#it's always a lot straighter the day of than normal due to the blow drying and product they use at the salon which i never do at home

[supercantaloupe]

y'all know i don't post pics of myself but i still wanted to show off my new hair so here's an artist's rendition

[sweet-lung]

Amazonliss Brazilian Keratin Treatment Review

A review I did last summer for anyone looking for semi-permanent, affordable, smooth hair! :) 

Hi guys! So I am super excited to be reviewing the Amazonliss Brazilian Keratin Treatment kit. For those of you who aren't familiar with the Brazilian treatment it semi-permanently smooths and straightens the hair leaving it feel totally healthy, shiny, and reconstructed. A seemingly too-good-to-be-true solution if you have hair like mine! Normally these treatments are done in salons but I decided to do the treatment myself at home. I will walk you through my hair story and go into how I discovered Amazonliss. I'll also go over the treatment step by step and show you my results!

My hair texture has always been a battle for me. I have naturally dirty blonde hair but after years of straightening and high-lighting it has become rough and damaged. I have kinky waves that grow from all directions underneath with a straighter, frizzy layer on top. When I let it air-dry my ends feel (and look) like tumbleweeds. I have never been able to glide my hands through my natural hair without them getting caught and pulling out tangles of hairballs. It feels rough from root to tip. It poofs out. It lost its shine. My natural hair, for lack of a better term, sucks. I have tried to work with my natural texture and leave the house feeling somewhat presentable but I always end up feeling self-conscious. My natural hair is hobo hair. The only way I'd feel satisfied with my hair is if I straightened it, which became an hour-long process every time I washed it. If I had class or work at 8am, I'd wake up at 5am to shower, get ready, and tackle my hair (wash, blow dry, straighten). My natural texture was eating away hours of my life and fueling my exhaustion. I just wanted to be able to wash my hair and go. I wanted to be able to let it dry naturally and be content. I decided that I'd had enough.

For years I wanted to get a Brazilian keratin treatment for my hair but every salon I've ever come across charges HUNDREDS of dollars for one. So I decided to do a little of my own research and found out that I can do the process on my own for MUCH cheaper.

I bought the Amazonliss Brazilian Keratin Treatment kit on Amazon for $49.97 (here!), which is great compared to the $300-400 I really couldn't afford at a salon. There were a few other brands I researched but I decided to go with Amazonliss because others contained formaldehyde, which scared me off a little. It is important to note that this treatment does contain chemicals and aren't as natural as simple masks and serums... it's the real deal.  If I was gonna go there with my hair I wanted to go as safe as possible yet still have effective results. This brand is also unique in that you don't have to leave the treatment on for 72 hours like most require. In fact, you can wash it out right after the treatment is applied! That part's amazing because feeling like my hair is dirty makes me moody and unhappy, haha. Ultimately, Amazonliss appeared to be the best fit.

The Process:

When I got my Amazonliss it came in a small box with three small bottles as the 3 steps of the treatment. The bottles are just a bit over the size of hotel shampoo bottles so don't be alarmed when you see them. The treatment is good for just 1-2 uses but can last over 4 months!

So step 1 is the anti-residue shampoo. Amazonliss describes this step as: "Anti-Residue Shampoo works by opening the cuticle up, and preparing the hair for absorption of the keratin. The shampoo has a high ph, so it provides a deep cleaning by removing the residue of the products accumulated in the hair fiber, leaving hair extremely clean. Due to the Alkaline pH the shampoo deep clean removing the residue of products accumulated in the hair fiber, leaving the hair extremely clean and cuticles opened and prepared for receiving the Brazilian Smoothing Treatment." What I did was simply hop in the shower and wash my hair with the step 1 anti-residue shampoo. No other products. No conditioner. I made sure to really lather my entire head (not just the roots), and then left it on for a few minutes before rinsing.

The directions then said to blow dry the hair about 90% of the way. Usually when I blowdry I straighten it a bit with a round brush, but for this I just dried my hair and let it go crazy! It does NOT have to be pretty, haha. Just for reference this is what my hair was when I just blowdried it naturally:

After drying my hair I sectioned my hair into 4 parts as the directions asked (not perfectly, hehe). 

