Ever wondered how my hair manages to look decent even after all these years of hair dye and curling? You’d think that by now, I’d have the worst quality hair in the entire world, having subjected it to 8 months of bleaching once. My hair hasn’t completely grown out since then, resulting in this accidental ombre, though I cut a few inches off the bleached ends a few months ago for a new look for 2013.

Even then, I can still curl or style my hair almost everyday if I wanted to without immensely damaging it! I know a few hairstylists who are quite surprised at how I am able to keep the quality of my hair okay after all this time. More than my skin, I am actually more proud of my hair condition! So what is my secret behind it?

If there’s such a thing as skin care, surely there must also be such a thing as hair care! Shampoo and conditioner are somewhat like the cleanser and moisturizer for hair, and we use all these everyday to keep our hair and skin clean and soft. But what could be the hair equivalent for all the facial masks, creams emulsion and essences that we use for our face?

Daily supplements for hair!

Thanks to Lucido-L, one of the leading hair styling brands in Japan, we can wake up to softer, smoother hair with their new leave-on hair care products that have finally landed in Manila! I’ve been a user of Lucido-L products since 2 years ago! (If you go back to this post from January 2012, I included 2 Lucido-L products in my hair must-haves!)

Lucido-L aims to restore the original capability of hair to lock-in moisture. The main reason why we get split ends or why our curls fall flat in the first place is the lack of moisture in our hair, and no matter how much moisture you apply to your hair, it will all be in vain if your hair doesn’t have the ability to keep it. 

This is my freshly-out-of-the-shower-then-air-dried hair (except for my bangs, in this pic, lol). I apply about 2 small pumps of Lucido-L Hair Make Supplement Repairing Oil for Straight Hair every night, before I go to sleep. It doesn’t take too long to use it, as it’s leave-on. I absolutely love the healthy texture of my hair after applying this! My bleached hair ends don’t feel like they were bleached at all? Those who had their hair bleached before would totally understand this. Somehow after bleaching, it is so hard to bring your hair back to its original pre-bleached quality, but this does the job well. Or at least it feels and looks like it!

Lucido-L Treatment Oil comes in 2 variants - one for permed hair and one for straight hair. I’ve never had my hair permed so I haven’t tried the orange one yet, but the pink one is a godsend!

Repairing Oil <Straight> smoothes and tames frizzes for moisturized hair that allows fingers to run through easily from roots to ends.

Repairing Oil <Perm> maintains soft bouncy curls with lightweight yet moisturizing oil.

It’s rare for me to go out without my signature loose waves, but I know better than to curl my hair without applying any sort of heat protection or styling product, especially with the humid weather that we have in Manila. It’s so difficult to let curls and volume last the whole day, plus you run the risk of permanently damaging your hair with high heat if you don’t use the correct hair care products to take care of it.

Here I am with the Lucido-L Hair Make Supplement Styling Milk Airy variant. I was born with dead-straight hair, and the concept of permanent hair straightening makes me cringe as I’ve always adored big, bouncy hair with lots of volume! Lucky for me, this Airy Styling Milk perfectly addresses my hair problem, which is lack of volume!

Lucido-L Styling Milk comes in 4 variants, two of which can double as heat protectors. It’s amazing how there are so many variants when they all seem so similar, but each one addresses a different hair concern.

Styling Milk <Straight> coats the hair strands for effortless sleek and straight hair. It can also be used for heat protection.

Styling Milk <Airy> coats the hair strands for outstanding volume.

Styling Milk <Wave> coats the hair strands for soft and tangle-free waves.

Styling Milk <Curl> coats the hair strands for round and bouncy curls.  It can also be used for heat protection.

I apply Lucido-L Styling Milk <Curl> before curling to protect my hair against heat damage. Plus points that all the Lucido-L products have a sweet, fruity smell and do not contain any preservatives.

The Japanese are known to have perfect hair, and you’ve gotta trust their knack for producing the best, most effective hairstyling products!

Voila! Here is the finished look after curling - round, bouncy curls for a sweet, youthful look!

A close-up of my hair thanks to Lucido-L products. No editing here! I’ve no time! #humblebrag

Want to win 3 bottles of Lucido-L hair products and a GC to Blo Blow Dry bar? They are holding a contest to answer all your hair problems! They will ultimately choose 6 winners that will best represent the 2 treatment oils and 4 styling milks!

To join/qualify, you just have to have your own blog and live in the Philippines! And no, I’m not going to require you to like/follow all my social networking sites. :D

Here are the easy steps to achieve the hair you’ve always wanted:

Step 1: Like Lucido-L’s Facebook page.

