The President's Secret Weapon

Life is an endless struggle full of frustrations and challenges, but eventually you find a hair stylist you like. —Author Unknown

It’s difficult to have a bad-hair day when you’re Commander-in-Chief. And a woman at that.

Being President is difficult enough. And when you are a woman, you have that added challenge of looking tough despite your feminine attributes.

The perfect haircut for a woman president is thus as important as her foreign policy. It determines how she looks to the world, how the world looks at her. For no matter how much importance we give to brains, character and spirit, it is how we look that first makes an impression on others.

Cory Aquino once quipped that one thing hard about being a woman president is that you had to check your hairdo first even before you addressed the nation in the midst of a raging coup attempt.

No matter how confident you are, if your hair is limp or tangled, you could lose the battle.

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One of the defining moments of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s presidency was when she faced the nation with a sleek and short hairdo after years of wearing her hair in a ponytail and in a shoulder-length bob (as when she took her oath on EDSA). After the first cut, she never went back to her old hairstyle the way some of us do when we are dissatisfied with our new look.

And though most of us have read about Gener Miranda, who does an excellent job of doing the President’s hair and makeup daily, few of us know the man who has been shaping the President’s hair — and to a great extent, her image — for eight years now.

His name is Leo Espinosa, and he doesn’t even have a salon. He does haircuts by appointment only, and they are done in his house in a Makati village. He has an A-list of clients, both power women and trophy wives.

Based for years in Taipei, where his clients included the Taiwanese first lady and such prominent women as Bien Bien Roxas of Asia World, Leo met GMA during a magazine pictorial arranged by Jullie Yap Daza shortly after EDSA II.

One day after that, Leo was called to the Palace to do GMA’s hair. He was ushered into a dressing room beside the presidential bedroom (“Believe me,” he says candidly, “the Arroyos are not separated at all!”)

Before the “cut,” he was asked by one of her aides what his plans were, like it were a matter of national security (Maybe it really is).

“I want to give her a silhouette,” Leo replied. “Just like Queen Elizabeth has a silhouette. You see it and you know it’s her.”

When he was ushered into GMA’s dressing room, he asked her if she preferred any style. The hands-on Chief Executive left the decision to Leo. In this case, she was just too happy to let someone else take charge.

Leo says he looks at each client like she were a blank canvass. When his hands feel her hair, he instinctively knows what form and shape it should take. “The only thing I knew for sure was that GMA’s hair had to be short, because she’s petite. What is important with anybody is a good proportion.”

“When I entered the room, she was working,” recalls Leo. “And these past eight years that I’ve been doing her, she has always been working even while having a haircut. She’s either writing a speech or reviewing papers. She didn’t even look at the mirror while I was cutting her hair for the first time.”

The change was dramatic. People gasped when GMA appeared with her short ‘do.

Leo recalls that one of GMA’s aides asked how much he would be charging for the special “home” service. “Naku, naku!” was Leo’s reaction. “It’s my honor to do the hair of the President! I told the President, Ma’am, anytime, anywhere, I will cut your hair.”

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Leo says that as typical in power circles, some people reportedly tried to discredit him. When some people would suggest another hair stylist, GMA herself reportedly said: “Why not Leo again? I like him!”

As they say in Filipino, Tapos na ang usapan.

GMA doesn’t seem to stop working, according to Leo who also does the homes of several prominent society figures.

“The last thing she thinks about is how she will look. Wala siyang pakialam. She couldn’t be bothered,” observes Leo.

“(Pangasinan Rep.) Rachel Arenas says that during trips abroad and you suggest shopping to her, the President will say, ‘Hindi ‘yan ang pinunta ko rito’!”

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Leo likes traveling to exotic destinations during his free time. His homes are a reflection of his jet-setting lifestyle. They blend features from the East and West, the ancient and the modern. One of his latest works blends furniture with French Provencal charm and antiques from Bohol! He is set to fly to Mexico soon to do the home there of Philippine Ambassador Paqui Ortigas.

Leo keeps a tight circle of friends. He rarely socializes. I asked him how he survives the corridors of power, in and out of Malacañang.

“Instead of getting intimidated by detractors, I intimidate them instead!” he laughs.

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