Current Hair Condition & Non Beauty-Related Obsession

Hiya guys!

After my previous post about Sunsilk Hair Studio, I realized I have never posted any hair-related entry on my blog. Such a shame considering how much products I've tried, and it'd be nice if I can share it with you. The thing is, me and my hair has been through such an adventure, if I may call it that way. In this post, I'm just gonna share with you about my hair condition, because on my next entries I'm about to post some shampoos and conditioners I've tried in the last 4 weeks. So you can always go back to this post, as a reference on why I choose the products that I use.

Now, I'm always in a love-hate relationship with my hair. Mostly hate, though. My hair is a mixed between my father's thick and curly hair and my mom's thin and super straight hair. What I got is a lot of hair with super thin strands. I used to think that I have thin hair in general, but everytime I went to the salon the hairdresser always said to me, "What do you mean thin? You have a lot of hair here" so that's how I come into conclusion. Another thing, my hair is somewhere between curly and straight. I don't know how to call it (no, definitely not wavy). I don't think there's a name for that. This is how I always have problems. Back when I was in junior high or in high school, I didn't own any hair straightener. So yeah, I went through those years with weird short 'floating' (and don't even think about asking me to post those pictures here!). Back then, I wasn't really into hair care. The only hair product I use was only shampoo and I've never had any hair chemical treatments done to my hair. Even when my hair was still a virgin, generally my hair is dry with normal scalp.

Somewhere along the way, I began using hairdryer. I use it every single day, even until now, with no heat protector, so my hair got even drier and worst, red instead of black. There are times when I visited the salon and the hairdresser was like, "Wow! your hair looks beautiful" made me feel like floating on air, and then she continued with, "What color did you use? The red looks pretty." Ugh!

My first year in college is the time I did my first permanent straightening and been regularly doing it ever since. Usually twice a year. I'm sure you're already familiar about this treatment. But in a nutshell, the name is self-explanatory. It straightened your already grown hair and when you hair grow even longer you'll have your actual hair shape around the roots which not a very pretty sight. That's your cue for another straightening session. I usually use my hair straightener to postponed my visit to the salon. And what I did there is just damaging my hair. Unfortunately I did all those treatments without proper hair care routine. I didn't use conditioner, and hair mask that's supposed to be applied once every two weeks became once every month and then no follow up. So you can imagine how dry and damaged my hair is. I have split ends and my hair looks red especially under the sun.

Over the past years I've tried so many shampoos for dry and damaged hair. But I just started using hair conditioner about a month ago. My sis shot me this overly-shocked expression and told me that I've committed hair sin by not using hair conditioner. Seriously, sis?! (She's a bit of a late-bloomer when it comes to hair straightening and yet she became a hair-care freak since then, which explains her emotional review on my last entry.. lol). But long story short, hair conditioner is now in my daily hair care routine.

The thing with maintaining hair is one or two products are not enough. Especially if you have overly damaged hair like mine. Right now, I have shampoo, conditioner and hair mask as my daily hair routine. I must add hair serum and heat protectant because definitely still gonna use my hair straightener. I'm all about maintaining hair but I also don't wanna be seen with hideous hair. I used hair serum before although I rarely repurchased (not that they're bad it's just that they're expensive). So next time I'll add my hair care reviews because I wanna share it with you, especially if you're in the same hair condition as mine. And remember that it takes time for your hair to improve, so be patient.

So that's the end of the hair-talk.

Now on to my current non beauty-related obsession. You know how I always try to find excuses of my lack blog update? *d'oh moment* Well, this time I have a good one (aside from the fact that I've been spending some nights for night shift at a Nursery Care cause I'm now in Geriatric cycle) and my current excuse is this guy:

Yup. Edward Norton.
I've been spending a lot of time locking myself in my room, watching his movies in marathon.

(I hate it when people say, "If you're following me on twitter" so let me put it this way) I've been tweeting seriously a lot about him lately, along with some quotes from his characters in the movies. I guess that about to annoy people some time soon so I'll just make a one post about it (don't you hate when people tweeting over and over about one topic?). I don't even understand the sudden obsession considering this is not the first time I was introduced to his work.

I watched 'Italian Job' (2003) before. And I love that movie so much, I think it's brilliant. But I wasn't really noticed Norton at the time. But then again, he was the villain and with Mark Wahlberg and Charlize Theron as main characters, why would you pay attention on the villain?

