a not-so-WOW! experience

even if i had the money, i don't think i'll ever be the type of person who'd spend a lot of cash on salon services. oh, i do know that there are people who cut hair, and there are people who can give it life. and i also know that there are colorists who can guarantee a marriage proposal within a year. i'm tempted - believe me - to try them out, but much like a massage session at the spa, i can't justify to myself why i ought to spend a whole lot of moolah on something so temporal.

now shoes ... well, that's a different matter altogether.

in any case, because of my prematurely gray hair, i've been a parlor slave for the longest time. and since i have to basically color the roots every three weeks, i've settled for the cheapest parlor around with "okay" services. translation: some hole-in-the-wall parlor frequented by the "natives" in the vicinity. for the past two years, it was this parlor across my friend's house in bf resort. then i switched to this even cheaper parlor near bf's lopez gate. and, for the past two months, it's been DIY for me -- actually a wee bit more expensive (yes, that's how cheap the parlors i frequent are) but at least i'm guaranteed that the hair color i'm using has better quality than whatever it is these cheap-o parlors are using on my hair.

since there's a huge possibility that the back part of my hair isn't being colored properly, i figured that i'd bring the haircolor i bought and have it professionally applied. it might be more expensive, but at least i can get to relax during the application process. and since i'm bound to spend a lot of time in the parlor, i though, hmmm, why not have my nails done as well.

i went to WOW! at the corner of el grande and aguirre avenue and let's just say i had the worst experience ever.

* the girl rushed through the entire mani/pedi session

* they left the hair color way longer than they should have, and since i was at the mercy of the girl doing my nails, i could only pray that she'd actually rush through the procedure so they'd wash the color off already.

* because the hair color was left way too long, my scalp was tingling (if not downright in pain) by the time they washed it. and the girl who did my hair color wasn't any good as a shampoo person. the kept tugging my hair which hurt my scalp a lot -- after all, it was already in pain from all the chemicals.

* when the girl blow dried my hair, she didn't even ask when i parted my hair. she just parted it which, given the 50-50 chance, happened to be on the wrong side.

* she kept telling me "tigasan niyo po yung ulo niyo" so that she'd have an easier time drying my hair.

at that point, i was hungry, tired, and just wanted the ordeal to stop. when i checked my nails (before putting my hand inside my bag to get my wallet), i noticed that the nails which had minor bubbles originally were now truly bubbling up. when i complained, they told me that, "may aircon kasi dito." i was like, "all the parlors i've been too have airconditioning as well and it's never turned out this way." she offered to change my polish but she was so surly about it that i just said, "never mind."

yes, i know you get what you pay for, and i know that i shouldn't have expected much from a WOW! salon to begin with. so while i'm not really complaining about the girl rushing through my mani-pedi, and the less than fabulous way my hair was dried, at the very least, i should be able to expect that they would apply the polish on properly, right?