To cut or not to cut

Almost two months on lockdown and everybody is faced with a little problem — that is, to cut or not to cut your hair or that of somebody near you (oops! social distancing, please!). One’s hair has grown oh-so-bushy that when he looks at the mirror in the morning, he invariably wonders who the stranger is staring back at him.

No problem, according to Derek Ramsay who is locked down at home with his 16-year-old son Austin and their driver (while Derek’s girlfriend Andrea Torres is with her parents in Pasay City but they “skype” each other every day and work out together that way). “I just let it grow,” Derek texted Funfare, sending a photo of the “new” him. He now looks so “different” that, I’m sure, some people would take awhile before they could recognize him. But, for sure, not Andrea who can monitor the growth of Derek’s hair every day (thanks to Skype).

But unlike some people who dare, don’t do “self service” unless you have some experience in “cutting.”

“Just let it grow,” advised topnotch hairstylist Ricky Reyes. “Otherwise, baka magka-bako-bako (uneven) and it would take weeks to grow again,” adding in good humor, “you can re-style it and have a new look.”

Ricky didn’t reveal what the condition of his top was but that’s the least of his concerns. He’s quarantined with eight others at his home in Quezon City and passes his days, he said in jest, “talking to the muebles (furniture), and they started talking back to me, hahahaha!!!” Even if his 14 shops around Metro Manila (some at SM Malls) are closed, Ricky reports to his office on Aurora Blvd. (San Juan City) every now and then to check on some of his employees (totalling to 100-plus).

“I start my day by taking some sunlight (for vitamin D) while listening to music and exercising by walking around.”

And then he drops by the two ChildHauses, his pet project with SM’s Hans Sy, that serve as temporary shelters for cancer-stricken children while undergoing treatment in nearby hospitals, one in Paco, Manila, with 90 patients and the other in Quezon City with 60 patients.

Even during this trying time, Ricky and Hans are focused on the safety of the patients. Early on, they had the two ChildHauses fumigated and disinfected.

“The children take three square meals daily. Godfather Hans has provided a stand-by car to bring them to the hospital for check-up and treatment, and back. The doctors issue certification that the kids don’t pass sections where there are COVID-19 patients. The treatments and procedures include one for bone marrow, chemotherapy, radiation and aspiration.”

Not only that. Together with the SM group, Hans has been donating N95 masks, thermal scanners and other protective gears to hospitals and other government agencies, according to Ricky.

What makes Ricky sad is when he goes to the grocery (like the other seniors, he enjoys priority treatment) and sees people in masks and, some, in sombreros.

“Nakakalungkot,” commented Ricky. “This is already part of the new normal.”

Meanwhile, let’s excuse Ricky as he talks to his muebles, hahaha!!!

(E-mail reactions at [email protected]. For more updates, photos and videos, visit www.philstar.com/funfare or follow me on Instagram @therealrickylo.)