4.5 hours in a chair and I feel like me again

Of course, the day I decisively terminate my indecisiveness and resolve to rebond my hair and get bangs again, that's the same day I wake up with good hair. Not too pouffy and not too many frizzy flyaways. Just the right amount of volume with an obedient fringe willingly sweeping to the preferred side without too much effort or hair wax at all.

Staring at my smug hair in the mirror, my resolve was wobbly and I almost called to cancel the appointment.

Almost.

I thought back to all the days of hellish hair I've had to deal with, stomping away from the mirror with many a narrowed glare and an irritated Urgh, I hardened my heart and went ahead with the bi-annual pilgrimage to flatten and iron the stubbornness out of my hair.

But I took a picture first anyway.

4.5 hours of sitting in a chair, one book, many magazines and loads of small talk later, flat shiny hair is all mine again.
It's still too flat and will be so for a couple more weeks. Nevertheless, I feel more like myself again.

When I have a sideswept fringe, I feel... common. The thing is, it's definitely more flattering for me, but it doesn't do anything for me psychologically. On a good day, I just feel... normal. On a bad day, I feel like 10,000 other women and even worse than that, I feel like the portion that has fringes that are too flat too lifeless too shapeless too thin too limp too old.

When I have bangs, my face looks too round sometimes but I feel like me. Going back to bangs always makes me think I've found myself again. Illogical, but very real.

I've been rebonding my hair for maybe 7 or 8 years now? On occasions, I'd have girls telling me I should stop doing it because it's soooo damaging to the hair. Sometimes these would be people who would benefit from the process themselves.

To me, it's simple. It makes me look younger. My hair looks deceptively healthy and lustrous. For 6 months, I am a wash-and-go girl and I look more polished easily and instantly. When you have all that at your fingertips for about $200-250 every half a year, why the hell would you want to run around with "healthy" unprocessed hair that looks like shit?

Of course, this is in reference to the camp of girls who have hair like mine - too much volume at the roots, coarse and thick with the slightest hint of a curl that is best termed as un-straight, as opposed to wavy (which can be pretty). In other words, the one kind of hair that will make you look older, unkempt and undignified, unless you're a total babe.

There's another group of girls who will look at you in disdain while making sneering remarks about people who walk around with chopstick straight hair plastered to their head. This group usually has "normal" hair, meaning naturally shiny-ish and could with a little volume styling but in general they have no big hair woes at all. Well, these people I'll dismiss with equal disdain because there's no point in me explaining things to ignorant fools who have hair less glossy than mine, is there?

The truth is rebonding does damage the hair but you can minimise this with conscientious after-care and by going to trustworthy salons/stylists.

In other words, no Far East Plaza salon offering rebonding+cut+treatment at a "special" $150. I once subjected myself to a session like that in a bid to save money cos I was still a student. Huge mistake. It was especially cheap because it was especially bad.

I mean, apply chemical over hair, rinse, flat iron, apply chemical over hair, rinse. You'd think, how hard can this be? How wrong can it get? Well. I still remember staring at the long black helmet stuck atop my head in disbelief.

After that, it was Rita and Renee at Reds Taka all the way. I'll tell you what are some of the little details that make a difference. The amount of time the chemicals need to stay on depends on hair type. The flat ironing step is tedious because they do one small clump at a time. The angle they iron determines how your hair will fall and whether it will have a right-angled kink at the roots. And if you're doing a touch-up, the amount of time the chemicals work on the crown before being combed through to the ends.

When it comes to hair, I've realised that with pricier salons, it's a 50-50. You may walk away satisfied or disappointed. But with cheap salons, it is very, very close to certain that your hair will look cheap too. Having to spend more money to rectify a bad job is just so not worth it.

It's really not for everyone though. Thick, coarse hair seems to get the best results because you'll still look like you have a substantial headful even when it's flattened. It's not for those with naturally very kinky or curly hair either, because the regrowth makes you look terrible. And you might want to avoid bleaching your hair because the combination is just too lethally damaging.

Rebonding is like skinny jeans. It's one of those things that looks so good and is so easy to wear that even when the trend dies off, people will not give it up easily or willingly.