Hair In Manila

Hello readers!
It was a joy to read all your entries for this contest. Answers ranged from practical to whimsical, random, empowering, encouraging, and inspiring! Thank you all for giving us great insights on this topic. While there may not be one correct and absolute answer to this age-old question, answers are chosen based on the insights they presented, however deep or funny or random these may be.

So CONGRATULATIONS to our grand winner, Minski! Here’s what she had to say about it:

Short hair definitely rocks!

It was such a thrill to see the shock on the faces of family and friends when I sheared my long, wavy, envious-worthy locks to a bob (and later to a pixie cut!).
It felt like the rebel inside has been set free as I never imagined myself sporting and pulling off a short ‘do but has always wondered the possibility of defying other people’s expectations of me.
It definitely boosted my confidence and allowed me to be braver and adventurous in my choices, relationships and outlook in life.

If you felt ready to go to the short side, then do so! Seize the opportunity of feeling poised and secure with yourself. After all, hair grows out!

***

Minski wins the great Garnier gift bag with all the goodies in the photo. I’ve also chosen 8 other winners who get a Garnier Pure Pore tightening astringent, a Garnier Pure Pore unblock foam, and a Garnier Pure Self-heating sauna mask! They are:

• Erica yu-b
• Sheila Mari
• Maui
• Cresfel
• Emby
• Maricar Losantas
• Jameela Malicdem
• Eunice Felix

 Congratulations all! Please e-mail hairinmanila@gmail.com so I can give you instructions on how to claim your prize! ‘Til our next giveaway! In the meantime, go out there a try a new hairstyle today!

Hello friends and readers

It’s been quite some time since I wrote here, and I guess its time for me to say my goodbyes.

Flashback to April 2009 – I attended a Why Not? Forum and one of the speakers was Anton Diaz of OurAwesomePlanet.com. It was really amazing how a community gathered together around his blog about food.  Readers wanted honest and helpful information about restaurants, and Anton gave it to them. Before long, his blog and his readers have been helping big and small restaurants all over the country get exposure to the hungry mouths out there. Today, we have awesome events like the Awesome Ultimate Taste Test with over 1,000 foodies gathered together.

I started thinking about this blog back in August ’09. Working in L’Oreal for the salon division, one thing I noticed is that there was no where anyone could get information about salons and their services. No one was reviewing them, comparing them, and sharing stories about them. What was available were stories in your favorite magazines; but the problem with that is that the information isn’t easy to share with others, unlike posting it on the web.

So with the help of my colleague, Joanna Ruaro, we decided to create a blog that would be the go-to place for salon reviews, salon services, and generally everything people want to know about hair fashion. We wanted it to be useful, interesting, and well-produced with great writers, photographers, and hair styling talent. We wanted readers to be able to connect with other readers or with the salon itself.

Me and Joanna

With P1,500 and absolutely no experience at all with WordPress and blogging, Joanna and I had to learn the ropes really fast. After much trial and error (especially with grammar checking; some posts would have up to 10 revisions after posting due to grammatical errors on my part), we eventually got the hang of it and felt more confident in posting more regularly. We celebrated and gave each other a pat on the back whenever someone would post a comment or if our daily readership went up.

Thank YOU for visiting our little slice of the net; it really means a lot to us!

But now, the time has come for me to pass on the reins of this blog to new blood. I would like to properly introduce Ytwo Villanueva as the new moderator of HairInManila! And I hope that you can continue to help us in building this blog to become more useful for all the people out there asking what hair cut fits them, where the best place is to get a perm, what product should be used to repair damaged hair, how much is it to get a rebond, etc etc.

If you ever have any suggestions, questions, or if you want to volunteer for a make-over, just drop us a message at hairinmanila@gmail.com. We love getting email from you!

Birdie and Ytwo (yes, we have the weirdest nicknames)

So there, that’s my goodbye.

Snip snip! See you around!

After the much-needed Holy Week hiatus and another long weekend that just passed, the HairinManila team is ready to announce our new Look of the Week Winner! We’d like to thank everyone who joined and submitted their photos. It was fun for us to receive your entries and see where you guys have been around the country and the world.

Our Look of the Week Winner is Nyx Martinez! It seemed serendipitous that she wins this version of Look of the Week because she’s been a travel writer for 10 years! We admire Nyx for her stylish and wearable look — very Spring/Summer 2010!

And because we’re feeling generous, all those who submitted their photos will get a copy of the L’Oreal Professionnel S/S 2010 Look Book! Check your e-mails for instructions on how to claim your prize. Congratulations to everyone! Coming up next for Look of the Week are prizes from Garnier. Stay tuned!

Nyx Martinez

This photo of me was taken in Venice, Italy.I would say I’m more of an adventurous traveler, as I have been a travel writer for over ten years. My hair is usually self-styled, and the clothes I wear exude my individuality. In this pic, I was traveling with my boyfriend during the spring. We are now married, with a 3-month-old son. During that spring, we toured Europe in a camper van and learned much about each other and life.

Have a blessed Christmas Eve!