Activity 9: The Make-Over that hopefully my Coach Approved of ;)

LEAP is just so amazing. I was able to accomplish things that was only be in my "wish-to-someday-do" list. Having wavy, semi-curly hair was one of those. When digital perming became a buzzword, I wanted to do it but again, I was SCARED ;) You see, I pride myself in having really beautiful, straight, jet-black hair. I only experimented with different styles a couple of times and these were usually out of rebellion during my younger days. Boy were the results traumatic...hahaha! Thus, again, leading to me becoming fearful and just staying in my comfort zone. I would just maintain my hair this way: straight, black and long. So when Coach suggested that I undergo a digiperm, a part of me was terrified but a major part was excited ;) Breakthrough ;)

Then there was the issue of finances. I am not poor but I am not YET rich. Again, I am emphasizing on the YET because I know I will be financially abundant soon :) Anyway, I was asking for advice and researching via the net. I got a couple of leads: Toni and Guy (expensive and good reviews), Tony and Jackey (mid-range and mixed reviews), Piandre (no digiperm), Salon De Manila (expensive) and Beauty Bricks (cheap and good reviews). Cheap and good reviews?! Too good to be true but I checked out the hair of some of the nurses in my hospital and all seemed nice and they were happy. I asked Coach Rommel and he told me that he was familiar with the place and that his experience of it was good. He was leaning towards the trusty Toni and Guy though. Up to the last minute I was debating with myself. I ended up going to the 2 parlors and did my surveillance. When I went to Beauty Bricks, the stylist, a Japanese man who did not speak in English just looked at me, told his interpreter something, left and continued styling his present client. They told me that the entire service would cost 3500-3800 PHP, treatment, haircut and digital perming. Wow! A bargain. After visiting that parlor, I went to Toni and Guy at Megamall. To start of, let me commend their customer service. They were so accommodating and kind. They also assured me that I was going to be taken cared off. Then they gave me the cost estimate of the procedures to be done, treatment would cost 2800 PHP, the haircut 650 PHP and last but not the least the actual digiperm 8,474 PHP, that brings the entire service to a grand total of 11,924 PHP not inclusive of the tip for all the stylists. Gah! I never spent that much on my hair. I would only visit the neighborhood parlor which would charge 50-100 PHP to trim my tresses. The most was the once-in-a-blue-moon visit to Salon de Manila just because my mom was with me.

Anyway, I was actually prepared to shell out if only to be assured that I would end up happy with the results. Remember, Coach would always say, it is in the values that I will be experiencing during the entire journey of every activity. Well, at the end of the day, the Ilokana in me took over and I decided on the cheaper alternative.

Coach Rommel, my darling buddy, Eunice and Eric accompanied me to the salon. Mr. Shin was very grumpy and hardly listened to our suggestions. After trimming my hair, he told his Filipina interpreter to tell me that my virgin hair would end up damaged after this. Am I prepared? "What the?!", I was telling myself. And even Coach asked me to the last minute if I just wanted to undergo a haircut and have my hair highlighted. For some reason, even after, Mr. Shin's manner of questioning and lack of Filipino customer service, I decided to push through with the procedure and this was how it turned out:

 

 

Mr. Shin and I, he seems happy with the outcome. I definitely was ;)

So I am now happy to say that I am experiencing how it is to have soft and full curls. And so far, I am happy. I am just not that used with the care required to maintain the curls but am definitely satisfied with the change :) Thank you Coach Rommel for your white light, thank you Mr. Shin for your shrewd expertise, thank you buddy, Eunice for being there for me and my Awesome Dreamers Council, Hester and Eric- I LOVE YOU ALL and MY CURLY HAIR ;D

Values: Love, Openness, Vulnerability and Responsibility (because I chose to be economical ;p)