Beauty at all costs

On my bathroom shelf, the ration of hair care products to bath/beauty products is 11 to four. Given that I seem to be averse to combing my hair except after taking a shower, the result of my recent head count on all the stuff I use on my hair does seem a little strange. Hair, after all, is just a bunch of dead cells.

But of course, with girls, it is never “just” hair. Especially for those born with wavy hair like me, hair actually makes for a strange bedfellow. You never know what kind of hair you’d wake up to every morning: would it be surprisingly tame and obedient, would it be flat and tired, or would it be extra springy and bouncy that you’d wish there were a remote control to adjust its volume.

Hence the loot on my bathroom shelf: I’ve bought contingency shampoos and hair conditioners to adjust to the kind of temperament I’d find my hair in, and that extra bottle of product bought every once in a while does eat away on my budget.

The new line of hair care products from Sunsilk, however, seems set to liberate me from the whims of my follicles. The Sunsilk Style Collection, a series of seven hair products tailored to fit the temperaments of both straight and curly hair, is a welcome set of products to add, and maybe even replace, my hair care arsenal. Developed by British hairdresser Andrew Barton, the Sunsilk Style Collection features the key ingredient beeswax energizers that add body and volume to hair strands and make them easier to style. Girls simply have to choose between the Straight & Sway and the Curls & Waves Bounce ranges for their specific hair care and styling needs.

Of course, it’s a no-brainer which range I decided to try. There are three products featured in the Curls & Waves Bounce range: shampoo, conditioner, and defining mousse. The Curls & Waves Bounce shampoo promises to clean and refresh both naturally wavy and permed hair, while the beeswax energizers in the Curls & Waves Bounce conditioner weaves around hair strands to create soft yet pronounced waves. The Curls & Waves Bounce defining mousse rounds out the hair care trifecta, protecting the curls from heat and humidity with its non-stick formula.

One day, at the Basement Salon in Shangri-La Mall, my already tired and slightly scraggly hair (I have an excuse: it was already 3 p.m. on a hot and humid day) was given proper shampooing and conditioning using the Sunsilk Curls & Waves Bounce range. The pomegranate-like fragrance of the products was as energizing to the senses as it was cleansing and nourishing to the hair. Basement Salon executive and sought-after hair savant Stefan Wilczynski then gave my hair a once-over, giving me his frank assessment: “It’s been a while since you had your hair cut and styled, am I right? The quantity is there, but…your current style isn’t doing anything for your hair. Plus, it’s quite dry, no?” Ouch, but true — a little mortification is the price anyone has to pay if they want to get started on any form of self-improvement with the best and most honest guides to help them. Stefan then proceeded to cut my hair, nearly pulling it in chunks as he further layered the strands into a cut that would fit my wavy hairstyle. Finally, the now wispy, feathery-looking thing on my head was ready to be blow-dried, and blow-dried into a bouncy hairstyle with face-framing layers that end into flirty upturns it did.

Of course, it’s impossible to have someone shampoo, condition, and blow-dry your hair every day; I’ve wished for that every Christmas but still no dice. To maintain the volume and bounce of freshly styled hair, I’ve come to rely on the Sunsilk Curls & Waves range, especially its defining mousse, to keep my curls pronounced yet under control every day. They are surprisingly effective: my curls maintain their shape all throughout the day everyday, without looking too wayward and out-of-control. It’s been more than a week now since Stefan cut my hair, and my curls are still cooperating with my haircut. Hallelujah. My hair is finally of the wash-(comb) and-wear variety, just like I’ve always hoped it would be, and I can finally stick to just one set of hair products to care for it.

As the economic recession rolls on and the every-other-week hair trims and treatments of the halcyon days of the past have to be scheduled much more rarely, it’s reassuring that the thinning of our pockets doesn’t have to be matched with bad hair days. With the same budget allocated for basic vanity products, your crowning glory can still get the care and styling it needs to look its best.

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Basement Salon is located at the Carpark Building, Shangri-La Mall, EDSA. Call 638-2222 or 638-6666 for reservations.