[ STYLE FILE ]

DENNIS ODA / DODA@STARBULLETIN.COM Kihan combs Cindy Eastman's hair at CHOP at Restaurant Row, after the owner-stylist treated Eastman's hair with Kerastase products to give it shine.

Elite hair treatment has
women skimping on shoes

Permed, dyed and frizzy heads
rave over Kerastase products

Is there no virgin hair left in the world? As the co-owner of CHOP Salon at Restaurant Row, stylist Kihan has seen hair ironed, permed and colored to resemble straw, and it's a challenge for someone who wants his clients to walk out of the salon looking their best. While "product" can mask some of the damage, little can be done to erase the abuse.

Products that claim to improve hair condition come and go, but none has generated the kind of enthusiasm that Kihan has seen since his salon hosted the launch of Kerastase products in Hawaii late last month.

"It's magic," he said. "It makes hair silkier, smoother, stronger. I just can't describe what it's done for our clients."

Ordinarily, those are the kind of words that raise alarms in hype-conscious consumers, but the line's shampoos and conditioning treatments really do have women walking out of the salon sounding like infomercial spokesmodels.

"I love it," said Kimberly Stahl, whose bleached locks were dry to the eye and to the touch, b.k. (before Kerastase). Afterward, running her fingers through her newly satiny locks, she gushed, "I love the way my hair feels. I can't stop touching it."

The conditioning treatment takes about a half hour, including a five-minute consultation to analyze your hair's condition, problems and mane ambitions, whether it's resuscitating dry locks, adding more bounce to curls or enhancing color -- natural or from a box.

Formulas are custom- blended, applied to washed hair and left in for 10 minutes, with no heat activation required, before being rinsed off.

Kerastase, made in Spain by L'Oreal, was a hit in Europe before crossing over to America in 1999.

The company's aim has been to be in the top 1 percent of the nation's 200,000 salons, and it is a little more than a quarter of the way toward reaching that goal. San Francisco-based market executive Dawn Miyazaki-Jovel discovered CHOP on a scouting trip to Maui and Oahu that involved photographing salons and interviewing owners.

The selection process is rigorous, such that Miyazaki-Jovel says, "Salons will ask to carry our products, but I often have to tell people no, and I feel bad, because it's like, 'No, we don't want you,' and I'm a salesperson!"

For salons like CHOP, the decision to carry various lines is not easy either. "We're not a beauty supply store," Kihan said. "We only have space for so much, and we have to make sure the products we do carry work for our clients."

Both companies have been rewarded with repeat business as clients who initially tried a $50 sample kit returned to buy full-size products within days.

One person who needed no convincing was Sarah Tourek, who had been buying Kerastase products online for two years after seeing it touted by Hollywood celebrities such as Madonna -- no stranger to hair treatments -- in InStyle magazine.

"It's hard to get, even online, because the company doesn't market it that way. So you have to rely on beauty supply stores and salons, and even if they do carry it, it's sold out all the time," she said.

Tourek said Kerastase products have been the only ones to control her curly locks in Hawaii's humid weather.

"People who use product tend to 'cocktail,' mixing them to get their hair under control," she said. "I have naturally curly hair, which is a blessing and a curse. I've never skimped on my hair. When I was living in San Francisco I went to the best salons, because the wrong cut for me is a disaster. And especially living in Hawaii, I need something that controls frizz.

"So when I went for my appointment at CHOP and saw this familiar box, I thought, 'This can't be.' I was floored and extremely happy. I hope word doesn't get out so it's hard to keep supplies, because that's what's going to happen."

Jennifer Shigeta said she's guilty of having abused her Caucasian fine hair through overperming, blow-drying and flat-ironing, but never learned her lesson.

"Kihan had nothing to do with it. He's the one who gives me warnings. But my mother was a hairdresser, so ever since I was a girl I had my hair lightened."

Kerastase has worked wonders, she said. "It's not like a conditioner, but a treatment that goes into the hair and rebuilds the cuticle to give it strength."

Kerastase makes 37 different products that are not cheap. Tourek's shampoo costs $28. She follows with a rinse-out conditioner ($36), leave-in conditioner ($28), and what she calls the "piece de resistance -- a tiny, tiny vial of Lumiere," a shine and styling treatment.

"It's out of reach for most people, but if you have hair like mine, you sacrifice in other areas to get what you need."

For Tourek, that means giving up some clothes and shoes, "and I was like Imelda Marcos before."

She's even managed to curtail her cocktailing habits. "So far, I haven't had to cocktail with other products. I only cocktail with Kerastase. I mix the Lumiere with the leave-in conditioner."

Shigeta says Kerastase has simplified her life. "Just to calm my hair down in the morning has been really hard. Now I don't have to do all the steps I had to do just to get out of the house. It's just made life so much easier."