Artist-businessman and Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) administrator Arnell Ignacio may be busy doing other things the past few years, but he admits he misses showbiz.
“I told Boss Vic (Del Rosario) to give me a project,” lamented Arnell. “I did Lawrence Fajardo’s Mahjong Nights two years ago on Vivamax. I was supposed to make another film for Vivamax. I think scheduling is the problem.”
“Entertainment and showbiz are really very good work. I discovered now that I’m with government, showbiz is the only thing that never destroys. It always creates,” he said.
Arnell also misses TV hosting. “That is not work to me,” he noted. “Up to now, when they get me as host, I don’t give a limit to the time I should be doing it. I am really a talker. I don’t require a script. I just get everything I say from what I see. I really miss that.”
Anything that is given to him, Arnell has learned to be thankful for it. “I pray that the Lord will guide me as to the choices that I will make.”
Now that his work as OWWA administrator has been carried over from the previous administration (former Pres. Rodrigo Duterte) to the new one (Pres. Bongbong Marcos), Arnell is thankful.
“What I discovered being in the government, there is always room for healthy discussion,” Arnell shared. “You can always agree and disagree about the things around you. That’s nice because you always learn from somebody you thought was your opponent.”
“You will undoubtedly pick up something you can learn and it will make you a richer person in terms of your intelligence and skills. There is no minor or supporting performer,” he added.
Arnell just returned from Singapore, yet, he is set to leave again next week to visit Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates (UAE).
Arnell’s only daughter, Sofia, is now working outside the family business, at Robert Coyuito’s PGA Motors. “I believe she found her calling,” the dad said. “She works in the marketing department of those high-end cars.”
An embarrassing and unforgettable experience that happened two decades ago led Arnell to start his first business venture with Creative Hair Systems.
He was on his way to Kuwait and he fell asleep on the plane. He was with actress-comedienne Rufa Mae Quinto. “My hair piece was falling off. The stewardess only told Rufa Mae, ‘Your friend, hair moving, growing.’ I really didn’t know what to do to have it fixed.”
No wonder, he put up Creative Hair Systems 18 years ago. “Others tried to put up something like this business,” Arnell said. “A lot also closed. Ours is still standing to this day. This is a blessing that’s why it lasted this long.”
Even in the pandemic, the hair business did not close down. “We were affected by the lockdown, so we closed for about six months,” Arnell disclosed. “We closed and opened then, closed again. But our client base is strong. We are like Eat Bulaga. We have relationship with our clients. It’s no longer a business.”
It has taken Arnell nearly two decades to open another branch after he first opened Creative Hair Systems in Greenhills, San Juan.
“Beside the parlor of Mother Ricky Reyes, he invited me to put up my first branch of Creative Hair Systems,” Arnell shared. “It was like a mom-and-pop business before. The structure was not very systematic.”
His business has also helped showbiz stars who need their services for the projects they are doing. Sam Milby, Robin Padilla and Jomari Yllana are on the list of the hair company who needed actual hair for continuity.
The second branch of Creative Hair Systems opened this month along Visayas Ave. in Quezon City.
Through the years, Arnell and his team have learned to deal with every customer. “Most of our clients, they have a problem with their hair,” Arnell said. “We need to make them look better.”
“Our primary consideration is to make the customer go home happy. We build a good relationship with our customers. That’s why we have lasted this long,” he continued.
Arnell gets actual human hair from a hair farm abroad. “If someone with long hair comes over and gets a haircut, we don’t get that hair,” he explained. “That’s a misconception. The hair needs to be processed. Otherwise, it would not look good.”
The company offers non-surgical hair replacement, scalp micro-pigmentation, tattoo removal and eyebrow arching. “Those are the few services we offer and a lot of chika time,” he said. “If there are clients here, they stay a long time. This is like their haven.”