The Amazing Korean Setting Perm

Hi everyone,

Long time no see. Yeah, I've been sick like a dog thanked to a viral infection. Last week, I could barely sit up but today I feel a lot better. Still a little bit of swelling and marks here and there but at least I no longer have fever. Yeah, roseola is a pain in the you-know-what and I'm glad to come at the tail end of it!

But alas, I digressed. About 2 weeks ago, right before I got sick, I went out to get my first hair perm ever! Well, technically, I got my first perm when I was a kid but for some reasons, my hair did not take the perm solution and I ended up having straight hair. This time around, the L'Oreal Professionnel salon near my place had a perm sale. What was supposed to be a $50 chemical process only cost me 37 bucks. And that included a cut, wash, and style. Score!

Unlike the traditional type of perm where you have to soak your hair in those smelly and yucky perm solutions, Korean setting perm is quick and pretty much odorless. It is also the least maintenance perm that looks natural. Just think about Angelina Jolie's naturally wavy hair. Yup, the setting perm is going to give you awesome hair like that. It's like a straight haired girl's dream come true, you know.

So I settled down, got a quick consultation, and a hair wash before the fun began. First, a hair stylist applied a cream to the area she wanted to curl, which was from my ear down to the tip of my hair. Then, I waited for about 20-25 minutes for my hair to stretch before she washed it. After that, I had my Matrix moment: they hooked me into the machine, yo!

At one point, 3 people were working on my hair. They dried it before winding each section into the heat rods. Those rods are similar to your hot rollers but they are bigger and made of ceramics. Those hair ladies wound my hair really really tight and by the end, I had about 30 curls all over my head. They also put insulating pads over the rollers to make sure the hair is curled up nicely.

I felt like Lion King, if Simba chose to perm his hair and such. This was a moment before the nice hair lady came back with a couple sets of wires to hook me into the Matrix.

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I don't know if you can see it or not but there were wires hanging out from each ceramic rod. These rods are like hot rollers on steroid! There's a place to hook it into the electricity. Once hooked, the rod will heat up the same way hot rollers do. The difference is I had to sit there and wait for 25 minutes while the heat cooked up my hair nice and crispy!

Really, I was kidding about the crispy part but yeah, it was incredibly hot and heavy. My head felt like it weighed a ton thanked to all the rods and wires. Luckily, 25 minutes went away pretty quickly and the hair techs came to unhook me from The Matrix. Then came the perm solution and I waited for another 10-15 minutes before I came to get the last rinse. Since my hair just got permed, the technician only washed my hair with water and conditioner. I got a quick face massage as a bonus.

Then, I got a haircut and 2 people simultaneously blew dry and styled the crap out of my hair. The total number of people who worked on my head that day was 6 and I paid 37 bucks. Not a bad deal after all!

Here's the end result, 2 weeks after I did the perm:

 Natural-looking wavy hair, yeah? And no, I didn't color my hair. That's my natural hair color with natural highlights and all :)

No, really. People may spend 200 bucks to have hair colored like that but I don't. That's how my hair really is. I spent about 2 years to color and highlighted the crap out of my hair to make it look like that but in actuality, it already does. That's why it's hard to convince me to color my hair these days. I already have the color that I want!

Cascading curls after cascading curls! It's official: I'm in love with my hair!

Ooh, shiny!

One thing I do notice is the staggering amount of volume I have after getting the perm. It's like I have twice the hair or something. On top of that, my hair does not feel damaged at all! The only change I have to live with is to set the hair in sponge curlers about 1/2 hour before going to bed. But that's not mandatory as I only do so after I wash my hair. Also, the 48 hours after the perm is crucial as I was not allowed to wet my hair. I use all the hair products as I did before, although stuff that promises to add moisture seems to be better to keep the ends nice and moist.

I got a ton of compliments on my new hair. Compared to the other types of perms, setting perm keeps the hair wavy for about 5 months. Once you get a haircut, you need to redo the perm as well. From the way I see it, I would do it twice a year to keep my hair nice-looking and healthy as well. Other people who want the tight and spiral kind of curls may want to try digital perm, which is more expensive. To me, this is nice enough and I make sure to keep myself loaded to get my perms twice a year :)

That's all for now, folks! Have you permed your hair or tried setting perm before? Please let me know. I'll be back once I feel better.

With love,
Dao xoxo


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Have You Met Mythic Oil?

