Straight hair down to perm. <3

MARCH 29, nagpaperm ako. Summer kasi, para naman maiba. :) late na napost. =))

First, ginupitan muna nila ko (Layer), para daw maayos ung kakalabasan pg kulot na.

Second, may nilagay silang treatment, para hindi masira ung hair. Binabad muna then binanlawan na sya after an hour.

Third, ayun nirolyo na nila ung buhok ko. Prang rollers pero mas modern. =)) dko alam tawag e. Tpos neto may nlagay ayun ata ung keratin. Dko nakuhanan e.

Fourth, matapos ilagay ung mga prang rollers nilagay na ung machine. Almost 2 hours ata nilagay sken to, automatic kse, dipende sa texture ng buhok mo. Nadedetect na nya and bglang ttunog kung kulot na. :) nakkangalay po. Mabigat sya sobraaa. HAHA. :D tatanggalin na sya, pag mainit na buhok mo.

Eto ako mtapos ang ilang oras, NGAWIT.

Fifth, tinaggal na ung machine pero ung prang rollers andun pdn. Tinakpan na. Hihintayin ng matuyo.

HAHA, di na ko nkakuha ng picture after nito.

ETO SYA AFTER HOURS NG MATUYO. :)

Ayuuun ung process, share. =))))

Sabe sakin, hindi ako maliligo for 3 days. And bawal suklayin. Sa una nkkapanibago ksi di pwde mgsuklay ts puro sabit pa. Kaya pg nliligo ako snsuklay ko ng kamay habang nagbbuhos ako ng tubig then conditioner. :)

Lovin’ my look this summer, thanks vivere salon! (Chinatown Mall) P6000, is worth it! =))

Azta Urban Salon Made Me Feel Good About My Hair Again!

…And myself, in general. But we’ll get to that later on. First, a story:

Over a year ago, I had the most disastrous and emotionally distressing salon experience of my life. For the many months that followed, the nightmare would play out in my head every time I looked in the mirror. 

Let me give you a background. Bring out the popcorn (or coffee to keep you awake) because this is going to be quite lengthy.

I was 14 when I first had my hair rebonded; at 16, I had my first perm. You see, I’m not new to these treatments. As soon as I got into university, perming had become a regular thing. All in all, I’d say I have had about 5 perms in my entire life—not including the one I just got yesterday. But like I said earlier, more on that later.

So going back…

Last year, after a 12-month perm hiatus, I thought it would be nice to get my straight, boring locks turned into big, beautiful curls again. Additionally, it would have been very convenient for me at that time since the two musicals I was doing (Sound of Music and In The Heights) both required me to have curly hair. I figured it would save me the time and effort of setting and pin-curling my hair the night before and retouching it with a curling iron on the day of the performance. Shaving off an hour or so of prep time in exchange for pre-show lounging+coffee was such a tempting idea.

Going back (pardon me for always digressing)…

I dropped by this certain salon before my Sound of Music rehearsals for a consultation. Let’s just call this salon by a pseudonym I’d given it: “SSS”—short for Satan’s Salon Services, because, really, I walked out of the salon that night looking like I had just gotten off a 2-hour rollercoaster ride to hell and back. I gave the senior stylist a history of what my hair had gone through the last 12 months. I told him I got a henna several months back, a bleaching job not too long after to get rid of the henna, etc., etc., etc.

To be honest, I was feeling quite apprehensive about going on with the perm. A part of me felt like my hair needed a wee-bit more time to rest. In hindsight, I should have gone with my instincts and just walked out of the salon before Satan Senior Stylist could persuade me. Oh, the deceiver. But as they say, “sa huli ang pagsisisi” (‘regrets happen in the end’).

But hey, a little consultation wouldn’t hurt, right? Who knows? Maybe there’s a fat chance Senior Stylist would say my hair was in a perm-ready condition. That’s what I thought, and boy, was I right. 

He was all… “Ay! Kayang-kaya yan! Hindi masisira ang hair mo. Akong bahala sa’yo.”(‘Oh! We can definitely do it! Your hair won’t get damaged. Leave it to me.’)

His enthusiasm was infectious. I got so excited. 

Mind you, this was an upscale salon in an upscale mall, with a reputable owner to boot! This wasn’t one of those beauty parlors that had “40 – Gupit” (‘40 peso haircut’) or “Rebonding any length – 500 only” signs outside their shop.

So, anyway, I went back to the salon as soon as my rehearsals ended, excited to get my much-awaited perm. They wound my hair in those rubber rods, poured some solution, blah-blah-blah… Standard traditional perm procedure (and not a digiperm by the way).

15 minutes later… Senior Stylist unwinds one rod to check how it’s coming along.

WOW. MY HAIR WAS ANYTHING BUT CURLY.

It wasn’t even anything I’ve ever seen before, for crying out loud. I’d seen pubes better-looking than it. Of course, I panicked and asked what was wrong. Senior stylist replies, “kukulot din yan… Basa pa lang kasi…” (‘It’ll curl eventually. It’s just wet right now’)

So I held that same lock of hair he unwound and inspected it closely, tugging on it to see how it would react… and much to my horror, A LENGTHY PART OF THE TIPS PRACTICALLY DISINTEGRATED RIGHT BEFORE MY VERY EYES.  No, I am not exaggerating. I know the limp and rubberband-like texture you get during a perm before they pour in the neutralizer. THIS WAS NOT THE SAME. My hair was… dissolving. 

Senior Stylist suddenly looked worried when I showed it to him. He immediately but carefully took all the rods out and tousled my hair with the help of a blow dryer. (WHERE THE EFF WAS THE NEUTRALIZER. I KNOW RIGHT.)

