As people
with a physical disability, people are constantly staring, gawking, looking or watching us. How can we not be self conscious of our body image? Each one of us deals with the looks in different ways. My sisters and I grew up hearing our mother tell us, “Do you know why you girls are so pretty? It is because your mother is so beautiful.”
Of course, we would roll our eyes and laugh it off. But it was a rather catchy practice. There are three girls in our family and to this day we can’t get enough of looking at ourselves in the mirror. We all sound like our mother when we admire ourselves and say “Oh my goodness! I am so beautiful!”
It might sound egotistical but I think it is so much better to think we are beautiful than to think we are ugly. We grew up loving beauty products. My mom would make these homemade hair salads to keep our hair smooth and beautiful.
I am sure you have heard of this homemade hair salad. You take olive oil, avocado, mayonnaise and who knows what else mix it into a bowl and then slap on your hair which is then covered with a shower cap for about one hour. I am not sure if it worked or not but it made me feel good that I was doing something to take care of myself.
Later on we experimented with every latest shampoo, conditioner, gels, mousse, and other hair products that guaranteed our hair would be so beautiful that when we shook our mane, the shine would be as vibrant as the model on the television.
As the years went by and my curly hair did not do everything the product said it would, I became disappointed and disillusioned! But I never gave up! I once flew to Vidal Sassoon’s hair salon in New York to see what the so called experts could do. When I left the salon, I noticed very little change in my hair and my purse!
About 7 years ago, I was talking to my sister on the phone and I was complaining that I kept getting these letters from someone named John Frieda about winning some contest. My sister shrieked “Open it! I did that!”
I had no idea that my sister had entered my name and everyone in my family into a John Frieda contest. It turns out I won an all expense paid trip for five days to London, England to have my hair styled at John Frieda’s salon.
The results: My hair looked like Michael Jackson at an elegant affair! Horrible! But hey, I love London so the trip was worth it.
Afterwards, I would try a new product if it caught my fancy but I never spent too much money on it. Then came Bravo’s TV reality show, “Blow Out” with Jonathan Antin. I watched the show and my reaction went from “Oh my goodness! How much more of this can I take?” to “Wow, this guy really loves working with hair!”
I decided to take a chance with his products. I went to Sephora at the Dadeland Mall and bought every Jonathan Antin product! $225 worth of products! I swore that if my hair didn’t look fabulous I would BLOW UP! And forget Blow Out!
I used these products for about 30 days and even trudged them all the way to The Strand salon where my hair stylist of over 15 years, Peter Anthony, could give his expert opinion on Jonathan’s products as he tried them out on my hair.
Peter Anthony gave it great reviews! He loved the smell of the products, the way it felt on my hair and the end result. According to Peter, the products did everything they were supposed to do.
I was a bit confused with the feel of the hair conditioner. I felt it left my hair dry and tangled. Peter said that people are used to using conditioning products that left the hair slimy which we mistake supposedly for smooth.
I told him that it was difficult for me to comb my hair afterwards. He took a wide tooth comb and ran it through my wet hair without a hitch!
We used every Jonathan product except Dirt. I accidentally left it at home. Every product surpassed Peter’s approval.
Then I drilled him. Peter, is it really worth the money? $225 for my hair? He said, these products are meant for the Beverly Hills and South Beach people.
In other words, you mean the utterly rich who can afford to throw out $225 for one month’s supply of hair products?
My products are almost gone and the South Beach and Beverly Hills’ lifestyle will probably vanish with the last spritz of hairspray or polishing gloss but it felt really good to have soft, manageable and beautiful hair for awhile.
Maybe one day, Jonathan will lower his prices not much, maybe averaging anywhere from $12-15 dollars. After all, Jonathan claims he wants everyone to have beautiful hair!
For now, if you are interested in experiencing that ooh ahh feel, you should purchase his products on Sephora where the average price for a product is about $20 but not on QVC where the prices are practically double the cost of Sephora’s.
Peter Anthony at The Strand
8437 SW 132nd Street
Miami, Florida 33156
305-232-5885