After sectioning you move onto step 2 which is the actual treatment bottle. First, I let down one of the sections of my hair. I slathered the section thoroughly with the treatment, running a comb through from root to end to make sure each strand was getting covered. Then the directions said to blow dry that section ON COOL. This is important because you'll be adding the intense heat of the iron right after. Once the section was dry, I ironed the section on 390 degrees over and over. The directions say to go over the section about 8 times! I then repeated this process for each section of hair. All together this step took about an hour and a half to about 2 hours.

With step 2 there are A LOT of VERY important things to note. This is the bottle that contains the chemicals, and though there's not formaldehyde, there are other ingredients that made this step kind of brutal. Amazonliss's step 2 describes: "Brazilian Smoothing Treatment is one of the strongest keratins on the market. New technology not only allows the product to provide best results, but also makes application easy, while removing unnecessary order. So you get the best of both worlds: strong keratin that provides results, with less fumes and smell for the procedure. The treatment provides discipline, shine, softness, smooth and frizzfree to the hair." So it mentions "the fumes". Well let me tell you... if Amazonliss has "less" fumes than the other products then don't even let me near the others. The fumes are unbelievable. This is really crucial. Guys. If you go on Amazon and see reviews about this product you will find a lot of people talking about the bad fumes during this step. Before I did this step of the treatment I pretty much wrote off those people and assumed the fumes weren't a big deal. I've been able to handle strong fumes before whether that's hair bleach or paint with no problem. Lesson learned. Don't write them off like I did. Take the fumes seriously. This was me two minutes into the process:

I started off doing the treatment in my bedroom but it didn't last long. I ended up traveling to the living room next to the open door of my balcony for air. I took a mirror off the wall and propped it up against a chair with a fan on the table right next to me. Even still the fumes were so bad that I had to grab a pair of snowboarding goggles (the only thing I had to protect my eyes) and a bandana. Putting the treatment on my hair made my eyes feel like I was being maced. And when I breathed in the steam from my straightener I had violent bouts of coughing. It was so strong. The only thing that helped was moving to a place with good air flow, and covering my eyes and mouth. I also had to take a lot of breaks in between... including a lunch break as you can see my smoked salmon on the table behind me, haha. Also note! I recommend doing this step without wearing makeup. The fumes made me super teary and red-faced! Not cute!

Also, I REALLY recommend doing this part of the treatment with gloves! I didn't and it really wrecked my hands! :(

Before I did step 2 I thought that drying and straightening the treatment into my hair would make it greasy. It wasn't greasy at all! It looked clean! In fact, I loved the way it looked so much after doing it that instead of washing it right out (like the directions say you can), I went out to a party! My hair was so soft, shiny, silky, bouncy, and healthy feeling. This is what it looked like right after I finished step 2:

When I got home later that night, I proceeded to step 3. Step 3 is a super simple hair mask! Amazonliss describes: "Brazilian Smoothing Treatment Intensive Repair Mask, serves as a closing step in the Brazilian Reconstruction Procedure. It provides maximum hydration and softness to the hair. The Intensive Repair Mask provides maximum hydration and softness to the hair extending the smooth effect." For step 3, I got back in the shower and wet my hair. I noticed that even wet, my hair felt straighter. I could run my fingers through the strands without them getting tangled. I used the whole bottle of the step 3 repair mask and allowed it to sit in my hair for a good 10 minutes. Then I rinsed it out, got out of the shower, and let it air dry. The directions say to blow dry but I was super curious to see how my hair would dry naturally... if I could finally let myself sleep in in the mornings instead of spending an extra hour drying and straightening my hair before leaving the house. This 3 days after the treatment. I washed my hair in the morning and let it air dry:

I can't even begin to describe how happy I am with the results. My hair still has waves but for once I actually LIKE them. Maybe even love! They're shiny and soft and lay flatter in one direction. My boss came up to me at work today and couldn't help but touch it. It feels thick and healthy, and actually, styled! My hair feels silky air-dried as if I had straightened it. I am so elated.

In the end, I give the Amazonliss Brazilian Keratin Treatment kit a 5/5! The only thing that would make me consider giving it a lower rating is the intensity of the fumes. But the pros definitely outshine the bit of struggle! For the price, the ability to wash it out fast, the lack of formaldehyde, the easiness, and the INCREDIBLE results, Amazonliss is really amazing. I totally recommend this product to anyone looking for more manageable, soft, straighter hair. I'm so happy. I'll definitely do this treatment again in the future!

xo

Aubrey