The Shop Tart went to a boarding school in New England. At this boarding school, there were a few young women who came from the same school in New York City, Spence. Incidentally, Gwyneth Paltrow went to Spence, too. Is the Shop Tart the only one here old enough to remember those Esprit catalogs she used to get in the mail in the eighties? Gwyneth herself was one of the featured models. They had “real” people, with quotes and everything. Gwynnie’s hair in her Esprit ad, as far as the Shop Tart remembers, was total Spence hair. Long, shiny and straight. And blond. The Shop Tart has the blond and long down, and the shiny can be achieved with the right products. The straight, not so much. Her hair is…lumpy. And a little frizzy, actually a lot. To achieve big loose waves, she straightens it first and follows with hot rollers or she washes it, rolls it wet and sits under a big, old-fashioned dryer for a couple of hours. Those hours are very relaxing because she can’t hear her children, but sometimes she doesn’t have that much time to meditate. Since the eighties, she has wanted the kind of hair one could whip around at an outdoor concert - like, say, Coldplay - without risking frizz. Is it any wonder Chris Martin went for Gwynnie? She had the hair. No matter how she manipulated it, the Shop Tart’s hair would not last an entire concert.

Friday afternoon, la famille Shop Tart headed to Charlotte sans toddler for a Coldplay concert. They stopped by South Park Mall on the way to their hotel for Kiehl’s Creme de Corps Light-Weight Body Lotion with SPF 30, which she absolutely had to have. It isn’t waterproof, so it won’t work for the pool, but it is the most delicious-smelling, moisturizing lotion with SPF 30 she’s found. She loves it so much she needs everyone to get on the bandwagon. Why? Because she went to two Kiehl’s counters in two different department stores where the sales people had never heard of her favorite lotion. The third - Belk’s - stocked it and she bought two. She is afraid this lack of availability means they are considering discontinuing it. No! No! Noooooo! It smells delicious, like cake. And it moisturizes and protects her lovely skin from the sun’s rays. So go get some. Please?

After the mall pit stop, they headed to the Aloft Hotel* in downtown Charlotte and got ready for a delicious dinner at Mez. As the Shop Tart got ready for the concert, she realized she had forgotten to bring a hairbrush. In the past, this would have required a rush trip to a drugstore for a mop-tamer. This, time things were different because she had tried a Keratin straightening treatment at Austral Salon a week earlier. That’s right, she finally has hair like private school girls in New York City. Sure, it’s a little late, but whatev.

Y’all. The treatment took a few hours, but that’s only because Shellie at Austral is an obsessive-compulsive perfectionist. Her disorder is your hair’s gain. She diligently removed all product from the Shop Tart’s hair before blow-drying it frizzy and painstakingly coating each strand with the Keratin treatment. The Shop Tart got to sit under a dryer for a few minutes with the newest issue of Marie Claire and cup of decaf. For those of you who keep track of these things, the Shop Tart is still off caffeine, but she felt the situation merited a half-cup of decaf. It was served in a lovely white ceramic cup and made the Shop Tart feel downright special. By the way, Marie Claire had a feature on Art Deco jade Jewelry. The Shop Tart loved it all, but almost died over the cuff by Kenneth Jay Lane, image number six in this slide show for those of you who were wondering what sort of back-to-school gift you might get the Shop Tart.

After the dryer, Shellie flat-ironed the Shop Tart’s hair to seal the Keratin treatment around each hair shaft. Even before Shellie could finish, the Shop Tart couldn’t resist touching her lovely locks. According to the Keratin website, “This new revolutionary smoothing system infuses keratin deep into the hair cuticle eliminating up to ninety-five percent of the frizz and curl from the hair, leaving the hair soft, shiny and luxurious.” Guess what, y’all. That is totally true. She walked out of that salon looking like Janice the Muppet, but better.

Later in the week, she washed her fabulous head of baby-soft hair with Keratin Complex shampoo and conditioner. She let it air-dry and it looked like a totally different person’s hair, a person with awesomely tamable hair. Later that day, she went over it with a flat-iron for two minutes instead of the normal twenty. All she had to do was remove that last five percent of frizziness.

The shampoo and conditioner came with the treatment, but you can buy them at Austral. They contain dimethicone, which is silicone for your hair. Although the Shop Tart thinks you should spring for the treatment, she will acknowledge that the shampoo and conditioner alone will provide some smoothing. But, seriously? Do yourself a big favor, call Austral for an appointment and let Shellie do her thing. At the Coldplay concert that evening, the Shop Tart and her hair rocked out with abandon, secure in the knowledge that the frizz wasn’t going to happen and the shine wasn’t going anywhere. She’s pretty sure Chris Martin was looking straight at her.

Happy Shopping and don’t forget to tell them you read it on the Shop Tart!

P.S. The Shop Tart was at Revente yesterday choosing an outfit for a Columbia Metropolitan shoot later this week and she went nuts over the jewelry. Nuts. There was nothing over $35 and the Shop Tart wanted to scoop up the multi-strand necklaces and glam cuff bracelets. They were gorgeous. Revente also had loads of big designers in stock, from Marc Jacobs to Manolo Blahnik. Check out the slide show.

* Love the hotel, was a bit too rocking for a family on a Friday night. She preferred it on Tuesday, but it was still nice.

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