#haircareweek #tressviernes #services

Hey everyone! Welcome to HAIR CARE WEEK! For 7 days I will be talking all about hair. I haven't posted anything about hair in a while so I want to do a HAIR SPECIAL this week. Although some products were sent to me to review and not paid for, as always, my reviews are unbiased to give you a real view before loosening those purse strings!

I'll start with a post of me getting my hair colored (yet again) at Studio Fix by Alex Carbonell . I didn't take my digital camera with me nor did I tell them that I was a beauty blogger because I didn't want to stir anything up. I wanted to have the whole experience what everyone has been raving about as me, and not as a blogger or makeup artist... Kind of like an undercover beauty police (LOL). So excuse the slightly dull photos, they were taken with my Galaxy Note 2.

Studio Fix by Alex Carbonell at Level 4 Greenbelt 5

My first choice to have my hair colored was with master Alex himself, but he was not in at the salon yesterday so I opted for a senior stylist instead. Not knowing who I would be working with and not having done any research, I said yes. I am used to having my tresses dyed with Mike Bocaya at Bench Fix in Glorietta 4, but I wanted to try someone new.


Yesterday afternoon was the only time I was available because I had a whole in my schedule. I met Alex a few months back when my sister had her highlights done with him and I loved him instantly. He is warm and very professional.


As soon as I entered the salon, I was greeted by 2 friendly salon personnel. Very professional and warm. No fakers or snooty employees. The place was fairly empty since it was the middle of the day (around 3PM), but it took them 35 minutes to seat us in the styling area. Wasn't a very good start for me but anyway, it gave me time to take a little bit of photos.

Studio Fix Photo courtesy of jujulsganda.blogspot.com

Studio Fix Photo courtesy of jujulsganda.blogspot.com

When we were finally seated, I was informed that the senior stylist who would be doing my coloring would be Hermes (later learning that his last name was Mondido). He finally approached me after waiting for him for another 15 minutes. After we chatted about what I planned to do with my hair, and showing him these pegs of Emma Stone's copper red hair:



I was thrilled that he told me he knew exactly what he was going to do with my hair. Before I tell you further about my experience, let me give you a little background why I needed my hair to be exactly like the one in the photo. I have been dying my hair since college, and I have gone from heavily highlighted, blonde, ombred, and dyed with a DIY home dying kit at home. My hair is dead because of my last hair adventure which was the ombre stunt. Sad but true. I was told that I had to chop my hair off and grow it before I can dye it again. (Read about my OMBRE FAUX PAS here)

Many months later, my hair is finally ready to be dyed again. I got offers from different high-profile senior artists to sponsor my new venture to sport the red head, but I was impatient to have it done (as always), so I just took the leap from a hairstylist I have not heard of (no offense intended).

It took them another 30 minutes to get started with me. They washed and dried my hair (which took another 25 minutes), and they started applying hair dye on the midsection of my hair.  They used Schwarzkopf's Igora.

Hair Dye for the midsection of my hair

Yes, the tips of my hair still had traces of bleach and my roots were virgin so, you know what I mean. A regular trained salon hairstylist was the one who mixed and applied dye on my hair. His name was Javier. It took him 45 minutes to apply the dye and I was sort-of disappointed that Hermes was busy everywhere else except supervising the stylist with my hair (considering I was a first timer at their salon). I didn't expect him to apply the dye himself, but I wanted him to at least check on how things were going with me from time to time. Or at least do a little bit of small talk.

It took another 30 minutes for the dye to penetrate my hair, and that's when they applied dye on my roots, and then to my tips.

Dye for my roots

Another 20 minutes went by and I was ready to rinse it off. Unfortunately, the tips were still very light but my roots and the midsection of my hair were done so they had to wash my roots and the midsection without rinsing the tips (??), but in all fairness they were able to do it -it was a two-man job. I had to lie back there with my head hanging over the sink rested on my neck for 30 minutes. That was the hard part. The dying was not well calculated and I ended up with a very stiff neck after. It was horrible.

20 minutes in this position

I was antsy by the time they finished rinsing my hair which took another 10 minutes. By the time I was seated back down on my chair, my head was steaming (and a little light headed). I really believe that the service could have gone faster without the extra waiting around.

When my hair was dried, it wasn't the color I was hoping to get. I was expecting the color to be more vibrant and on the red side but it looked GOOD nonetheless.


MY THOUGHTS:

• I did (I do) like the hair color, but I was hoping for it to be more vibrant and [loud] since it took me a long time to grow my hair just to get it dyed again.
• They could have handled my opinions and concerns a little bit better. I told Hermes that I was hoping for the color to be a bit more vibrant and on the red side but all he (and the rest of the staff) said that it was supposed to be like that and "ok na yan". It really put me on the spot specially with the place being packed by the time I was done. Staff and costumers were gawking.
• The salon staff had heavy hands. They're not that gentle when blow-drying and shampooing. By the time my service was over, I had a stiff neck from constant pulling of my hair. They're very courteous but they need a little bit more training.
• They should honor appointments. If you are set to start at 3PM, they should start at 3... Not 3:30, 3:45, or 4PM.
• Very reasonable rates! I'm happy that I didn't have to pay a whole lot. I thought that this salon would be expensive. Not bad for having a full head dyed with my length for only PhP 2,600.
• I love the environment of the salon. Very bright and lovely happy colors.
• Staff are very friendly.