Hello everyone,

Not so long ago, I an assignment from ELLE to interview Manolis Sevastopoulos, L'Oreal Professionnel National Educator in Vietnam. This was a part of the pre-show activities for ELLE F/W 2012 Fashion Show. The interview went well and Manolis actually taught me a whole bunch of things about hair, which, believe me, as a makeup-centric beauty blogger, I don't know much about. On top of that, he was really funny, which made an assignment feel like fun.

In the middle of the interview, Manolis asked me a question as a way to answer my question. Just imagine him speaking English with a Greek accent and you'll get the idea :)

Me: What's your favorite product?
Him: You know about Mythic Oil, no?
Me: *shook head*
Him: We use Mythic Oil in everything. We mix it into our hair dyes. It's fantastic. You don't have it? I'll give you. By the way, you should dye your hair. You have lovely hair, why black? Why brown? You should come to our academy and we'll dye your hair.
Me: *felt half ashamed as hair was sticking into scalp in the most horrendous manner* *face palm* *speechless*

I told you, that interview was fun. By the end of the interview, he gave me a tour to L'Oreal Professionnel Academy in Ho Chi Minh City and asked a guy to give me a bottle of Mythic Oil that the staff was using. I took it home in the rain.

Because of the rain, I decided to wash my hair that night and used Mythic Oil before blow drying it. Since I came back from the vacation, my hair was in an utter state of dread: it was oily at the root and dry at the tip. On top of that, it felt rough and shed like Belly's hair in summer. I don't think I've said this before but I don't like hair oils or serums that much as they tend to add more oil to my root and deflate my hair as well.

But again, I was desperate so I pumped a healthy dose of Mythic Oil and rubbed it from root to tip without touching the scalp (as Manolis warned me not to do so.) Then, I blew dry the crap out of my hair.

The result was uh-MAY-zing! My hair was softer, smoother, and sleeker at the first try. I slept on it and on the next morning, I saw more volume on top. Usually, my mop of hair would be greasy by day 2 but at the end of the second day, it was fine. So I stretched out for one more day and on day 3, my hair was greasy as it would usually be on day 2. However, this would not be the end of awesomeness. I've noticed less hair falls as well. For the first time since ever, I have met a product that truly makes my hair look and feel better.

So what is Mythic Oil, anyway?

According to L'Oreal Professionnel, Mythic Oil is "enriched with a special blend of avocado and grape seed oil, this lightweight oil cares and pampers all hair types. Nourishing even the finest hair, the formula leaves hair looking shiny, feeling nourished and supple."

Here are the ingredient list and instructions:

As you can see, all the hair smoothing and sleeking powers come from cyclopentasiloxane and dimethiconol. However, as avocado and grape seed are number 4 and 5 in the ingredient list, they are abundant enough to make a difference. In the past, I remember rubbing a little bit of Moroccan Oil in my hand and because it felt really, really tacky, I decided not to rub it on my hair. Moroccan Oil, as I recall, doesn't have a lot of argan oil. Therefore, I can't compare between Mythic Oil and Moroccan Oil. However, if Mythic Oil is the answer to Moroccan Oil, I guess L'Oreal Professionnel just won.

Believe me, I was very cautious of what this Mythic Oil would do to my skin. Usually, hair products with intense amounts of those two compounds would cause my skin to freak out. I would see zits sprouting around my jaw line and the perimeter of my face. But nope, after half a month of continuous use, I saw none of the above.

Now, here's the thing: while L'Oreal Professionnel is a salon brand, you can hardly find it in the U.S and Japan unless you hit up Amazon.com which sells it for an exorbitant amount of money! In the U.K, I've read somewhere that you can get this on sale for around 10 pounds. In Vietnam, it is currently priced at around $22 USD.

However, and this is a big however, I've found out that you don't have to use a full pump to get smooth and sleek hair. While it is not greasy when you use a lot of Mythic Oil, I don't see much of a difference when I use 2 pumps or 2 big drops. This is the amount of Mythic Oil I'm using now, considering how expensive it is going to cost me once this 4.2 ounce bottle runs out:

The trick of how to apply it is to dispense 2 or 3 drops of oil on your palm (it smells floral, btw), then rub the two palms vigorously together. This will warm up the oil and help spreading it better. Once the oil contacts with your wet hair, it will toughen up and become hard to spread. After dispensing the oil close to the scalp without touching, you rake your hands down to the tip of your hair, then twist it back and forth while running the palms up and down the length. Then, you can go ahead and blow dry your hair out and see how shiny it is.

