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Cost of Living: Straightening hair
By TARA WEISS
THE JOURNAL NEWS
(Original publication: December 17, 2005)

The battle for sleek, straight hair is one that’s waged daily in bathrooms across the country.

Don’t snicker. A good hair day is important. Even Sen. Hillary Clinton thinks so: “The most important thing I have to say today is ‘hair matters’. … Pay attention to your hair,” she advised the 2001 graduating class at Yale University. “Because everyone else will.”

Beauty companies are more than happy to come to the rescue, promoting their wares as miracle products that tame frizz and fly-aways.

Price-wise, they’re all over the place — from serums that are just a few dollars to dryers and flat irons that hit the $200 mark. That’s not even counting the treatments available at hair salons that go for hundreds of dollars.

The most effective way to get the mane you want is with a little help from your hairdresser combined with finding the tools that work right with your hair. But do you need to spend a fortune for smooth locks?

“You have to be careful,” says Stephan Fornino, owner of Salon Premiere in White Plains, who has served as a consultant to several beauty companies. “Never mix price with quality or effectiveness. There’s too much dishonesty in the beauty world. Does buying a Steinway (piano) for $250,000 enable you to learn to play the piano better than if you bought a used one for $1,000?”

A few years ago, the Rolls-Royce of in-salon straightening procedures was the Japanese method. The procedure takes about five hours but the result is nothing short of a miracle: silky, smooth, pin-straight hair that lasts until new growth comes in. It comes with a hefty price tag of about $500 because the stylist is tied up for so long.

It went out of style because practitioners found that after a few applications, the hair was devastatedPractitioners found that after a few applications, the hair was devastated.

Now many salons use various gel straighteners such as Rusk’s Anti-Curl. Basil Konstantinidis, owner New York Jungle Salon in Tappan, says it works like a conditioning treatment with a chemical that straightens the hair without damaging it.

“You should have it done if you’re looking to eliminate frizz,” Konstantinidis says.

It costs between $150 and $175, and lasts until new growth comes in.

Karen Ricciardelli, a 46-year-old with wavy, thick hair, had Konstantinidis apply the Rusk treatment several years ago but wasn’t thrilled with the results.

“I felt like it took a little too much body out of my hair,” says Ricciardelli, of Norwood, N.J. “I don’t like it when it’s stick straight.”

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