The first movie I watched with Edward Norton as main character was 'The Illusionist' (2006). Another movie that impressed me. I watched it twice in the movie and several more times a home. I showed this movie to my friend few weeks ago and then got home and for whatever reason I began to search for more Edward Norton's movies. That's when the obsession started.

I watched about more than half of his movies and came into a conclusion that this man is a genius. You'll never now what to expect. First of all, he starred in a various genre so everybody can enjoy his movies. Drama, thriller, crime, romance, comedy, you name it. Another thing, he plays a lot of different roles. I first watched him as this charming, vulnerable, helplessly-in-love character in 'The Illusionist' and 'The Painted Veil'. And again as a cute guy-next-door priest in 'Keeping The Faith'. So that's the image that I have in my head. I didn't expect to see him all silly, dancing around in rhino costume. But I did enjoy 'Death to Smoochy'. He also played the role as violent gangster and a loving brother at the same time in 'American History X' but my personal favorite in crime/thriller genre so far is 'Primal Fear' which is his breakthrough movie (I still have '25th Hour' and 'Red Dragon' in line, waiting to be watched so I might change my mind. Who knows).

The thing is, most of his movie really suit my taste. And, mind you, I'm not the type of person who love complicated storyline. And it's very rare that I love most movies from one actor. I mean, take Leonardo diCaprio for example. I think he's a great actor but I got out of the cinema, partially depressed after watching 'Blood Diamond' and 'The Departed' that have so many violent scenes. So yeah, I don't enjoy most of his movies. While most of Norton's thriller movies are interesting to watched.

By the way, after rambling about the movies don't ask me about the actor's personal life because I don't know and I'm not interested to find out. I have this weird obsession about movies. To me, watching movies is like visiting wonderland with actual characters in it. And I love to keep those characters the way they are in my head. I hate how knowing more about one actor's life could ruin my imagination about the characters. Like how different or ordinary they are in person compare to their character. If I confused you, think of it like reading books. Character is a character. Not just a role portrayed by actors.

So yeah, I think I have listed all the reasons behind my obsession to make it sounds rational. Plus another superficial reason, he's cute. If you're a movie enthusiast like me, you need to add Edward Norton's movies in your "Must Watch" list. Believe me, you'll enjoy it.

And that's all I want to say about my current obsession. Look forward for more in the future. Believe me, I have a lot of fun and healthy obsessions I would love to share that I bet you'll enjoy. And I'm gonna end this post with my favorite soundtrack from 'Keeping The Faith'. Hope you enjoy.

"I don't doubt myself because of you. I feel like the best version of myself when I'm with you, and that makes me doubt everything else."
Father Brian Finn (Keeping The Faith)

all pictures are take from imdb

My Experience: Sunsilk Hair Studio

Two weeks ago Fashionesedaily held a giveaway to try Sunsilk Hair Studio and I was one of the lucky winners. I received two vouchers so I asked my sis to come. Sunsilk Hair Studio is a pop-up salon that opened at Grand Indonesia for a month, if I'm not mistaken. I'm not gonna go through about the salon. This post is just going to be about my experience while visiting.

The "Menu"

The before shot.
Me and my sis decided to do creambath. We arrived very late at Grand Indonesia so I expected that it will be crowded and we will have to wait. After fifteen minutes, our turn finally came. I was called to have my hair washed first. I experienced an unpleasant first impression. The woman who wash my hair asked me,

• her: what service do you want?
• me: creambath.
• her: ooh.. creambath. okay. you look so pretty
• me: oh.. haha..
• her: are you a celebrity? *huh? what?!*
• me: *grin* *awkward silent*
• her: are you? are you celebrity? *okay, stop pushing!*
• me: ... no
  

Okay, at this point I wasn't sure whether she was being nice or trying to kiss someone's back or just plain mocking me. And her tone didn't help either. Seriously, is it an appropriate way to talk to customer? And honestly I was annoyed. Nobody asked if anyone's a celebrity! If I was, you'll see me on TV already! Let's just leave it at that. Geez! The next thing she was busy chitchatting with her friend. Thankfully there was no follow through from that stupid conversation.