Am I going to buy another bottle after this one runs out? You betcha! Mythic Oil is officially The Good Stuff in my book. This is rare to me when it comes to hair products as I'm very anal about them. I remember buying a bin full of hair care and styling products only to donate them to those in need (the YMCA Summer Camp at some point became a benefactor as I dropped boxes and boxes of hair products at their door!)

So if you are in Europe and Asia but not Japan, I hope you'll give Mythic Oil a try. It is so really, really, ridiculously good that it makes me and my hair happy. For those who live in the U.S and Japan, Amazon.com can be your best friend :)

That's all for now, folks! I hope you'll get to try Mythic Oil soon.

May you have a good hair day,
Dao xoxo


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A Lesson in Hair Care

Hi everyone,

After years of being a beauty blogger, I thought I knew everything. However, once in a while life throws me a curve ball to make me re-evaluate my so-called "superiority." The most recent one involves a shampoo. You see, I was using the black Sunsilk shampoo with shimmer (aka Sunsilk Co-Creations by Jamal Hammadi.) It was fine and dandy until I decided to jump ship to the pink Sunsilk (another Co-Creations product by Yuko Yamashita.)

Why the change of heart, you ask.

Because the TV commercial told me so. You see, the pink Sunsilk is meant for straight hair and since I do have stick straight hair, it should be good, right?

Well, kinda.

The first few weeks went fine: my hair was sleeker and dried a lot faster without using the blow dryer. I also noticed slight volume on my hair. On top of that, this shampoo smells like strawberry milkshake, which is fantastic.

But it ended right about there. I also noticed how dirty my hair became on the second day. Dirty and itchy. Therefore, I changed my schedule from every other day wash to every day. Then, it became dirty and itchy and dry. So I added conditioner. It became dirty and itchy and dry but oily by the time I washed it.

And then something happened, too. My housekeeper noticed how much of my hair was falling on the floor. "You need to do something," she told me, "This is not healthy for your body, you know. I am sick and my hair doesn't fall down that much."

Her words made me take a long hard look at my diet and daily routine. Everything seemed fine. Then, I looked at my bathroom and it dawned on me that the pink Sunsilk was the culprit. I switched back to the black Sunsilk and everything came back to the way it once was.

The morality of this story is simple: if you find something that works, stick with it. Don't get fancy as it may cause you more trouble in the long run.

How about you? Do you have any similar experience? I know my hair is not that fussy but that was quite scary.

That's all for now, folks! Hope you'll have a good week ahead.

Love,
Dao xoxo

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New Hair, New Hair!

Hi everyone,

Guess what? I got a new haircut like...a few weeks ago =)

I know, I'm late in updating this kind of thing and my actual hair is about an inch longer now but it's still better late than never, right? The last time I had a haircut was around the end of July, 2011 (around the time I did this FOTD.) I waited a good 5 month for my hair to grow out before getting a haircut. The previous haircut was more of a Rihanna hairstyle with the front longer than the back. As I grow it out, that style no longer works and the new guy who cut my hair decided to do the traditional layered look on me.

This is a funny looking but decent shot of moi sans makeup :) Believe it or not, I just woke up and realized my hair looked awesome so I snapped away some pictures. I know, I am vain galore!
But on the other hand, the lightning is awesome or not?

Another pic of me moving away from the camera, haha!
I decided to post it to show how awesome my skin is. Vain x2 :P

From now on, I guess I am not going to cut my hair every two months anymore. Since I cut my hair in August 2010, it was an excruciatingly slow process to grow it out. Why? Because I used to cut it every two months. Everytime I cut it, the hair dresser chopped at least 1/2 inch off, which means about half of what my hair had grown out was gone.

So, the wisdom of growing longer hair is quite simple: do not cut your hair as often! When you do, just trim a tiny bit at the end. In my case, the hair stylist did not take off the length at the end. He only corrected the layers and recut my bangs, which does change my face shape a little bit. I may go back to him again because he did my hair really well. It requires minimal styling and looks good even after a long night of sleep.

Hip-Hop Abs week 2 recap:


I didn't miss any workout, yay! Did all six of them. Also, I did the X-Stretch DVD from P90X, aka the mother ship of all workouts! There is a butt stretch in the X-Stretch DVD, which made my eyes go like this o_O when I heard about it but yes, it did stretch out my gluteal region :D

Also, I love this song:



I hope this song will make you feel pumped up and ready for the week ahead. Have you ever heard of Jin Akanishi? This is the first song I've heard from him but from what I found out, he is really big in Japan. I hope he is going to be known worldwide as well.

