the results are in: LOVE IT!

i know normally people post the 'before' pictures first, but i like my hair so much, i'm going to start out this story with my favorite 'after' pic.

now lets go back to where our story all begins...

i had my appt at 11:00 at scissor sound in allston, but i got there a little early (10:45ish) and they took me right away. there was only one girl there who seemed to speak english well, and she became my translator throughout the day. she greeted me and took me over to the first person who would be working on my hair. (an intesting side note: i noticed that unlike most salons i've been to where you have one dedicated stylist, here, mulitple stylists would take turns working on each person's hair. sometimes even tagteaming for blowouts or curling. i had a total of 6 people work on me over the course of the day). the first thing she did was show me some pictures of what my hair would look like, and then asked me what was going on with my bangs. :( apparently i've been walking around with funkier bangs than i realized...but you know its not my fault, growing out bangs is hard! then she got to work cutting. after my cut was done, my hair was washed and then some sort of solution was applied. (i didn't ask too many questions, so it was a pretty funny experience trying to guess what was going on and what was going to happen next)
after the first solution was applied, they stuck my hair in what looked like a large chefs hat, with a vacuum cleaner like tube stuck in the back. this was attached to machine that blew air; they turned it on, and my big white hat started to inflate. (kind of like those long waving blowups they put outside of car dealerships to get your attention (i REALLY regret not getting a pic of this) and the best part...steam and fumes continuously came out the bottom. after my hair was done cooking, the chefs hat was removed, another solution applied and my head wrapped in saran wrap. finally, about 2.5 hours in, they rinsed my hair and i saw them bring curlers out. yay! i was starting to get worried.
they put my hair in curlers, then wrapped the curlers in cotton-ball padding and hair clips. then, my favorite part...they plugged me in! and here i am, all digital.

this was the quickest part of the whole process, and after 15 mins, they unplugged me and let me cool. then they put this huge bowl-like collar around my neck, and doused my entire head in a very watery solution. then they did it again. not comfy. finally, my hair was rinsed again, and they led to me my fourth chair of the day, where they twisted my hair into many sections and used a defuser to dry it. some more cutting. some shine serum. and FIVE hours later, i was done.

and now, some pictures. before:


these next few pics were taken a few hours afterwards:
and this last set was taken today. i was instructed to rinse, not shampoo, my hair today with cold water, and this is my attempt at styling it after. i ended up using a curling iron for a few pieces, but otherwise, that's what it looks like after air drying.
i'm really, really happy with the way it came out. i think its going to be a very low maintenance look, that looks like i spent a lot of time on. i plan on trying out a few different techniques to see what ends up working best for me. i bought some fekkai beach waves spray that i'm going to try out next. i'll let you know how that works out!

thank for listening! :)