into the shower cap).
Can I wash my hair after rebonding? How many days should I wait before washing or wetting my hair to let the chemicals set?
2. DO NOT WASH YOUR HAIR, no matter how oily your scalp is, DO NOT WASH IT or else the effect won't be as nice, put the confinement ladies hair powder (or any other powder) as hair powder will make the hair less oily (popular among Chinese ladies who needed to observe the no-hair-wash for one-month rule after childbirth, seriously).
3. I think these are the top two rules, cannot recall anything else, but oh, AFTER the first five days maintenance are crucial as well, but oh well, that goes to any normal hair care, like steaming/treatment/scalp treatment, etc. Hair care after rebonding realy matters for smooth silky locks.
Anyway, I digress.
For 2011, I decided to have my hair rebonded for the second time. I took advantage of a RM88 opening promotion and here is the result:
Reminds you of a female ghost with long hair or the Malay will say pontianak/kuntilanak, right? lol. I blogged about it as well in June 2011 (check out my June 2011 archives) and am very satisfied with the result, and this time around, I tried very hard not to break the two rules above.
ONE BIG RULE: You are supposed to wait AT LEAST (minimum) SIX MONTHS between rebonding before you do your next rebonding, if you don't want healthy hair, go ahead and do it at a shorter interval. For naturally curly/wavy hair, there is one exception to the rule, which is to NOT do rebonding on the entire length but only on the roots, so the damage isn't as bad. Talk to your hair dresser for what suits you best. The main concern is your hair will be so damaged, it will break/fall out.
So the NUMBER ONE RULE OF POST-REBONDING MAINTENANCE IS: REGULAR TREATMENT. Regardless of what hair treatment, having some/a few is better than nothing at all, be it home treatment/daily hair serum, regular serum after hair wash, or salon treatment (varies in types and prices), do it for the sake of good strands of hair!
Now, I followed the ONE BIG RULE and waited longer than six months for my third rebonding. I did it in Feb 2012, and I plan to make it the only rebonding session for this year for the health of my hair.
This is the result (I trimmed my hair length and dyed it black 3 months before this in Nov 2011) after the rebonding:
This time around (current rate) it costs me RM158 for rebonding plus on the spot treatment. Still cheaper than most places in Klang Valley (Selangor and Kuala Lumpur).
Compare the before (in red, hair dyed light brown),
and after (in fuchsia, hair dark brown) pix:
Call it illusion or whatever, due to the hair colour which is darker, but my hair looks thicker and shinier and definitely healthier, right?
Secret? Tonnes of hair product? Not necessarily. lol Monthly salon treatment(about RM80 per month), plus daily serum and more concentrated serum on ends after each hair wash), plus scalp treatment *inclusive in salon treatment* and also hair tonic to promote hair growth (don't really stick to a regime, so I guess the salon treatment helps a lot).
MY ADVICE after years of trial and error is:
Stick to a hairdresser, go for regular hair treatments, try to stick to a regular home regime (I do miss it a few days in a week), and voila, soft silky hair. Rebonding without regular treatment will only damage your hair further and the effect isn't nice, trust me, coarse hair which is dry and always in disarray after awhile, so the rebonding effects will come to naught, so please treat your hair nice and 'invest' in some treatment!
No prizes for guessing my fav salon/spa at the moment. :) I am a regular, so just mention Sue's name for some special rates. Just say "Saya kawan Sue" even though I don't know you personally. Haha.
The map to go to Arowana Beauty Spa is on the right.
Address:
Arowana Beauty Spa
328 (Ground Floor), Jalan Negara,
Melawati Square,
Taman Melawati,
53100 Kuala Lumpur
(Behind Bank Rakyat Taman Melawati Branch),
If you're coming from the opposite direction of Bank Rakyat, then you'll see Jabatan Pendaftaran Negara (JPN/NRD) branch office first.
Call 019-2226825 or 03-41086825 for appointment.
This is not an advertorial - I wasn't paid anything, what I have gained is good service from very friendly women staff who love what they do best - to make other women look and feel good. :-)
