We don't know the color or texture of Eve's hair. But rest assured, she wasn't satisfied.

        When it comes to women and their hair, things don't change.

        “You always want what you don't have,” says Lauren Hudson of Indian Hill as she settled in to be prepped at Tanya's in Hyde Park for a six-hour hair-straightening procedure that has charmed the celeb-heads and well-heeled on both coasts in the last year.

Tanya's stylist Laura Hughes prepares Lauren Hudson's shoulder-length, wavy hair for thermal reconditioning. (Ernest Coleman photos) | ZOOM |

        (Chelsea Clinton became a poster girl when she showed up at a Paris Versace fashion show — front, center, unkinked and frizzless — next to long-and-straight-locked Gwyneth Paltrow and Madonna).

        That it costs hundreds of dollars, depending on your hair's length and condition, isn't what they care about.

        It's the silky, permanently poker-straight hair and the promise of no frizz, no curls, no waves, no breakage, no split ends that matters.

        “In summer, my hair gets frizzy and curly. With this, maybe I can look put-together even when I'm not,” says a pregnant Mrs. Hudson, mother of two daughters, whose brown hair floats past her shoulders.

        “I don't feel like a rumpled mom anymore,” she says after the process straightened her hair. “I feel chic and elegant.

        “I can still feel glamorous, like I live in New York,” says the Cincinnati native who worked as a producer in New York for several years. “And it really does feel like silk.”

        The treatment, called thermal reconditioning or Japanese hair straightening, is slowly making its way inland from the coasts.

Tanya Tieman (left) owner of the salon, trims Mrs. Hudson's hair during the straightening process. | ZOOM |

        Tanya Tieman, owner of the upper-level Tanya's Image and Wellness Salon on Hyde Park Square, saw the process described in InStyle magazine last year but couldn't get to Los Angeles for training because she had just opened her business.

        “When they started training in New York, two of us went up for about 10 hours of instruction. They won't let you carry the product without the training,” she says

        The product, tools and training are from Shinbi International, a Japanese firm in New York.

        “There are only about 30 salons offering the treatment in the U.S. right now,” Ms. Tieman says. She has offered the treatment since February.

        Frank Rinaldi, owner of Phyllis at the Madison, plans to offer the treatment sometime in July, after staff training and testing.

        “We're going to go slowly and carefully,” he says. “It sounds like an application for a narrow audience, almost too good to be true.”

        That's what Ms. Tieman thought before her trip to New York.

        “I thought it was too good to be true. So I called and booked a class, and I have to say it's awesome.

        “We've had nothing but rave reviews. Every single person we've done has loved it,” she says of her 30 to 40 hair-straightening customers. “It's been liberating, especially for women with frizzy hair.”

Thermal reconditioning at Tanya's took Lauren Hudson of Indian Hill from shoulder-length wavy ... | ZOOM |

... to pin-straight, shiny locks. | ZOOM |

        With most chemical relaxers ($60-$100 and lasting a month or so), the chemical releases the curl and straightens it “to a point,” but it won't get rid of the frizz and the curl can come back, Ms. Tieman says.

        “With this process, your hair is actually in better condition because we are flattening out the cuticle. When you use a chemical, the cuticle of the hair opens and hair splits. With this process, we actually close the cuticle.”
       

How it works

       Washing the hair with a curl relaxer and drying is followed by a scalp protectant, then a creamy chemical relaxer of diglycolic acid and ammonia called Liscio, which is imported by Shinbi. After processing, another rinse and partial drying follow. The hair is parted into 1/8- to 1/4-inch-wide sections and pressed flat, inches at a time, with special 1- and 2-inch-wide irons.

        This is where the minutes are racked up.

        “There is a special technique for each part of the hair,” Ms. Tieman says. “Every inch of the iron, on both pads, heats up to an even temperature” and both paddles are flat. Time and temperature depend on the individual.

        Some reports say women are turned away if their hair is tinted, bleached or chemically processed.

        Not true, says Ms. Tieman. It may just require longer time and special care for this type hair.

        And though it doesn't make African-American hair perfectly straight, Mable Cotton, at Tanya's, says after the procedure, the texture of her hair was better than with any other chemical relaxing process she's tried.

        “It (her hair) never felt like straw, and I don't have frizzies. It's great.”

        To make sure the process will work, a testing session, costing about $90, is required. The stylist makes a meticulous record of the condition of the client's hair, including whether chemicals or dye have been used.
       

Cost and care

        Because the process and time vary, Tanya's charges by the hour, usually $100 per hour.

        “We require a $250 non-refundable deposit,” Ms. Tieman says. The deposit is applied to the final bill, which starts at about $500.

        After-care is where customers reap rewards.

        “People say "I can get ready in 15 minutes now,' ” Ms. Tieman says. “They walk right out of the shower, comb and go.”

        Newly reconditioned hair can't be washed for two days, and ponytails, clips, etc., are out for two weeks. “The hair has to oxidize and keep setting in that straight position,” she says.

        After that, it's shampoo and condition — but with special products from Shinbi — to keep the hair's roots relaxed and the moisture in.

        “When it grows out, the roots are looser in 99 percent of the people,” Ms. Tieman says. “You get a little more body as it grows.”

        You can color your hair (after 10 days) or pop in a roller (after about two weeks) and dive into the pool (with a light conditioner on your hair first and a shampooing immediately after).

        Reconditioning lasts four to eight months before the roots need to be touched up.

        The thing to remember is that, with the process, Shirley Temples change into Cher-hairs. For good, or until they grow more hair or whack it off. Or change their mind — again — and decide to get a perm.

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