Step 2: Choose 1 Treatment Oil variant AND 1 Styling Milk variant that you think can address your current hair problem. Here’s a rundown of the variants and the hair problems that each one addresses:

Lucido-L Hair Make Supplement Treatment Oil

A) Treatment Oil Straight - Hair Problem: Extra dryness of their hair due to damages caused by rebonding/coloring 

B) Treatment Oil Perm - Hair Problem: Extra dryness of their hair due to damages caused by perming/coloring

Lucido-L Hair Make Supplement Styling Milk

a) Styling Milk Straight - Hair Problem: Unmanageable and frizzy hair because of dryness

b) Styling Milk Wave - Hair Problem: Curls fall flat because of dryness and lack of moisture

c) Styling Milk Curl - Hair Problem: Dryness due to hair Ironing/curling

d) Styling Milk Airy - Hair Problem: Lack of volume from the hair

Step 3: Blog about your hair concerns in your Tumblr, Wordpress, Blogspot, etc., with any title containing “Lucido-L” in it.

(Don’t forget to specify which treatment and oil and styling milk you want! It doesn’t have to be long. You can just write about it in one simple paragraph. You can start with something like “My hair has always been extremely dry due to ironing and curling, but I’ve read about Lucido-L Styling Milk Curl and it looks so promising! I wish I could get one for myself!” For pictures, feel free to grab the ones in this post but PLEASE credit me and my blog properly with a link back!)

Step 4: Come back to this post and comment with your full name, email and exact link to your blog entry! Lucido-L will be announcing the winners on their Facebook page! 

Deadline for submission is June 21, 2013 11:59 p.m. You’ve got 11 days to send in your entries! Can’t wait for you guys to try it out! 

Lucido-L is exclusively available at Watsons. Both treatment oil and styling milk retail at Php 295 each. 

Sponsored post.

1) Coffee and work date with my good friend Tracy at the Caffe Bene in Eastwood. We both cannot work at our own homes because we end up being super unproductive, so we schedule dates at our favorite coffee places to motivate each other to not slack off!

2) As I uploaded these pictures for this post, I realized that I took a lot of these mirror shots last month! Some of the outfits might seem familiar from Lookbook.

3) You’ll see this stripey H&M top twice in this post. 

4) What I wore to my cousin’s garden wedding at Tagaytay. Found this long dress on sale at Mango. Borrowed the clutch from my mom who I went shopping with at Miss Selfridge last Christmas.

5) One of the most effective ways to keep yourself in check is to wirte in a gratitude journal. Got this particular one at kikki.K in Singapore last year. Even if I forget to write here sometimes, I make sure that I dedicate a few minutes every day to reflect on the things I should be grateful for on my own.

6) Sukiyaki night with le boyfriend! We love to eat out, and we both love to take photos of our food. Follow him on IG: @rgabunada

7) Wearing jeans! *gasp*

8) Sashimi platter! NOM

9) One of my MOFW Fukuoka posts. Black and white is such a huge trend right now, it seems. I feel like I’m having an extended Christmas because most of my closet has always been filled with these two colors and you can see them everywhere in the mall.

10) Obligatory Bayo dressing room post. Ended up getting the pink/cream version of this top for my Bayo outfit post last January. Now that I think about it, I should’ve gotten the mint one too!

11) Outfit for a meeting. EMODA top, Just G jacket.

12) Outfit for dinner with my family at High Street Central. Zara top, dazzlin skirt.

13) RG and I have been officially together for 2 years last January 23rd! He sent me flowers first thing in the morning. How sweet. <3 

14) Had our anniversary lunch at Premio The Fort, where I had this amazing olive oil poached salmon. I finished the whole thing. NOM

15) Finally got an Instax Mini too, thanks to him. He couldn’t find plain border film so he ended up buying whatever was available - this interesting rainbow gradient film that apparently so many people on IG like! I’d still prefer plain ones though. :D

16) Hiroshima Oyster set at Yabu! Not as big as the real oysters in Hiroshima (which I was fortunate enough to try last December), but still super good! They stuffed a lot of small oysters inside. NOM

17) Dyed my hair lighter last month.

Though as of this writing, my hair is about 3 inches shorter. Had to let go of all the damaged parts after so long. I had to curl my hair every time I wanted to make it look decent. So tedious! To think my hair color is high maintenance enough. 

Currently looking for a new Japanese or Korean salon to do my next hair color! I’ve been going to the same one for the past 5 years that I think its time to give other salons a chance.

