To the best of my knowledge, chemical straightening is much the same as perming, but in reverse - instead of breaking the structure of straight hair to create curl, it's breaking the structure of naturally wavy/curly hair to achieve straighter hair. Unfortunately I don't know anybody who's ever had it done, so I can't share any personal stories, but I imagine it would be a bit like getting a perm in terms of caring for hair afterwards, the rules about colouring etc, itms. Maybe you could call around a couple of local salons and ask their opinions and prices? Sorry I'm not much help!!