Have straight hair everyday!

People always say they love my hair – hairdressers love the thick, glossy waves and friends are always amazed how dramatic it can look for a night out when I backcomb it and go a bit retro...

...but I'm a hostage to humidity. In certain climates my shiny waves become frizzy and I end up with a halo of fluffy hair. I get tired of having to wear it up all the time to hide the fact that it looks unruly. I can't go near it with a hairbrush unless I want to look like a throwback from a bad 1970s disco poster, so it's difficult to look properly groomed.

I dread weekday mornings if I have to wash my hair, as time is spent applying a leave-in conditioner, anti-frizz serum and curl-control product. Sometimes the result is as desired – a mane of luscious, shiny locks that make me feel fantastic… but this is rare. Usually I leave the house looking as though I have nylon carpet and plastic shoes at home (for the record, I don't!).

With permanently straight hair you can literally wash it and go, with no need to blow-dry 

Because of time limitations and because I don't want to dry out my hair, I very seldom blow-dry it – preferring instead to stand on a tube platform and let a blast of warm Central Line air zap any remaining moisture. Of course this often adds to the halo-of-hair effect, and I arrive at the office always looking slightly dishevelled.

I've owned a set of GHD straighteners for more than two years, but they've only been used a handful of times – I just don't have the patience to do it as I have so much hair! It can take me 25 minutes to get it looking passable and there's usually a kink at the back that I've missed.

Recently I started looking into permanent hair straightening and suddenly it was like a whole secret society was being discussed. One friend I mentioned it to admitted that she'd had it done a couple of years ago and that it was fantastic while it lasted, but she had to let it grow out due to the cost… another told me how a male friend of hers had it done so he could do the latest 'hip' hair-dos – and everyone I talked to whispered about 'that Japanese system of hair straightening'.

It turns out that this esteemed and talked-about method is the Yuko System – started in Japan 18 years ago by Yuko Yamashita, who's the head beautician at a salon in Kyoto. The system came to the UK six years ago and half of all salons in London now have a trained Yuko specialist on hand. The waiting list at the Yuko flagship salon in Mayfair used be six months, but this is down to under two months for a Saturday, or a fortnight if you can take a day off work during the week, as fans can get their hair straightened at so many other salons now.

So who can get their hair straightened?
Well, pretty much anyone - nearly a third of the clients at the Yuko salon are men. The system doesn't work on Afro hair unfortunately, though women with very tight curls can have it done, but would need two treatments. You can't have it done on bleached hair either, as the chemicals would overload the hair and damage it.

Pregnant clients are advised not to have the process as it involves chemicals, but plenty of pregnant women still get their hair
straightened after signing a disclaimer.

 
  Before and after

How long does it last?
Anything from three months to nine months, depending on your rate of regrowth and the strength of your curl. Postscript: Mine lasted for a whopping 12 months before I decided it was time to get it done again, the full wave never came back but as you can see from the before/after photo below it was looking a little untidy.

How much does it cost?
If you're a regular customer and you have short hair, prices start at £180 – but my hair and length (thick, below shoulder) would cost £320 because it takes so much more time to treat and iron straight. Salons have different rates, so it's worth checking prices locally. Once your straight hair has grown out it costs the same amount again to have the re-growth treated, so obviously it's not the cheapest option. But if you currently spend 10 minutes a day styling your hair, that's 35 hours over seven months that you could spend doing something else!

Why get it done?
With permanently straight hair you can literally wash it and go – you don't need to blow-dry it because (depending on your hair) it will air dry completely straight or, at worst, with a very subtle wave. A great time-saver for anyone with kids, or whose mornings are always fraught. The new hair trend for autumn is for mega-groomed hair and glossy, straight hair is easier to keep tidy.

Brides-to-be might also consider the treatment, as it means not worrying about a hair being out of place on the big day – and on the honeymoon you don't have to pack your hairdryer, straightening irons and a bag full of products!

How long does it take?
The system takes four to six hours, depending on the kind of hair you have. My treatment took a bum-numbing five hours!

What happens once you get home?
Of course, you feel amazing walking out of a salon after the treatment, your hair is super-glossy and dead straight, but can you expect to look this groomed after it's been washed? Well, almost. I left my hair for longer than the recommended 48 hours, leaving it closer to 60. And then I washed it and left it to air dry. It didn't dry poker straight - that hairstyle beloved of soap actresses that looks like a lank sheet - but it was still very straight. There was a very subtle kinky wave, which was to be expected with my naturally thick, wavy hair, but less than five minutes with my usual straighteners and my hair looked almost as good as when I left the salon. Leaving it to air dry rather than running the straigheners through looks more natural than the 'ironed' tresses you see photographed above.

My second Yuko - fifteen months after the first
Well, as you can see in this photo, my hair never reverted to the curly mess it used to be but I wanted it to be frizz-free and dead straight again. Fortunately, I found a salon in Kingsland Road, between Shoreditch and Dalston, called Avant Garde. The salon is owned by Fikri Karacar, who used to be the Assistant Manager of the Yuko flagship salon in Mayfair. His prices are lower than the flagship store, and the location was perfect for me. In less than five hours my hair looked perfect once more, and Fikri said that if I continue to get Yuko'd it's possible my hair will lose all its wave over time - hooray! Fikri invites anyone to pop in for a no obligation quote.
Avant Garde, 466 Kingsland Road, London E8 4AE, Tel 020 7249 2263. Open Tuesday-Saturday 9am-6pm.

Where else can I get it done?
Yuko System Re-Texturising is available at over 400 salons nationwide - log onto yuko-london.com, or call 020 7629 7555 for more information about the process or to make an appointment.

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