With love from your makeup addict friend,
Dao xoxo


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Hair Smooth as Silk with Sunsilk

Hi everybody,

I grew up with Sunsilk and this brand was the first to introduce me to conditioner. Yeah, back when I was 8 or 9, we just washed our hair with shampoo and that was it. I remember my grandma had a bottle of Sunsilk that she locked in her dresser for years. It was her back-up shampoo that she would use for special occasions. That was how much she treasured it.

Years passed and I was delighted when Sunsilk came to the U.S market. Albeit being the #1 hair care brand in the Asian market, it failed to make a note in the U.S and folded at the end of 2010. I tried it then and the formula was sub-par. So, when I came back to Asia, I made sure to give Sunsilk a try and I was blown away.

The stuff is that good! For years, I wanted to find something that keeps my straight hair healthy without weighing it down. Not so many shampoos in the U.S market can do that since they all contain a lot of humectants and moisturizers, which my hair does not need.

(L-R) Sunsilk Co-Creations shampoo designed by Jamal Hammadi and conditioner designed by Thomas Taw
My apologies to the less stellar photo: it's been raining a lot lately and I had to take the picture indoor . With the green wall, the colors are off. This frustrates me to no end!

Shampoo ingredients
It contains the extract of Gleditsia australis, a plant in Vietnam with pods that can be used as shampoo. For generations, Vietnamese people char the pods and boil with water until it turns black. It is believed to keep the hair black and healthy.

Conditioner ingredients

The "swatch": conditioner on top, shampoo at the bottom

I thought I've seen it all until I saw the black shampoo. Yup, this stuff is black with mica shimmers and it took me a while to get used of the color. While both have floral scents, the conditioner is thicker than the shampoo, which I find to be on the runny side. The shampoo is mild and keeps my hair clean until the second day. I do notice a nice lift on the hair after I wake up. The shampoo itself is moisturizing enough for me and I only use the conditioner once in a while (maybe twice a week tops.)

With that said, the conditioner is actually can be left on for two minutes before washing. It is highly moisturizing, thanks to the dimethicone in the ingredient list. In fact, both of them have dimethicone highly ranked in the lists to give the hair a glossy and smooth feeling.

Since I've used this Sunsilk combo, my hair has been incredibly shiny. It also gets easier for me to comb and style my hair. I expected these products to make my hair look and feel greasy by the second day but that rarely happens, which is a big relief to me.

Price-wise, Sunsilk shampoos are mid-range products in the price list. Since Unilever has a factory in Vietnam, the prices of products made in Vietnam are significantly cheaper. I've tried a few shampoos and conditioners to find Sunsilk as the brand that gives my hair the glossiest and sleekest look.

Although Sunsilk is no longer available in mass-market stores in the U.S, you can still (hopefully) find it in Asian stores. Believe me, the formula is different in Asia and Unilever focuses on different hair types depending on the market. If you have straight hair and want to add shine, Sunsilk may be the answer to you.

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Get Voluminous Hair with Aveda Rosemary Mint Shampoo

Hi everybody,

The cold, harsh winter days of 2011 have made my scalp very itchy. Mind you, I don't have dandruff and this year, I don't have flaky scalp during the wintertime, either. However, the itchiness drives me nuts. Between my regular organic shampoo and Neutrogena Anti-Residue shampoo, my hair is clean. However, they couldn't stave off the itchiness.

Then, I went to get a haircut at Aveda Institute and experienced their famous Rosemary Mint shampoo and conditioner. Twice. It took me the second time and the almost running out of shampoo at home for me to get a bottle of this shampoo. And guess what? This might have been the best shampoo I've tried yet.

Aveda Rosemary Mint shampoo (8.5 fl. oz, $10.50 USD)

 Wanna know why I like it so much? Jump!

Batiste, the Magical Dry Shampoo

Hi everybody,

Once in a while, I discover a product that makes me want to say, "Why didn't I find it earlier?" Batiste dry shampoo is one of them. I wish I found it back when I had really long hair. It could have saved me from looking like an oily grease during the summer. You see, I have oily scalp. While the rest of my hair is clean, my scalp just looks like I need a vigorous wash. For the life of me, I can't wash my hair everyday. Not only my scalp is oily, it is also sensitive.

But now that I have Batiste in my life, things changed for the better. My hair no longer looks greasy after the first day, as long as I remember to use Batiste.