After the blow dry, I look in the mirror and see Cousin It’s worst nightmare. The dry strands were not stringy and rubberband-like anymore. But when I ran my hand through my hair, it would just break and fall off—as if my hand was a pair of thinning shears.

To make the already too-long story short, he concluded, “hindi pa ata kaya ng hair mo ang perm” (‘Maybe your hair still can’t handle a perm’).

ATA??? EH KUNDI KA BA NAMAN TANGA??? (Maybe??? Are you stupid???)

You tell me that AFTER you’ve turned my hair, no—me, after you’ve turned ME into an abomination??? Thanks a lot, jackass. Why didn’t you just set my hair on fire to save us the waiting and anticipating?

Before I get too carried away with rage, let me tell you how this sad salon tale ended. He remedied this by putting some solution (the same one they use for rebonding) and tried to straighten my hair instead, insisting he could turn things around. WOW. Perm plus rebond.  A 2-for-1 deal. Nice…. not.

After all hell broke loose, I finally told him I wouldn’t pay crap for this. He apologized and applied 2 vials of Powerdose for free. He also threw in a free bottle of expensive conditioner. Err, thanks. This will REALLY turn things around.

In the end, I still walked out of the salon looking like somebody staple wired a Baguio Walis (the brooms with the blue handle with the word Baguio on it) on my head. 

My mom complained to the owners on my behalf over the phone. They didn’t even respond to any of the text messages she sent to them after.  I mean, how rude could you possibly be? I get that some companies have bad customer service, or don’t even have CS at all. But that was just—-unacceptable. You think a bottle of conditioner would make everything okay after what you’ve put me through? 

Friends, left and right, have told me to sue the salon. Some even felt so bad for me that they told their friends about my awful experience and to never ever go to that salon. Sigh. But what can I do? The irreparable damage has been done, and surely being a pessimist wouldn’t help. So I thought, “Know what? Forget it. It’s just hair. It’ll grow back.”

I was left with no choice but to chop off 3/4 of my then bra-length hair. Immediately after the haircut, I went to get permanent hair extensions from Lynelle. Sadly, it only lasted me a month since I wasn’t able to take care of it well. This was followed by a year of painfully watching my hair grow ever so slowly. One year of wishing I wasn’t such a lazy dimwit who wanted to do away with rollers and a curling iron. One year of regret. Lesson learned. Case closed.

Unlike this said salon, I have class. And unlike the owners of this said salon, I was brought up properly by my parents. Therefore, I will not publicly disclose exactly which salon this is. 

Emphasis on “publicly“—Take the hint. ;)

ONE YEAR LATER…

My hair has grown past my shoulders, about 3 to 4 inches to go before it reaches bra-length. I touched my semi-virgin hair (‘semi’ because I had to color it 3 shades darker for King and I), did a curling iron test at home to see how I would look now with curly hair, and took a deep breath. I inhaled so deep I could almost smell the cat dung emanating from my neighbour’s front yard.

Maybe… Just maybe I could give perming a shot again?

With my heart lodged in my throat and my stomach in knots, I went to the salon I trusted the most: Azta Urban Salon in Eastwood.

(I know right? Why didn’t I just go there before? Blame it on my stupid, impatient and impulsive self.)

 I immediately consulted with my go-to Senior Stylist Andy and let him inspect my hair. He said it was healthy and it was in great condition for a digital perm. 

I closed my eyes, sat on the salon chair, and went through a mental checklist (which involved “I have my hair in a bun 100% of the time for King and I, is it wise to get a digiperm NOW? Or do I wait until the run is over?”)

Then I look at the photo I took of myself last night after I did the curling iron test. I. COULD. NOT. RESIST.

Unlike my salon experience from hell, for some reason, I felt good about this one. Andy (and his assistants) always kept my hair in shape for years and I knew I could trust him. That and I was pretty confident about my hair’s condition.

So yesterday, December 5 2012, I got a perm. A digital perm to be exact. 

First two photos: how my hair looked when I got to Azta.

Ooh! And I got a pedicure, too!

They gave me some refreshments to accompany the long procedure (iced milk tea FTW). Andy, although busy with almost all the other customers, made sure to keep an eye on me. He regularly checked back on the rods and everything was coming along. His assistant—a junior stylist (my apologies for not getting his name!)—was hands-on 100% of the time! When the rods got too hot, he was there immediately with a hair dryer on cool.

And this is how my digiperm turned out…

I can’t even begin to describe how happy I am. I just love it so much! I’m excited to see what happens after the next couple of days (48 hours from now—when I’m finally allowed to shampoo my hair). This makes waiting for my hair to grow as long as it was before (4 inches before waist length) much more bearable! After the treatment, I was given a piece of paper that looked like a doctor’s prescription. It had the Do’s and Don’ts, recommended styling products to buy, perm aftercare tips, etc.

My hair when I got home that night…

I’m so thankful for the Azta Eastwood team as well as the owners of this salon. I’ve been following their Facebook page and I appreciate how they take time to reply to every comment or query. Mind you, they’re not matipid when it comes to replies. They will explain everything in detail as much as possible. This is just my personal observation as I have not commented on their Facebook page yet. But nevertheless! I am grateful for the  sincere concern they have for their patrons. They have transcended customer service and have what some corporations like to call “customer care”. What sets Azta apart is theirs is GENUINE.

More power, Team Azta! :)

• Azta Urban Salon is located in Eastwood Citywalk (entrance is on the 2nd floor, beside 7/11). To find out their contact numbers and other locations, please check out their Facebook page. 

EDIT [4:11PM] — I forgot to mention that this is actually the second time I got a Digital Perm at Azta Eastwood. The first time was back in 2010 and it was just as awesome. I had very long hair back then. :)