Love your hair for the holidays and always

When I was in New York, during the summer months, I saw some ladies with glorious, sun-kissed hair and I obsessed about having their same hair color.  I was brave enough to ask one of them which brand of hair dye she used and she laughed and gave me the name of her hairdresser.  She said it was a new technique that her hairdresser called “Balayage.”

Her hair had different shades of color — dark near the roots, mixed with low lights and highlights from the mid top to the bottom. I consulted my hairdresser, Roberto, who gave me some information about the technique.  Balayage, which was used during the ’80s, is again gaining popularity now. “’When the hair is only one color, it looks like a wig.  In Balayage, a French word meaning to sweep or paint, the colorist paints on strands of hair of different thickness and can scatter them throughout the hair in a more haphazard pattern, making it look natural and giving it that sun-kissed look because not all strands are painted equally. Some parts could be painted lighter, giving the hair the highlights, gradually going darker to the top like low lights,” he explained. “When using foils, you work by rows and the result is very uniform-like. With Balayage, you have more flexibility where to put the highlights so it makes it look more natural.  You can color only 50% of your hair if you prefer to leave the other parts your own natural hair color and the colorist does not start from the roots so as not to touch the scalp.”

I right away sent a text message to my hair colorist in Manila, Karina Mantolino, owner of Regine’s Beauty Salon, and asked her if she knew about Balayage.  Sure enough, she was trained to do the process and told me to do it in Manila with her. 

At first, I was hesitant to go light as it might not blend with my brown skin and could look artificial on a Filipina.  Balayage, Karina pointed out, will lift my skin color and make me look lighter and younger.  She said the magic word: younger!  “Dark hair color makes a person look older and drab, unless she is very very fair, like kutis porcelana. Women should try to go one or two shades lighter as they age,” she claims. 

I told her of my fear of dry, lifeless, brittle hair which is the effect of some hair dyes so she told me to do some deep conditioning for a couple of weeks before she does the treatment.

So, just like what my good Lola Beth did, I conditioned my hair with coconut oil twice a week.  Much to the chagrin of my dance trainer who winced at its smell, I would attend my sessions with my hair soaked in coconut oil and keep it on for hours before washing it off.

Sometimes, I used coconut milk instead of coconut oil.  Coconut milk also has that same effect of conditioning dry hair.

Hair conditioning, in fact, need not be expensive. There are products that cost thousands of pesos, but there are home remedies that are just as good.  In fact, aside from the coconut oil which I often use, I have also used the following :

1)  Apple cider vinegar. After shampoo, use a cotton ball and apply it on your hair and scalp, and let stay for 10 minutes before rinsing out.  If pure ACV is too strong, dilute it with water. ACV not only adds shine to your hair, it also helps beat dandruff.

2) Egg yolk and olive oil. Blend two egg yolks with half a cup of olive oil. Apply directly on the hair and cover with a shower cap. Rinse off with lukewarm water after half an hour. 

Egg yolks can also be mixed with yogurt.  Mix two eggs with half a cup of full fat yogurt and massage the creamy mixture on your hair. Cover with a shower cap and rinse out after half hour or an hour.

3) Avocado. Scoop the inner part of the avocado and mix it with 1/4 cup of milk and 1 tbsp. of olive or coconut oil.  Make a paste and apply the paste to your hair after shampooing.  Rinse off after 15 minutes.

4) Banana. Banana is another natural treatment for dry hair. Bananas are rich in potassium, antioxidants, and vitamins, which make them a beautifying fruit.  To prepare a banana paste, blend two overripe bananas and add one teaspoon each of olive or coconut oil, and honey.  Apply on hair and scalp and rinse off with shampoo after half an hour.

5) Mayonnaise.  It is rich in protein and makes your hair soft, shiny, and healthy.  Take a half-cup full-fat mayonnaise. Massage gently into hair and scalp. Cover with a shower cap for 30 minutes.  Rinse off with lukewarm water.

If you prefer to do your treatments in a beauty salon, Regine’s offers Fusio Dose Vitaciment by Kerastasse and Power Dose by L’Oreal.  

After two weeks of conditioning with coconut oil and/or coconut milk, I was ready for my Balayage and this is the process:  

Karina took strips of my hair, of different thickness, and with a brush, she painted a pre-lightened mix of color on my hair, strip by strip. Different strips, different color mixes so that the effect is three dimensional — from dark, to medium to light.  There is a graduated effect, from dark to light. After an hour and a half of waiting for the colors to set in, she took a look at some strands and toned down those that were very bright.

Conditioning after the Balayage was a must to maintain the integrity of my hair color. After all the color was rinsed out, a deep conditioning treatment was applied to replenish the hair’s cortex.

She told me to condition my hair after every shampoo and to choose conditioners that penetrate the hair to the innermost core.  She approved of my natural conditioners of coconut oil or milk. 

One has to wait 72 hours after the Balayage treatment to shampoo again because it takes that long for the cuticle of the hair to close after it has been opened during a coloring process. One can condition and rinse, but not shampoo. 

Balayage is totally bespoke to your skin type. To suit my skin color, Karina wanted my base a shade of brown, low lights of chestnut brown and highlights of dark blonde.  Hairdressers call this color “bronde,” a perfect combination of brown and blonde tones and is perfect for darker haired ladies who want to experiment with a lighter color. 

I am getting to like my “bronde” hair even more now, as it seems to blend with my skin color. Besides, it is the holiday season, so I decided to meet Santa with a new look!

* * *

Regine’ is located at Link Bldg. (next to Shangri-La) with telephone numbers 856-1724 and 856-1723.

Home remedies.com is a good source of natural hair conditioning.