Batiste dry shampoo, original scent.
This is the travel size ($2.99), the full size costs $7.49 ($6.99 if you have Sally Card.)

Wanna know why I like this shampoo so much? Jump!

Neutrogena Anti-Residue Shampoo

Hi everyone,

A long time ago, I went on a vacation and stayed at a hotel that provided Neutrogena Anti-Residue Shampoo. Since I didn't pack my own shampoo, I used it and as a result, my hair was squeaky clean for the whole week I was there. The stuff smelled strange and my hair was dry. Needless to say, I quickly forgot about it.

Neutrogena Anti-Residue Shampoo ($6-8 USD)
Picture source

The reason this product is flying so low under the radar is the packaging. Neutrogena does have a minimalist approach when it comes to packaging their products. This anti-residue shampoo is clear and stored in a clear bottle. To me, the packaging is between cheap and something Steve Jobs would approve for the next iPhone. It's a toss up. However, this shampoo is very thick and you only need a tiny bit to wash your hair. Recently, I brought it back in this post to as a remedy to remove flake caused by styling product build-up. Why did I have such a sudden change of heart?

Wanna know why? Jump!

Tips for Your Winter Hair

Hi everybody,

Belly has a confession: he has dry fur

The weather is getting colder and it only means one thing: our hair are suffering! Dull looking, dry and brittle hair with flaky scalp sound familiar to you? Until last year, I did not experience much of the winter hair woe. However, this year I get smarter and become more prepared for the winter.

In today's post, I compile a short list of tips to keep your hair healthy and shiny during winter. Some of the tips have instantaneousness results while others take time to show.

1. Give yourself a scalp massage

Until last year, I did not know that dry scalp could happen to me. The sub-zero temperature means less moisture in the air. As a result, my scalp was flaky and itchy. The relief came in a quick scalp massage when I went to get a haircut. The hairstylist rubbed a few drops of oil on my scalp before giving me a vigorous scalp massage. Not only did it feel good, the oil helped adding moisture while the massage stimulated blood flow to my scalp.

A scalp massage is easy to do at home. Olive, jojoba, and coconut oils are moisturizing, penetrative, and light, which are suitable to be used on your hair and scalp. After adding a few drops to the part on your hair, use the fingertips to rub the oil into your scalp. Just move your fingertips in circles as your hands move from the center to the sides and front to back. After you are done massaging, brush your hair with a natural bristle hairbrush and shampoo your hair as usual.

2. Got oil? Give your hair a hot oil treatment

Don't waste your money on hot oil treatment products. The oil you use for a scalp massage can be used for this purpose as well. All you need to do is to pour olive, jojoba, or coconut oil in a container, lid it, and put it in a cup of hot water to heat the oil up. If you have short hair, about 2-3 tablespoons of oil is enough. If you have long hair, please heat up 1/4 cup of oil.

After the oil is heated, spread it all over your hair and scalp. You can do a scalp massage while you are at it before wrapping your hair in a plastic processing cap. If you need extra moisturizing power, soak a towel in warm water and cover your head and the processing cap with it. Then, wrap a dry towel on top of the wet one and wait 15-20 minutes for the oil to work its magic on your hair and scalp. Shampoo as usual and use conditioner if necessary. I find my hair to be very bouncy and lustrous afterwards.

Wanna read more tips? Jump!

Do You Love Your Hair?

Hi everybody,

If you have followed the beauty blogsphere lately, you would probably noticed the uproar against the Brazilian Blowout. Yesterday, NPR did a story on it and you can read it here. Coincidentally, NPR also did another article about the latest and cutest musical number on "Sesame Street." During the weekend, I put it on my Facebook account and I have seen it in a lot of my friends' Facebook updates as well.

While my hair is easy to maintain, I do have friends who wake up at 4 a.m to make their hair look more presentable. It is hard work but most of my friends did not take an easy way out by perming their hair. In fact, some of them actually left the perm and embraced their natural curls.

When I read the "I Love My Hair" article on NPR, I was very touched at Mr. Mazzarino's effort to encourage his daughter to love her hair. His mentioning of the Barbie doll also struck a chord in me. For a very long time, I was flipping magazines after magazines, trying to find an actress or a model who looked like me. My main reason was to see how the makeup tips and tricks those magazine articles mentioned would look on Asian women. I got none. Every month, I looked at the cover of Cosmo and wondered why they didn't put Lucy Liu on the cover.

