Way back in May I had my hair straightened in Japan. It was my 6 month touch up, actually it was more like a year since my first straightening but since I wasn’t going anywhere I didn’t think I should do the touch up until I was ready to move back to the states. I’ve done some online research and found out the Japanese straightening has finally made it’s way to the states so I was sort of relieved that I could get it done here.

I went to the NEX’s Beauty Salon and they assured me that they were trained in performing this Japanese straightening. Bells should’ve went on when I asked for the price and they didn’t have one. EEEKS. They took my name and number then called me a few days later to give me a price quote of $165.00 That seemed pretty reasonable, that’s close to what they charged in Japan. The process is very long, taking around 4 hours to complete. At the end of the 4+ hour you should have shiny, smooth straight hair. Well, sadly that wasn’t the case with the NEX Beauty Salon.

I don’t consider myself to be racist but when I saw that the person who was going to work on my hair was an elderly Filipino lady, I got worried. I mean she was the one with the worst hairdo. I thought maybe they pulled her from the Barber Shop to fill in for someone who called in sick. I should’ve walked right out the door but I decided to give her the benefit of the doubt. Now, having done this process twice, I sort of know what to expect so I was concerned when she took me to the sink to wash my hair. I asked if she was doing a deep conditioning treatment but she was doing the opposite. She was giving my hair a deep cleaning. Stripping away any trace of protein from my hair. I should’ve ran out the door then, but I thought they must know what they’re doing and maybe it’s a new twist on the processing so I stayed.

Things were ok after that, she added the cream solution to my hair and kept it in for a time, then she rinsed it out and dried my hair but in my opinion, she didn’t dry it enough. From what I’ve experienced in the past, my hair should’ve only been a little damp and it was more than a little damp. She parted my hair in sections and proceeded to flat iron it. I shit you not, she burned me 4 times with the iron. I had tears in my eyes from the frustration of wanting a job done well and not getting burnt on the scalp anymore. I was cringing whenever she sectioned off another piece to iron. Finally, we got to the front of my head and she was so nervous about burning me that she asked the tech at the next booth to help her. I thought my time of being burnt was over but I was badly mistaken. The tech ended up frying my scalp two more times before I started voicing my frustration. She felt the sides of the iron and figured out the sides were heating up which is why it was burning my scalp. She noted that they were supposed to use a different type of flat iron for this Japanese straightening system but the lady who worked on my hair had her iron in her car and didn’t want to use it because it was new. I was starting to get pissed. I don’t usually get upset, at least not like I like.

After the ironing, the neutralizer is applied then washed out. By the time the entire process was complete, my head was burnt in 6 different places, instead of having silky, smooth straight hair, mine ended up looking dead and over-processed. I was very unhappy with the service and the tech who worked on my hair. Anyway, the manager gave me a 10% discount to make up for the difficulties. I told her it was alright, I’d pay what I owed but she insisted on giving me the discount because she wanted me to be happy. No amount of discount could’ve made me happy. It looks like stiff horse hair. Megan thinks so too.

Today, I washed my hair and blow dried it to see if any luster would return but no such luck. I’m never going back to the NEX’s Beauty Shop of Horror for retouching ever again. Next time, I’m going off base to get it done correctly. That should be in another 6 months or more. I did, however make an appointment with the NEX to color my roots and this time I made sure I selected the technician I wanted. Sitting there for four hours gave me time to observe which tech is the best for certain procedures. I hope.