is that you, arnel pineda?

i've seen the sign often enough -- they were offering volume straight for an amount that wouldn't make me flinch.

now, while i want desire straight hair, i've always hated stick straight hair. i want blow-dried goddess locks. i want my hair to bounce. i want my hair to have body. i want my hair to be pretty and to my mind, stick striaght hair isn't exactly pretty. so when i saw the streamer gaily proclaiming promising volume straight, i knew that one day, i was going to have to plunk my ass in that salon.

so after much saving of money + sidelining + contemplating, one day, i decided to pass by the salon again and get the details. apparently volume straight is one thing, but they'll offer me volume rebond + treatment + permanent cellophane for a reasonable price. since my hair was giving me major woes, i said okay and set a date.

bright and early holy wednesday, i was there. the gay who was supposed to do my hair, however, wasn't.

another gay was there though, and he said he could do it for me. but since my other friend was going to come in a bit to have hers done as well, and since she has to be at work by 3 p.m., i said, let her go first.

eventually it was my turn. (my gay arrived at 11ish)

most of us know how the process goes: wash hair, dry hair, add chemicals, wash hair, dry hair, iron hair, put more chemicals.

it was a loooong time before we got to the "put more chemicals part"

by this time, i was bored. and stiff from sitting. plus i wasn't so sure they were doing the right thing. after all, most volume rebond treatments i saw (i am a huge fan of googling stuff for additional information) involves rollers at this part of the treatment ... to ensure that the ends would flip inside. so far, the rebonding process has been exactly the same process i'd been through in the past.

let's say i wasn't too happy with the outcome that i didn't exactly take an after pic. i offer you, however, a pic of whose hair my stylist might have wanted to emulate:

now, i don't really have anything against arnel pineda, i just wasn't a fan of his hair. translation: i wasn't a fan of my hair either. (and if you're like unsure whether i'm kidding or not, just show up at my house when i haven't bothered with the "solution")

being the resourceful girl that i am, i came up with a solution:

old school rollers.

while i love the results (see here for one of the few times i got it right), it's mostly hit or miss. sometimes i end up with super big hair, and sometime the ends (for some reason) get really kinky (which they aren't on other days). sometimes the ends refuse to curl in, and sometimes, it's perfect on one side, and totally weird on the other side. plus, and this is the hateful part, i now have to add an additional hour or so to my morning routine to dry my hair then allow it to set for the day.

on a good day, people compliment me on my hair. on a bad day, they look at me from the corner of their eye and they're like, what happened to her hair. me, i'm just growing it and praying that one day, it'll be normal again. does this mean i'll give up on the quest for straight her -- hell no. ☺☺☺