I guess this video clip deserves a post on my blog. It's not just about loving your hair but also about loving yourself. Of course, there are many things you and I want to change about our outlooks. However, instead of putting ourselves under the microscope and dissecting all the flaws, we should embrace it. What we deem as flaws are the things that make us unique.

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Got Hairtag?

Hairtag made the news :)

About 3 months ago, the folks from Hairtag sent me their products to review. Why it took me so long to write this review still eludes me. To be fair, their products are kind of cute and helpful, although I don't seem to use them as much. This product originated from Japan and is very popular in Asia.

How to Trim Your Own Side-Sweep Bangs

Hello everybody,

I got into a serious case of not knowing what to blog about. Seriously, I have lots of pictures of products and looks that are ready to be written, yet I don't know where to start. One good thing did happen: about 2 weeks ago, I mentioned about a bang trimming tutorial. And now, with all these confusions and writer's block in my mind, a scheduled post is the solution for me.

Nicole Richie and her famous side-sweep bangs

Source

After consulting various magazines and YouTube videos regarding bang trimming, I concluded that DIY bang trims are not so difficult. However, cutting your own hair can potentially give you outrageously ridiculous result, I advise you to proceed with cautions. I still can't forget the catastrophic fringe trim job I did on myself in 7th grade.

Breath in, breath out. Inhale, exhale. Are you ready? Let's go!

Tools for the trade: several pieces of old newspaper to line your hair cutting place, a pair of serrated scissors, a pair of scissors, a comb, and a rat-tail comb

Wanna know how? Jump!

How to Get Celebrity Cascading Curls

Hello my beautiful people!

Thank you for your love to Mr. Belly's first column yesterday. He was so happy that he came to my place to party all night. And boy, can he party! At 2 am, he still scratched the door and wanted to come in to have the after-after-after party to commemorate his debut column! Needless to say, yours truly did not get that much sleep and since there were so many things needed to be done, I did not get a chance to blog until now.

With the award season coming at full swing, cascading curls are spotted everywhere on and off the red carpet. Basically, anybody with hair a bit below their shoulder can sport this style. Heck, even Russel Brand has cascading curls these days! (Click here for a pic. For those who does not know who Russel Brand is, he's a British comedian and Katy Perry's fiance.)

My everyday straight hair

My all curled up hair

For years, I have been trying to curl my hair like they do in Miss Universe. Since my hair is stick straight, I want curls. Sometimes, I got fantastic curls, other times I got crappy uncurled curls. And then, once in a while, I burned myself and my hair! So kids with straight hair who want curls, you are in good hands here. After years of doing research, I came up with an infallible method. Before doing this tutorial, I did not curl my hair for months, yet the result was awesome!

Want to learn more? Click after the jump!

DIY Highlights: to Do or Not to Do?

Hi everyone,

On the last post, my friend Ngoc Ha asked me if I know any highlighting products she could do at home to save money. Her criteria are easy to use, affordable, and does not dry out her hair after fading out. While I have cousins who do their own highlights and got really good results, I simply did not make my highlights work.

Hilary Duff and her highlighted hair
Image courtesy BellaSugar

DIY highlighting is a risky business, even the pro hair colorists do not do their own highlights! Unlike hair coloring, highlighting involves strong chemicals that bleach out your natural hair pigment and then replenish it with a different (lighter) color to create the light/dark contrast in your hair. So if you mess up, it is not going to look good.

For people who have dark hair like me, DIY highlighting is almost a mission impossible (*cue the music, dum dum dum*). When I was in college, I did my own highlights just before Halloween (because I wanted to look hot!) and because of my dark pigments, instead of having bronzy highlights, I got some carrot top strands of hair all over my head! Luckily, it was Halloween so my hair got passed as "funky" and "hip", not "crazy" and "tragic".

The thing is, once your DIY highlights go wrong, it can go very wrong. The cost and time to fix the mistake is astronomically high and I highly discourage anyone to do it. To me, those Halloween highlights took a while to grow out and once they did, my hairdresser cut them all off.

With all the cautionary tales being told, that does not mean you cannot do your highlights at home. As I said earlier, my cousins did their own highlights and theirs always looked great. And if up to this point, you still want to do it, please follow my tips very carefully.

1. Enlist another person to help you with the application:

The reason my cousins' highlights worked is there are two of them: one worked on the other's hair and vice versa. Also, they've done this for each other for such a long time, they know what to expect. Especially if you have long hair, the other person's help is very crucial.

