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This post was due last week and I feel that it must be posted before I go for another haircut next week. I had my hair cut around three weeks ago at Studio 546, but I purposely did not post about it until my hair could settle into its most comfortable state. You know how it is with hair cuts. You never really know until weeks later if the cut is good for you.

My sister had always recommended this place and I like the fact that it’s near our condo. We live in Pioneer; Studio 546 is located in Edsa Shangri-La mall.  It turns out that her favorite stylist was not around (she could not pronounce his name), so it was Dehlia who worked on our tresses.

I was tired of waiting for my rebonded hair to grow out (similar story here). Around August last year, the people of Henry Calayag salon told me to wait for three months before all the fake straight strands can be cut off. If I remember correctly they refused to digitally perm the rebonded strands, plus they were aghast that my natural hair actually looked like it had been digitally permed.

I waited five months before I visited Park Jun Salon. I was told my hair wasn’t ready yet. Like Henry Calayag’s staff, Park Jun peeps would not digitally perm the awkward areas. The fake straight strands were irritating me because they were warring with the curly strands that have already grown.

Dehlia gave me a more realistic projection than Henry Calayag’s crew: It will take a little over two years before my naturally curly hair would completely grow back.  I asked her if she would perm the remaining strands of unnaturally straight hair.  She said a regular perm wouldn’t work, but digital perm would. Ok, then.

What happened next was a mixture of anxiety and appreciation.  First, she took a razor to my hair. I was shell shocked.  Razors are bad bad bad BAD. They cause split-ends.  Then they used these rollers that had plugs and wirings; I thought I looked like something out of the sci-fi animated series Ghost in the Shell.  But the girl who assisted Dehlia wanted me to have straight bangs, so she straightened it.  I was a little bit horrified by this because I felt that this was the same as rebonding.  I ended up agreeing anyway, since I know that particular area of my head would turn back to waves in two weeks, regardless of how strong a straightening chemical is.  When they took out the rollers, I was stunned to find that my head now looked exactly as it was before I violated it with straightening chemicals.

I like how Dehlia shaped the hair so I didn’t have styling problems afterwards.  In fact, I stopped fretting about it.  I no longer use  mousse and only rely on Kerastase: Oléo-Relax, an oil that keeps my hair in place.  The secret to those with problem hair, really, is to have a good cut. My hair is very thick, course and RIOTOUS and if the cut isn’t good, it would look like someone had waged war on it.  I suffered with that kind of hair when I was growing up so I had a rather awkward adolescent life.

The bill was a little over P5,000 and I told my sister, “I paid five thousand to have the exact same hair I was born with. How lame am I?”  Still, that was pretty inexpensive compared to the P8,000 – P12,000 I used to spend to have my hair straightened.

It has grown considerably longer now and it’s only a matter of time before I chop off the remaining rebonded parts. Here’s a shot I took two weeks later, right after I voted.

Here’s a closer inspection of the curls:

This will be the last time I’m laying powerful chemicals on my hair.  I just couldn’t wait for another year for my roots to completely take over.

Studio 545 is located at:
5th  floor Shangri-la Plaza Mall 5th Level,
EDSA cor. Shaw Blvd. Mandaluyong City