Blow by blo

I love how the French appreciate that mussed up, bed head look. But here in Manila, it's all about having perfect hair. So on days when I need to look more special than usual (ahihihi) I head off to the neighborhood salon for a professional blowout. Thing with the place though is, they are closed to customers when they have a private event. So problematic right?

Good thing blo is open now. When I first saw their signage at Serendra months ago, I was sooo excited. Finally, a blowout salon that only does blowouts. No pesky questions like, do you want to do hot oil? Treatment? Color? You go in and you both know you only want one thing, a blowout, plain and simple.

I was invited to attend the media event at blo Rockwell when they opened last February 8, and where I got to experience for myself the full on blo treatment:

But before anything, we got to do a meet and greet with the owners - Howard Chua aka "The Mighty Hair-cules" and Edward Lee aka "The Hair-throb". I know right. I was expecting to meet arte girls with gorgeous hair and then tadaaa, the owners of this pink and girly salon turns out to be Howard and Edward! Well, they've got good hair, so who's to complain? 

blo is a franchise from Canada and Howard shares he got the idea while watching a show on TV about a blow dry salon. He ran the idea by his wife, who agreed that there was no such thing yet in Manila. He approached a couple of blow dry bars and came across the original - blo, which started doing quick, affordable, catwalk-quality blow outs back in 2007. After going back to and fro with the owner, they got the franchise. Just like that. Like the hair gods meant it to be.

So they flew in Jackie (above), who trained the blo staff on how to do blowouts (I love her hair by the way).

So here's the blow by blow, on blo. They use Tridesign shampoo and conditioner for washing hair...

...And you get to choose from 7 styles in the hair menu, ranging from the razor-straight “Executive Sweet” to the runway-inspired “Pillow Talk".

Most of the hair styling products are also by Tridesign. Then of course, there's Elnett...

Because I wanted the Holly Would - which has plenty of curl and bounce, my hair got some extra attention. Hair was done in about an hour, from shampoo to blow dry.

Tadaaaa! Here I am with Kris aka OC Mom in Manila with our blow outs. Kris had a party to go to after, so perfect that she got her hair fixed and ready to go.

Meanwhile, I found myself heading to Greenhills to meet Karrots. So we could do our groceries at Unimart, squeeze in a visit to the new Zenutrients stall in Virra Mall and check out the ceramics shop in the home section of Greenhills tiangge, discovered via Rorie Carlos-Manzano aka @maisonmanzano on Instagram.

No make-up. But ah, nothing like big sunnies and salon blown hair to make anybody look decent

So yeah, that's me after blo. Like a donya. On her day off.

PS - A blow out, any style, is Php500. Kids and guys are charged Php300. They also have bridal packages and party packages. If you have a special date or an important event to go, and you do not have time to go home and get changed, just go to blo. Nothing like a shampoo and blowout to get you looking as fresh as a new day.

PPS - To get your blowout to last longer, you can always use dry shampoo. That's what I did, heehee.

blo Rockwell
Stall #019
P1 Level, Power Plant Mall
Rockwell Center, Makati City
+63 917 6-blodry(256379)
blorockwell@blomedry.com

blo Serendra
2-C01A 2nd Floor Serendra
Fort Bonifacio Global City, Taguig
+63 917 6-blodry(256379)
bloserendra@blomedry.com

Musings on Hair

So my SIL Lorr had this brilliant thought the other day. She said it would be the ultimate if we had a helper who was trained to do blow outs. I mean, imagine having perfect hair every day? You don't even need to go to a salon to get your hair done. Imagine too, not having to worry about hiring a hair stylist to do your hair when you have a big party to attend?

My BFF Nina is lucky because she has perfect hair everyday. When she goes to work, a hairstylist takes care of styling her hair, after all, she's on TV every day. 

This is Nina. Yes, she looks like this every single day...(photo by Dar Ramos)

Meanwhile, every day I go out with limp, and often fly away hair. Like this:

One time, Berry, Nana & I visited Nina at work. And I was complaining about my yucky hair. She asked her hairstylist to do something about my hair, and tadaaaaa - in less than 2 minutes, with just a few flicks of her wrist using a hair straightener, she came up with this:

My hair looked like it had volume, body and waves, for a change!

That same afternoon, I ended up buying a Babyliss ionic/ceramic hair dryer in Landmark Trinoma, sponsored by my mom heehee. Nina helped me choose, it's a French brand that she swears by. Sarap the feeling to have nice hair talaga every day, I felt so "polished". Amazing what nice hair can do! I just wish I have the discipline to really take time to do my hair each day.

And I really promise na I will buy the best straightener ever! Her stylist used something like this, a straightener with wide tongs. 

Now if only I can learn how to use one. Better yet, if Lorr & I can find a helper who knows how! Hey, do you ladies know where one can learn how to do blow outs? Kind of like a hair workshop or something? I am serious!