18) Lastly, this outfit! Can’t wear red for a few weeks/months now because of some Chinese traditions I have to follow, so we’ll finally see less of this color for now…

Sorry for the Instawillgoplaces delay! Anyhow, feast your eyes on plentiful food porn, travel photos and a couple of annoying photos of myself, teehee.

1) Really really really good Mac and Cheese and Truffle Pizza at one of my new favorite places to eat/hang out, Locale Gastrobar in Pasig. NOM.

2) Camwhoring in the dressing room at the Apartment 8 launch with Lissa, Camille, Patricia, Vern and Verniece. 

3) Pigged out at Wildflour Café + Bakery with my boyfriend RG after a long day at The Mind Museum. Totally craving for all these right now. Can’t wait to go back!

4) MAC Ruby Woo lipstick and matching red nails! Sweater from Forever 21.

5) After getting a bangs trim and a blowdry at my usual salon. I should do this hairstyle more often…

6) Attended the Ateneo Bonfire as usual, to celebrate the 5th straight championship for the UAAP Basketball team! Boyfriend and I are both proud Ateneans :D

7) The first time I dyed my hair darker after a long time. It’s (Schwarzkopf) Igora Royal 5-65 on light brown, previously bleached hair. 7-65 for the non-bleached parts like roots. Baby steps to making the color even. It was frustrating when the color on my roots and the rest of my hair would fade differently, so my hairstylist decided to use two different colors (from the same family) then. Complex stuff.

8) BIG BANG concert! Definitely one of the highlights of 2012. <3 I made sure to schedule my flight to Hong Kong the next day and not on the day of the concert!

Went with my Juju, Calel and his girlfriend Farrah who is a huuuge K-pop fan. We both screamed our lungs out during the concert like crazy people, lol. Sadly can’t go to the DFKC but I’m still crossing my fingers for a solo SNSD concert or a possible SM Town Manila. :(

9) As soon as my friend Jee and I arrived in Hong Kong, we splurged on giant strawberries at the supermarket. Yum!

10) Hong Kong Disneyland with Jee! She bought the cutest Marie cat ears because she super loves cats, and I got myself a nice limited edition Halloween Minnie headband.

11) Benico x Hello Kitty Petit Macaron blushes in PM03 and PM04 in Sasa for about HKD99 each. Still using these blushes now, especially the purple/pink one.

12) Stocked up on some of my favorite lashes! Sasa, just come to Manila already! T_T

13) Had dinner with the family at UCC as soon as I came back to Manila! Absolutely in love with their seafood salad. Pricey but so good.

14) And yet another dinner with the family. This time at Italianni’s in Eastwood Mall. We all clearly missed each other too much. That, or we all have bottomless pits as stomachs.

15) Before I knew it, I was out of the country again! Here’s a pretty view of Jakarta. 

16) Borobudur Temple!

17) Prambanan Temple!

18) The most adorable Alice in Wonderland stickers I found at a random stall in a mall in Jakarta. Alice and I have the same hair! :D

19) Japanese burger with truffle cream sauce at UMAMI in The Grove. My siblings and I also love going to this place for coffee and dessert! Try their sea salt caramel coffee. <3

20) The yummiest comfort food at Borough in The Podium with my family. Brooklyn Omelette, I love you forever.

21) Homemade paella made by my talented brother Calel! 

22) Bangs! With Camille at the Apartment 8 Holiday Collection shoot.

23) My super sweet boyfriend surprised me with flowers the night before my birthday! He also baked a layered chocolate cookie dough and oreo cake which we both ate at midnight. He worked on it for 5 straight hours! Intense.

The perks of having a boyfriend who loves to cook and bake. I fail at everything related to the kitchen, lol.

24) I didn’t post this on Instagram but I just found this too cute not to share! I was taking my usual outfit photos in front of the mirror when he decided to photobomb me. :D

Pink and princess-y look while I still can. Dress is something I got in Korea a long time ago. Maybe I should schedule a trip to Seoul again this year… 

25) He treated me to Wafu in Greenhills for my birthday lunch. So. Freaking. Good. I can eat Japanese food everyday.

26) Then we spent most of the night with the rest of my family at Mom and Tina’s. First time to treat all of them for my birthday instead of the usual. For the past 24 years it has always been my parents paying for everything but I wanted to give back by treating them out for dinner for once. Made me feel like an adult! :D

Top left: My brother Chase and his girlfriend Cat, top right: My brother Juju and his girlfriend Cel, bottom left: My parents, bottom right: My brother Calel and his girlfriend Farrah 

27) My dad surprised me with cake (which I ended up paying for also, lol) with a color scheme and design that matched the color of my top and the curls on my hair! 8D

28) Light make-up and shiny gold accents. 

