left picture: haircut by Kaori Yokoi of Shuji Kida Salon last July 29, 2007
   right picture: haircut by Alex Carbonell of Propaganda Salon yesterday, Sept. 24, 2007

   I've found a great hair cutter / stylist in Nikki Bacay of Traffic Salon, but the kikay in me still wants to experiment and test various waters. Last year Summit stylist Pia Rojas recommended I go to Alex Carbonell of Propaganda -- and yes, it's been on my to-do-list since. Alas I met Kaori Yokoi of Shuji Kida Salon earlier on because of my hubby's quest for a Japanese hairstyle so I had my hair cut by her first.

   My take on the two cuts?

   On Kaori: Hmmm, I was kind of disappointed since she only cut the very edges and tips of my hair. She said she was fixing the extreme layering of my last cut (which incidentally is by Nikki Bacay of Traffic Salon). She said though that since the rough edges are gone, my hair should feel better. I was impressed with her blowdrying style, she used her fingers for most part and didn't stretch my hair taut as is the usual practice in most salons (yes, she did everything herself except shampooing!). She also didn't skimp on the conditioning products she used on my hair. Kaori said she can do more to my hair if I have the back part magnetically straightened by her. After my cut, it looked as if I didn't really have a cut... and I paid a hefty 2.5k pesos for it too.

   On Alex: As I've mentioned earlier, Alex comes highly recommended by Ms. Pia Rojas and Pia has seen firsthand how difficult to style and unmanageable my hair can be. "Kayang-kaya ni Alex yan!" Okay, that sounded promising. Don't know why it took me almost a year to finally pay Alex a visit. Anyways Alex saw my hair and was perfectly calm (unlike many other stylists in the past who would go into a panic). He's such a nice, accomodating guy -- very easy to talk to. Anyways Alex chopped off about 4-5 inches of bone dry hair and gave me bangs! Wow, I haven't worn bangs in more than a decade. Blowdrying is a science here too -- not the usual pull your hair taut method. Alex gave me pointers on how to blowdry so that my hair wouldn't look buhaghag. Anyways the above picture is the result... and it set me back 1.2k pesos.

Both Shuji Kida and Propaganda salons are immaculately clean and have excellent service.

Shuji Kida Hair Salon
G/F City Center Bldg.
338 Ortigas Ave., Greenhills, San Juan
7269928

Propaganda Salon
3/F Greenbelt Mall 1
Paseo de Roxas, Makati City
8934098