2. Follow the instruction carefully:

And I mean it, to a T! If they say, "Leave it for 10 minutes", you leave it for 10 minutes, no more and especially no less. Also, please read the instruction from the beginning to end before you start.


3. If it scares you, start your first highlighting session with hair color instead of a highlighting kit:

When I started highlighting my hair, I used a box of hair color and proceeded to highlight my hair with it. Of course, the change was subtle because I only used a color that was about 3 shades lighter than my own hair color but it was goof proof. If I did not like the result, I could have simply dyed my hair altogether.

4. Consider using a highlighting cap instead:

One of my friends in college actually did her highlights using the cap and pick that are sold at Sally's. The disadvantage of using the cap is you can't retouch your hair at the same exact spot. However, it is easier to use and the result does look better than without the cap.

5. Do not go overboard:

The common mistake most DIY highlighters make is to cover their heads with highlights they apply by themselves. This not only does not look natural but also affect the timing of the application. Most highlight kits out there work very fast (10 minutes or so) and if you do the whole head, it may take more than 10 minutes. Therefore, your first pieces are lighter than your last ones, resulting in overall blotchiness of your hair.

Instead of doing that, just start with some face-framing pieces and some pieces on the crown. If you use the cap, I'd say you should not apply more than 20 strands of hair.

6. Lemon works, too:

When I was a kid, I used to apply lemon juice on my hair as a conditioner after shampooing. While it worked as a conditioner, lemon juice also lightened my hair a bit. As it is acidic, lemon juice does lift the color of your hair. You can use a cap and apply lemon juice to the pieces of hair around your face and on the crown. To speed up the process, you can sit outside for a while (please wear sunscreen!), then rinse off the lemon. It does work, but takes a lot more time than using the dyes and bleach.

7. To save money, get your hair done at cosmetology school:

As students are the ones who do your hair (with supervision from their teachers, of course!), you pay a lot less than at the hair salon. In my neck of the woods, a lot of people go to Aveda Institute to get highlights and it costs around $35 per highlighting session (long hair is charged more.)

L'Oreal Color Expert (or Couleur Experte if you're in a different part of the world)
Image courtesy wwBeautyStore.com

Of all the kits I've used in the past, L'Oreal Color Expert worked great and you need to follow their instruction as strictly as possible.



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L’Oreal EverPure Sulfate-Free Color Care System UV Protect Spray

Hi everyone,

Once upon a time, I used to dye and highlighted my hair in the coppery shades. While it was beautiful, the hair was painful for me to take care. The red dyes faded very fast and when it was gone, my hair looked brassy and dry. I cut myself off the hair dyeing bandwagon since the end of 2005 and have never looked back. Life could have been a lot easier back then if somebody came up with a sulfate-free hair care system like L’Oreal EverPure.

L'Oreal EverPure Sulfate-Free Color Care System UV Protect Spray

Recently, I got the opportunity to try L’Oreal EverPure Sulfate-Free Color Care System UV Protect Spray. After reviewing so many L’Oreal products, I think whoever got the job of naming the items must have gone through graduate school: each product name sounds a lot like a thesis or dissertation title. However, do not let the long name fool you into oblivion. This EverPure spray probably helps your color to stay if you get your hair color from the bottle.

Since L’Oreal launched EverPure, I really wanted to try the products in this line. The promise of sulfate-free hair care is quite rosy and to be honest with you, I am not such a big fan of SLS. However, I view it as a necessary evil for my oily hair. The spray is 100% vegan, does not test on animals, or contain animal byproducts. It smells very soothing with rosemary and mint. If you are a fan of Aveda’s famous Rosemary Mint line, you will love EverPure as well, although the scent is more perfume-y than earthy like the Aveda version.

Teddy bear said, "Not tested on animals? Me likey!"

The mister in this spray provides fine mists that coat the hair evenly. After I washed and conditioned my hair, I applied EverPure UV Protect Spray all over, then combed, and blew dry my hair. I did notice my hair becoming a bit fuller than usual. On very humid days, I skipped my conditioner and used this spray instead. It gives light moisturizing action to the hair while making it smell really fabulous. I did sleep better when I used this spray.

Here are the pros and cons:

• Pros: is lightweight, smells great, moisturizes my hair lightly, makes my hair look glossy, is 100% vegan;
• Cons: contains methyl paraben.

Although this product claims to provide UV protection for the hair, I do not see any sunscreens in it, either chemical or physical. Therefore, I am not clear of its UV protection mechanism. However, as a hair tonic/detangler/leave-in conditioner, it seems to work very swell as my hair was easier to comb and looked very glossy. You probably can even see your reflection from it!

