a hairy affair

I started going to a hair salon proper (aside from the usual haircuts here and there) when I was 16. To tame the crazy, frizzy, poofy, thick hair. To sport a new look just before entering college for A Levels. To do what all the Korean girls were doing (too many Korean girls in school then, lol!) - hair rebonding.

It must have been upon Malko B.'s suggestion, because I ended up in a Korean hair salon in Ampang. The first time I did it, the process took about 7 hours (!!!) because, according to the hairdresser who spoke broken English, my hair texture is thick/stubborn/difficult to work with. Hmph. It wasn't my hair's fault, ok. Really him as a hairdresser! So from wavy and frizzy, I became poker straight. It stayed poker straight for the next few years until I discovered the delights of relaxing - a much better alternative, which gives more natural results, nice volume and the flexibility to style/play around with the hair. But I never really found a hairdresser who understood my hair over the next 10 years and never really left a salon fully satisfied, be it in Ampang, KLCC, Mont Kiara, Bangsar, Solaris, Jakarta, Nottingham or London, until......this past weekend.

Jep Soo, senior stylist of A Cut Above in Pavilion with 30 years experience under his belt. A true gem and now, probably my one and only favourite hairstylist. Stumbled upon him by chance when the girls and I wanted to check out what the Brazilian Keratin Treatment was all about. Too expensive (RM900 for "extra" long hair like mine!), we enquired about their other services. After a bit of bla bla bla, we were taken to a private room (nice!), where Rikachu* (Not her real name, by the way. Hehe) decided to chop off her long mane to get a sexy bob upon Jep Soo's recommendation and I decided to give my hair a relaxing fixer-upper and a trim.

He set us back at RM400 (relaxing touch up and trim for me, with soft-curl finish) and RM375 (for haircut and colouring for Rikachu) respectively. A little pricey, but well worth the money. Not only did he understand our hair, he knew what he was doing and what not to do with our hair. I have had bad experiences whereby the hairdressers went a little overboard with thinning my hair (they're always complaining that I have too much hair on my head -_-), gave me too much layers, cut my hair a little too short - thus, resulting in poofy hair on top and thin ends at the bottom. Not very flattering. With Jep Soo, he advised me that considering my hair type, I am best suited with long hair (2 inches below shoulder length at the shortest), light layering, no thinning, mid length fringe. Good advice, but that means no sexy Rihanna-inspired bob for me. Ever. :( So yes, I'm gonna look boring for the rest of my life! Because boring is my best look :,(

What I liked about the relaxing method in A Cut Above was that they skipped the hair ironing process.  It was just combing the relaxant cream through the hair, cling wrap, steam, wash, neutralising cream, cling wrap, wash, blow dry. No need to have the hair ironed to seal in the chemicals! Saves my hair from further damage. Phewh.

As for Rikachu, she got what was called an angel bob and hair colour which had a tinge of purple. Very nice! I highly recommend Jep Soo and will most definitely be going back to him again! For hair colouring when my bank account fills up again perhaps.

Bisous, Malko.S ♡