Phew. Tried the Belegenza Progressive Straightener and her hair didn’t fall out. And I have to admit, stuff stinks, but works great. The smell fades after you blow dry and flat iron. This is the first time I’ve used the straightener to relax the curls in order to blow dry and flat iron the hair. Maxi-Me was my only choice–I wear my hair curly and I don’t use this much because my natural curls coil pretty nicely; although I do occasionally use this product to loosen the curls on the right side of my head, which is curlier than the left side, and looks lopsided without it.

Back to Maxi-Me. She likes wearing her hair straight because with her ridiculously thick hair, she finds it easier for her to manage in the mornings before she goes to school. And since she has to be there before I even wake up in the morning, I tend to not quibble over the small stuff. I wash and flat iron her hair every two weeks, and this time we used the progressive straightener before we blow dried. I concentrated on the back of her head, where the curls are the kinkiest. We braided her hair into six sections before we blow-dried, and by the time we were finished, I’d never had such an easy time straightening out her hair. It was practically completely straight after blow-drying with a brush.

The portion you see straightened was just blow-dried. We hadn't even started flat ironing it.

And once I flat ironed, I only had to pass twice: once to “polish” the strands and once to bump the ends. Here’s the final result: