Ten years of hot heads

MANILA, Philippines - When I feel the need to rehabilitate — or just rejuvenate — my face or body, there are any number of dermatologists to go to, or high-end spas to visit. It’s never difficult to treat myself to a refreshing facial (or the kind that has me in hiding for 24 hours after, but looking fabulous after that), or an invigorating massage. But when it comes to hair, I draw a blank. I go to salons for reinvention — a cut, color, a blowout — and while all of our best salons also offer in-salon treatments, sometimes I would  prefer to go to a place that’s flat-out dedicated to just making my hair and my scalp look and feel healthy, sans all the frills. None of the hustle and bustle of the stereotypically busy salons. Something like a day-spa for my stressed tresses; a place that can assess what, specifically, is going on with my head, and can address exactly that.

As it turns out, we’ve had that place in Manila for a decade now.

The Kérastase Institute by Salon ESA is celebrating its 10th year of getting women ever closer to their hair dreams. Kérastase Paris itself is 50 this year, with five decades of what seems like the most specific hair solutions under their belt. You name the problem, they’ve likely got something that will fix it right up. Thinning and aging? Densifique. Sensitivity? Dermo Calm. Dryness? Nutritive. Flatness? Volumifique. Damage? Force Architecte. And then some, and more on the way. “Even before I knew of the Kérastase Institute, I admired all the retail products that L’Oréal would regularly come out with. They were new and revolutionary products, both for scalp and hair,” says Edgardo Angeles, who founded the institute in the Philippines. These products continue to be readily available at salons, and are often among the first products the various stylists who’ve handled my hair have recommended. And while I like taking them home — love being able to take that spa-level pampering into my own shower — the in-Institute Kérastase experience is still something else.

There’s a “Kérastase Ritual,” in which they assess the state of your hair — have you had it colored? Is it dry? Limp? Fine? Frizzy? — they look at your locks and then determine which of their many treatments will be best for you, will maximize the potential fabulousness of your hair. And then they treat you to it. Kind of like a doctor with a prescription, they then suggest products you might like to take home — maintenance medicine of sorts, in the form of shampoos, masques, and assorted leave-ins. Whether you do, whether you don’t, you walk out with an amazing head of hair, and damn if that doesn’t make you feel so good.

You’ve seen your doctor, you’ve seen your aesthetician, you’ve had your 90-minute Shiatsu-Swedish combo; make it a real head-to-toe experience and treat your tresses to some serious pampering this season, too. Don’t tell me you don’t deserve it.

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The Kérastase Institute by Salon ESA is located at the Ground Floor of 6750, Ayala Avenue, Makati City. Call 819-1040 to make an appointment.