‘Til next time! I’ll probably do a separate entry for my December Instagram photos. Follow me @tgosingtian for live updates!

Got rid of my strawberry blonde hair. Bleaching my hair the first time a few months ago was worth it, after seeing the results today. My hairstylist gave me a gray dye swatch earlier, and I wanted to get rid of the blonde so passionately that I didn’t even bother asking him about specifics. “I just want ash.”, and ash I really got.

What do you think?

There’s always something about dyeing hair that makes me feel like a brand new person again.

Before anything else, I apologize for all the mirror shots!

Last photo I took of myself before I went blonde.

Finally gave in to bleaching my hair after years of contemplation. I’m sure, at one point in time, if you’ve seen me in person or have spent a lot of time with me outside the Internet, we’ve already had some sort of “Gosh, your hair is so light!” + “Oh yeah? Thanks, but it’s not light enough for me!” conversation.

I have a collection of blonde wigs in different lengths to temporarily satisfy my frustrations, but nothing beats having actual blonde hair!

I was luckily born with naturally straight, fine, thick-ish Asian-black hair (My mom has fine, straight hair while my dad has the typical thick, straight Chinese hair). I managed to put up with it until highschool, but I totes had a dyeing spree once I reached college. I gradually lightened my hair through the years without bleaching, mostly because I was so afraid of the damage bleaching entailed. I’ve always had a fascination with light hair ever since I could remember, really. My chronic bitch face paired with my natural black hair never meshed well together (had that “snob appeal” formula down pat), and I found it way more interesting to experiment with make-up and different hairstyles with lighter hair.

Throughout college I almost never took care of my then-super-long hair properly - I would only use random brands to wash and condition my hair, and I would curl and style it without heat-protecting products. This went on until early this year… until I decided to cut 5 inches off my hair all at once. The ends of my hair looked so damaged that I couldn’t go out without having to curl them (thus, damaging my hair even more) or putting my hair up in a bun to hide the ends.

I guess hair care was something I took for granted, because when I still had virgin hair, I never had to comb or condition so often because my hair was so naturally healthy and dead-straight. Sadly, it took a toll on my hair in the long run. :(

After cutting my hair last May, I became keen on starting anew. I took care of my hair obsessively by using the right products and having regular hair treatments. Even if my hair dye was relatively lighter than my college color, my hair has never been healthier in years.

Perfect time to go blonde, I thought. And so I finally went for it!

Can’t believe I subjected my hair to this purple gunk you see right here. :) Funny that the bleach didn’t sting my scalp at all! And to think I was deathly afraid moments before they applied it to my hair. They were saying that it was good that I had years of dye experience before subjecting myself to bleach because during the whole process, I didn’t seem too surprised with the smell and the sensation of it all.

What a sight! Five people were working on my hair simultaneously to get an even color. They advised against bleaching your own hair, because they said it would be immensely risky (harsh chemicals and all) and some parts of your hair might end up lighter than the others depending on the time of application. But then again, sometimes that’s just what some people exactly want.

After washing the bleach off, I ended up with this:

Even if I know a lot of people settle for this kind of blonde, I found it so awkward on me. Nice color for Halloween though. I think I could go as Sailor Moon with this yellow.

BRB, off to find a sailor outfit.

And so they proceeded with applying tone-on-tone coloration to kill the intense yellow. I didn’t want to subject my hair to so many things at once so I’ll probably have to go to the salon again for a permanent hair dye once the toner washes off.

My hair looked a little green for a while, but I’m happy I ended up with something a little less intense:

Me with the lovely people at Indigo Salon which you can find along Temple Drive, near White Plains and Corinthian Hills. Jun Sollano (second from left) has been cutting and dyeing my hair since 2009.

Going blonde is such a life changer, especially now that I can’t apply make-up the same way as before. I could seriously go out with no make-up at all with darker hair, but I don’t know if I could still do that now without looking freakishly washed out. It’s fun in other ways though, like blue and gray contact lenses and baby pink make-up suit me better now!

To give you an idea, the box on the left is the toner that they used to make my hair shinier and less yellow. The green bottles are my new purchases to maintain my current color. Pureology is pretty much a miracle for people with dyed hair. <3

Inspirations for going blonde: Japanese gals Tsubasa Masuwaka, Chinatsu Wakatsuki, Nanase Kubo and K-pop idols CL from 2NE1, Nana from After School and GorJessica from SNSD. <3 (Not in collage: Hyuna from 4minute, Sunny and Hyoyeon from SNSD, Gyuri from Kara, Hyosung and Zinger from Secret, Nana Suzuki, Kana Nishino, Koda Kumi)

Mid-April, I was very fortunate to be included in the roster of media people sponsored by Unilever Philippines to attend the Clear Technology Expo in Shanghai. It was an event held at the Unilever Research and Development Center and around 60-70 people from 7 different countries were there to witness the revolution that is New Clear.