Ingredients: water, PEG-14 dimethicone, propylene glycol, PEG-60 hydrogenated castor oil, phenoxyethanol, fragrance, camphor benzalkonium methosulfate, cetrimonium chloride, methyl paraben, menzophenone-4, disodium EDTA, tocopherol, triethanolamine, Mentha piperita (peppermint) leaf extract, linalool, Rosmarinus officinalis (rosemary leaf) oil, butylphenyl methyl propional, citronellol, coumarin, limonene, geraniol

Price: $8.99 at mass-market and drugstore
My rating: A

If you enjoy dyeing and highlighting your hair as well as keeping the color fresh for a bit longer, the EverPure line is what you’re looking for. If you do not dye your hair (like me) but want some added shine, you will love this spray as well.




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Everybody's Favorite Hair Bow

Hi everybody,

Today is the last day of Hair Week and I hope to end it with a bang. Ever since Lady Gaga came to the music scene, the world has taken in her fashion and hairstyle like a breath of fresh air. As much as I try to update myself, sometimes I feel like living under a rock! Recently, I found a sleuth of hair how-tos on YouTube that shows me how to make everybody's famous hair bow.

Yes, I'm talking about this, people!
Image courtesy The Fashion Cult

This hair bow has been so popular that now a lot of famous ladies have seen sporting it

And if you notice closely, the first two pictures on the second row came from fashion shows!
Image courtesy Fashion Daily Mag

Granted, Lady Gaga's hair bow probably was made from synthetic (or maybe even human hair) and tied to her head with a pin. If you go on eBay, you can find a hair bow that matches your hair color. However, a ton of YouTube gurus made tutorials to make the hair bow with their own hair. Seriously, they are like hair wizards and most videos out there are complicated for me.

Then Cheesie (again) showed me how to do the Lady Gaga hair bow in some really simple and easy steps:

Since my hair is not long enough to make a bow on top of my head, I opted for an updo bow :) This is the result after the first try:

I softened up the picture a bit

And in this picture, I sharpened up the details

If you follow the tutorial closely, this hair bow is not so difficult to do. I just wish to have another 4 inches of hair so it can look better. Also, my hair tend to work better when it's a bit dirty. When it's so clean, it can't hold up properly.

What do you think? I hope you enjoy Hair Week so far. I'm glad to get it out of my system so I can move on with my makeup. For me, this is a lot of improvement from my early days at this blog. At that time, I could barely blow dry my hair!

Take care, everybody! And have a nice weekend!

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My Messy Updo

Hi everybody,

Today is double-posting day, I hope you enjoy the earlier post so far. In 2004, I managed to do the only thing I wanted to do: I chopped off my hair into a bob! It was a refreshing experience to me as I had long hair for a while. However, before the hair transformation, I managed to score some really hot hair accessories. The leather rose hair tie was one of them. At that time, I was so sure to never grow my hair longer again that I discarded most of the hair pretties. However, the stingier part of me told me to keep some pretty stuff just in case.

Little did I know that around 2007, I started growing my hair out again. This time around, I managed to let it grow, then cringed when around 4 inches of my hair got lopped off twice! Once was a mistake, and twice was to correct that mistake. If those incidence did not happen, my hair would be around my waist by now.

The one thing I look forward to the most when growing my hair out is to get an updo. Usually, this is an activity that challenges me to the very end because (a) my hair is really straight and (b) updos usually fall down very fast when I do it on myself. But the marvel of blogging and YouTube brought me the easiest updo ever!

Cheesie's Japanese Hair Bun



I've read her blog circa 2004 and love her style. This is really easy to do but... my hair is not long enough. My updo ended up looking messier but nevertheless, it's still lovely.

I did it lower than Cheesie's, then added some pretty hair accessories around it

The closeup of my hair twists

These hair twists survived the short hair wave since 2004. I still can't believe I keep them! And I was more surprised to find them looking the same as when I bought them in Texas. They were my vacation souvenirs and they really look gorgeous!

Another shot at the hair
You said blurry, I said artsy :)

Now, the side :)

And the front
I was sick but managed to look dignified :p

Granted, my hair needs to be a bit longer for me to do some really neat stuff with it. I can't believe how much longer it has grown since last year! And that's the one wonderful thing about hair: it can always grow back.

That's all for today, folks! Tomorrow is going to be the last day of Hair Week. Are you enjoying it so far?

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