me and my new hair

i'm the girl who refuses to spend a lot on her hair.  that was, until last tuesday.

i can blame it on impulse, claim temporary insanity, or the fact that i was wholly dependent on a hair tie to keep me from looking like a crazy woman at work.  whatever the cause, right after a quick lunch at the canteen, i told my officemates that i wanted to go park jun and get a haircut.

so someone called to check if the creative director was there (she came highly recommended on a spot.ph article which claimed that she's perfect for those with thick, frizzy hair) and when i was penciled in at 12, we all trooped to glorietta and an hour later (she was quick!), i came out with lovely, lovely hair.

now, if you have the same hair texture that i do, you do know that lovely, lovely hair from the parlor translates into unmitigated disaster after the first shampoo.  and true enough, my nice soft layers turned into crazy woman hair after i allowed it to air dry yesterday.  i was a bit disappointed -- did the writer who did the review not promise that this woman, who charges what it would cost me to eat a buffet lunch at spiral (without a voucher!), is amazing when it comes to my kind of hair???

but then (1) my hair really is extremely damaged and (2) she did tell me i'd need a major treatment + grow my hair so she could cut off the damaged area and (3) i'd need a volume rebond later on to tame my wild tresses.  so today, i air dried my hair and then did what any girl wanting to make the most out of her expensive haircut would do: spent time styling it.  my weapon of choice? my revlon hair iron.

and what do you know. in less than fifteen minutes (it was dry already so all i had to do was iron), i had lovely, lovely hair once more.  sure, it wasn't wash and wear like i wanted, but at the end of the day, i was able to sort of recreate the "look" the stylist did for me. i got the nice layers framing my face, and the shape was a nice long bob, and while it wasn't as sleek as the blow-dried version, my version still looked like i paid good money to look cute. i felt the same way as i did when i stepped out of the salon.  now THAT, at least in my experience, is rare.

so thanks, Maiya for making my hair pretty.  i *might* just make it back to you salon chair in the future.

before lechon came a massage

forget the fact that in my last trip to cebu, the only place i got to go to aside from the hotel was ayala center. after we had done the tourist-y things and stuffed our faces full, it wasn't long before we found ourselves in a mall.

specifically, ayala center cebu. don't worry, i have an excuse: the last time i was there it was raining crazy so i didn't get the chance to fully explore the terraces:
let's just say that while i love alabang town center, and while it used to have this much open space, all the construction going on over there now is making it feel a wee bit cramped.

in any case, we went around, and around, and around. we were supposed to watch captain america but we weren't sure what time we would be meeting our friend for dinner, so we decided not to watch it anymore. and we ended up going around and around and around some more. when we had memorized the location of all the stores in the mall, we decided to go visit a church on my map.

but since we were so tired from walking, i easily got distracted by this:

more particulary, this sign:

a massage for P200 bucks? and free diamond peel? and i don't need a voucher for it? sign me up!!! we went in and inquired ... turns out the massage is P200 under the promo (afternoon delight!) but if we wanted the diamond peel, we should shell out P230. uhm, hello! yes, please!!!

see, a happy camper:

{sorry for the finger-on-the-lens shot, but this was cuter than the rest

of the shots i took of myself so you're pretty much stuck with this}

the place was your typically it's-so-dark-so-no-one-can-see-your-flabs-and-ratty-underwear spa. the decor was also to be expected: asian art with lots of buddhas and carved wooden thingees to make you feel as if you were in bali or something (not that i've ever been to bali). but, none of those things were really important to me. what was important was that (1) they had a shower (so i could wash away the entire day's grime) and (2) they had comfortable rooms for the massage.

i especially loved the masseuse cause after starting out "strong", she tapered off to the perfect pressure which i loved. i hate it how you'd tell a masseuse to ease off only to return to the same bruise-inducing levels she started off with. the strokes were perfect to rest my weary, tired, and aging body. by the time she said, "tapos na po" i was ready to melt onto the massage bed.

let's just say that i wasn't the only happy camper -- my friend, a massage virgin -- predicted that this was something that she was going to get addicted to as all her aches and pain from even prior to our vacation had been pounded out of her body.

now, the P30 diamond peel could've done with more finesse, but considering that even the cheapest jollibee meal is more expensive than the treatment, i had absolutely nothing to complain about. at the end of the treatment, my face felt smooth, my cheeks were slightly ruddy, and the cool stone attachment (they didn't use the typical laser wand at the end of it) which rounded off the treatment was absolutely divine.

so, i don't care if the time which should've been spent looking for the taoist temple was spent instead inside this spa. i reached "zen" (or is it the wrong religion? oopsie!) at zentuary!

p.s. i'm so sorry for the cheesy ending. i couldn't think of anything smart or cute or anywhere literary.

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?

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. ☺☺☺