Did you know that Filipinos have the highest hair washing frequency? Yet 77% still complain of scalp problems. Clear has discovered a breakthrough technology to solve this, thanks to the concept of total scalp care and Nutrium 10, a blend of resistance boosting vitamins and minerals that works on the inside to strengthen and rebuild the scalp’s natural resistance to scalp problems. And what’s even nicer about this is that not only does it stop at the roots, but it’s also a good hair care shampoo for the tips which are also prone to damage.

The press kit included 2 booklets, one about New Clear and the other a complete guide to a perfect scalp. The endorser on the cover is Xiao S, an absolutely gorgeous actress and singer who somehow makes me want to dye my hair black to look all sexy and vampy (but we all know how out of character that would be!).

Agoo looking chic in her oversized sunnies and matte red lips and Jessica seriously reading the morning paper.

Reggie from Style Bible and Kelda from Unilever Philippines.

Here are the people I went with and was lucky enough to meet because everyone’s just unbelievably talented and kind. Team Philippines: Charmagne, Kelda, Jennifer, Reggie, Agoo, Cheche and Jessica.

Most of the morning of the expo was spent for presentations and introductions. Francois Renard, the global vice president for Clear, shared insights on the paradigm shifts regarding the scalp. Victor Hugo Jr., the global brand manager (who is Filipino!) of Clear, introduced substance as the founding pillar behind the new mix. Dr. Graham Turner, a Discover category project leader, talked about the importance of scalp health. Amit Jayaswal, the global R&D director, introduced the breakthrough technology that is Nutrium 10.

After that there were important lab tours that provided some interesting inside information such as the formulation of the new technology behind New Clear, as well as a live demonstration of how Clear users have less hairfall and breakage compared to other brands. 

(I was the only one in the bunch with really light brown hair, besides Agoo who had a slightly dark brown shade. We shared a few laughs on how they used my exact same hair color in their hair swatches as an example of damaged hair! They placed healthy hair and damaged hair in a basin and the damaged strands sank so fast it made me a little sad about the health of my own hair. Yikes!)

Back at the Swissotel Grand where everyone stayed, there were cocktails and brand immersion activities.

Francois Renard and Dr. Graham Turner answered some questions at panel.

Brand manager Paul Katimbang did a scalp test on Charmagne and she managed to get a pretty high score! After determining your scalp’s grease quotient, the program instantly recommends the best variant of New Clear for you. Was too scared to have mine tested because of the insane amounts of chemicals used in achieving my current hair color. Hair suicide much!

French fragrance expert Gaelle Clement showcased the winning fragrances used in New Clear. One interesting thing I learned from her was that Clear smells different depending on which country you go to and the fragrances are loosely based on existing local favorites and preferences. Clear Men here in the Philippines takes its inspiration from Clinique Happy!

Thanks Clear and Unilever. ‘Til next time, Shanghai!

(HONEYS / COLZA dress, Zara bag, Anthology oxfords, H&M socks, Forever 21 ring, from Korea necklace, from Japan thin braided headband) Hype this look on Lookbook here.

It’s been more than a week since I cut 5 inches off my hair but I only got to post these photos now because I’ve been so incredibly busy. I apologize for spamming your dashboards just before the Easter rush!

The reason behind the drastic change? I simply grew tired of my look after all these years of long hair. I’ve been secretly wanting to try Kumicky’s and Chinatsu Wakatsuki’s hair length for the longest time already, and now that my hair is relatively shorter, it feels absolutely light and refreshing. Currently convincing my friends to cut their hair too!

This look is inspired by Liz Lisa, which is one of my most favorite Japanese brands. Click here to view their most recent collection, which is just glorious. Liz Lisa dresses are crazy expensive, so when I found a cheaper alternative during my recent trip to Shanghai, I just had to get it in time for spring/summer.

The inspiration:

The dress above will forever remain a dream. </3

To everyone wondering where I get my wigs, my good friend (and one of my favorite make-up artists) Marj Sia sells them. They’re good quality synthetic wigs which are perfect for all sorts of occasions. I use them for photoshoots when I’m too lazy to style my real hair or when I want to change my look without spending so much.

Limited stocks only. Free shipping for orders worth P2000 and up. You can get them here. Have fun wig-shopping! My favorite would be the “Tracy” wig (top photo) since it’s so J-pop. So glad I got to keep it!