I decided to do a creambath that day because honestly I need a massage. I really don't care about my scalp as I didn't think I have any problem in that area. I asked the guy who did my hair, what cream that he use and he said he didn't know because there was only one cream that they use for creambath in that salon. They just use what's already provided. Okay. Apparently I'm using a hair product with questionable benefits... in a salon.

And the massage? Don't even ask. The guy is very nice but I really think that he needs to be trained on how to do a scalp massage without making the customer thinking that he was gonna crush someone's head. Yes I asked him to lessen the pressure a little bit. But still, not only it's forceful it's also not relaxing. I've been a loyal customer of massage parlors, I know how a massage should feel.

And then blow drying came afterwards. I was pretty skeptical when the guy separated my hair into sections, blowdrying and then place the already dried hair together with the wet hair section. No one ever blowdry like that whenever I'm in a salon. But the result came out nicely and it lasted until the next day so that was a relief.

But to sum up, it wasn't a pleasant experience for me.

And since I came with my sister, I think it's only fair to hear her review as well.

"When I heard about Sunsilk Hair Studio from twitter, I was kinda curious. I mean i heard about pop up café, but pop up salon seemed new to me. So when I came there with my sister at first I was surprised that it didn't look so pop-up-ish, the space was prepared quite nicely which made the salon seemed to have been there all the time.

Well, first thing first, since it's named after the hair care brand, I was expecting something more. I used Sunsilk long time ago back in junior high if I'm not mistaken. And I used to love their yellow colored line, it smelled so nice. This time in the hair studio, I mentioned to the "shampoo-ing" lady what my hair problem was, but I didn't see her picking anything special according to my problem. I think she just used the same product for everyone. I thought "what's the point on asking question?" The shampoo-ing process went so-so, I kinda like that she's polite but not too chatty, I hate when people try to talk too much during treatment. She mentioned that everyone kept coming all day, so everyone's so busy. This one didn't leave any special impression to me.

Then off to the creambath session. Once again I noticed the guy didn't ask again what my hair problem was. I don't know, I assume he had the shampoo girl informing him about it? And again, he didn't ask me to pick between their various treatments, he just went ahead and start putting things on my hair. I am quite sensitive about putting hair mask on my scalp, I believe they're supposed to be applied on the hair strands, and putting it on the scalp will most probably result in dandruff or dryness, so it made me uneasy when he just started putting products everywhere on my head. And to put it shortly, I could do better without the so-called massage. Usually people in hair salons ask whether you just want a warm towel or steamer, and I tend to go for warm towel because my hair is dry. This guy just put the steamer right away so I just rolled my eyes *really!*

Then after rinsing, came the drying process. THIS is the one that left very special impression to me. Please be aware that I really hate this drying process. In fact, if I knew they'd do this to my hair, I'd rather came home with drenched hair. Yes, it's that bad. Here's why. I go to work everyday and I use hair iron each and every day at least to fix the tip of my hair, to make it shape nicer. Even by doing that every morning, I've never seen my hair looked so suffering. Usually when you want to use heat products so close to your hair, you have to make sure your hair is COMPLETELY dry. When you're still drying with hair dryer, you gotta maintain the distance so you won't sizzle your hair. Even more when you're using hair iron or curler. But this guy just dry my hair from safe distance for like less than a minute, then reached out for a brush, started to style my hair (it's not even HALF wet, it's still soooo wet) and put the hairdryer's end soooo close to my hair. Yes it's shaped nicely afterwards, but I was really concerned at how frizzy my hair ended up. Every strands' ends was making unhealthy little curls. Sorry, I got emotional every time I have to reminisce about this. All in all I got so disappointed with the result, cuz going to a hair studio, you expected your hair to be treated better than you do at home, but this….???

I appreciated the free product and photoshoot, but they didn't even pick the product especially for each and every one. It's just there, I got the curly something shampoo which I gave away. I think based on this review you'd understand that I won't go there for creambath treatment anymore (HA!), I'm kinda curious about the QiQi Franky make up, but as for hair (even if it has Sunsilk on the marquee), the moral of the story is: better to do it by myself at home."

After the treatment.

All the treatments were given for free, thanks to the vouchers. We received one Sunsilk shampoo as complimentary and a chance to take picture.


It was supposed to be the last day of the salon but from what I heard they are extending it. According to the staff, it was because of the high demand. Well, okay... Good for them. Although I do wish there's an improvement on the service.