My Story..... Part 9 (Last)

The Champion always stand in front of the 1st Runner-up, so I stand behind. :p

Up on the stage, I was kneeling down busy setting up my kit bag and when I stood up; I took a glance at the main entrance. There, standing right next to the main entrance, someone I never expected to see. It was my father. It was a real shock to me as I didn't expect to see him at the competition venue. He just stand there and without any expressions on his face. All I did was to give him a smile. I reckon that anyone would feel motivated when they have any family members supporting them during a competition. However, I didn't have this kind of feeling in me. I guess it might be due to the reason of   both my father and me have not spoken to each other since I joined hairdressing.

Just about this time, the MC announced the start of the competition. When I was preparing to start my haircut, I looked towards the door and I saw my father walking away. He did not stay and watched the competition. There's a sting of sadness in my heart but I knew that I must do my best in order for him to change his opinion on my career.

The music started pounding louder and louder with spotlights flashing around. The adrenaline was awesome. It might be due to the exposure of the last competition that I was feeling totally at ease with no more jelly legs and trembling hands in the Grand Finals. As the time ticking away, I stopped for a while and started to looking around at the rest of the contestants. Oh my God, they all seems so focused at their haircuts and I noticed a few of them were creating outstanding hair.

I was enjoying myself so much in the Grand Finals that I was smiling at anyone that my eyes laid on. Time passed quickly and I finished my haircut within the time frame. As usual, the MC announced that the time was up and we were told to stop our haircut and to leave the stage. The judges did the usual thing and within 20 minutes, we went back up on stage again for our blow-dry segment.

During this Grand Finals, everything seems to go on smoothly and fast. It might be due being more composed and relaxed. We waited for about 45 minutes before we were called back on stage. 10 of us, the finalists for the Man's Cut and Blow-Dry category. I was so nervous as well as excited. I was happy to be in the Grand Finals and at that moment, winning anything did not come into my mind. Over the P.A system, the MC announced: " Dear Contestants, congratulations for being in the Grand Finals. I will announced the names of the 7 contestants who will receive the Finalist award; that's means the remaining 3 contestants standing on stage will be the top 3 winners. "
The sound of drums rolling hit the air................ every one were so excited and there were so much cheering and whistling.  In fact, I told myself; it's good enough for me to have come this far in this competition. Each time when the MC announced a contestant name, I am always prepared to be called out but each time it wasn't me. The first 6 names were already called out and both me and my senior were still on the stage. I looked over to my mentor and he flashed a victory sign to us. He knew that our salon will at least win a top 3 award. Over the air, the MC said:" The Last Finalist Award goes to ..(drums rolling)........... Win Cut House................(Drums rolling).............Contestant No........(during this moment, I am prepared and ready to step forward to receive my Finalist Award) Drums continue rolling ........No.2..... Mr Sunny! HUH???????????? It's wasn't me, it's wasn't my name being announced. My senior turned to me and gave me a surprised and unbelief look. He turned away from me , shaking his head and walked forward to collect his Award.
The MC proceed to announced:" and for the 2nd Runner-Up Winner for the Man's Cut and Blow-Dry category goes to.......(drums rolling) .......contestant No..... (Drums rolling).(I am prepared and ready to step forward to receive my award)......... No. 9 ...Mr Daniel Kok from XXXX Salon.. HUH??????? it's wasn't me again?
This time, I saw both my mentor and his brother were throwing punches into the air. They kept flashing victory signs to me and cheering me.
"And now, we have 2 Contestants for the Man's Cut and Blow-Dry category left on stage. Who will be the Winner for this event?" said the MC. There were so much shouting of our names from the crowd. The feeling was beyond description; now I knew how contestants for Miss Universe feel when they were waiting for the winning results.
The MC announced: " And now!..... I will announce the name for the 1st Runner-up of the Man's Cut and Blow-Dry category........(drums rolling)....is.....(Drums rolling)....... [something funny happened in my mind.... during this moment; I was telling to myself.... please don't call my name... I want to be the Champion] Contestant No. 3...... Mr Thomas Foo from Win Cut House. There were loud cheering and I happily walked out to receive my Award despite wanting to be the Champion. The Winner for year 1991 Scissors Award; Man's Cut and Blow-Dry Champion is Mr Andy from Top Cut salon. We took some photos on stage and went on to received interviews from reporters.

All the contestants had gathered together with the judges to receive comments and feedback and I found out that I was penalized for pre-cut as my model's hair was not long enough. I was deducted 5 points from my score and one of the judges told me that such penalty is unwanted and it's a shame to lose out in this way for the Champion position. Nevertheless, I am still happy with the result and it was all luck that got me through so far in this competition.

The next morning, my parents were happy to see my Awards and my father finally talked to me. He told me that he will try his best to support my career and he's proud that I got myself a 1st Runner-up position. However when I told him that I lost due to the penalized points, he gave me a eye piercing look. :p ... I didn't stay in my mentor's salon for a long time after the competition. My seniors made my life there even harder after I won the award and I could not take the verbal abuse anymore and I chose to leave the salon; and from there, I started my adventures on my chosen career. 

To all budding hairdressers out there, do not give up easily. The road may be tough, it takes a little bit of luck, good guidance and lots of hard work to succeed; I am sure every one can achieve their dream regardless of any obstacles. Most importantly, is to find yourself the right hair academy or a good mentor

Thank you all for reading my story. I will end it here in Part 9 as I do not want to bore you all any further with my story..:p

Please stay tune to my Blog as I will continue to post articles or any events. Thank you for your support...CHEERS!

Ammonia Free colors? Think about it! ( in Bahasa Indonesia)

Saat ini, banyak yang sedang membicarakan tentang pewarna rambut yang “amonia free” . Jadi apakah arti sebenarnya dari : untuk penggunaan pewarna rambut “amonia free” tetap harus dicampur dengan Hydrogen peroxide . Apakah ini tidak terdengar aneh ?
Saat ini, banyak yang sedang membicarakan tentang pewarna rambut yang “amonia free” . Jadi apakah arti sebenarnya dari : untuk penggunaan pewarna rambut “amonia free” tetap harus dicampur dengan Hydrogen peroxide . Apakah ini tidak terdengar aneh ? Seperti yang kita ketahui , terdapat banyak industry pewarna rambut kami yang “ammonia free” dengan “acidic in pH” yang tidak perlu dicampur dengan hydrogen peroxide atau activator. Sesungguhnya pewarna rambut jenis “amonia free” ini bagus jika dapat digunakan secara langsung dari kemasan . Tanpa ammonia, pewarna rambut tidak dapat mengangkat atau merubah warna asli rambut manusia .Pewarna rambut jenis ini digunakan untuk depositing warna pigmen rambut dan sifatnya tidak bertahan lama pada rambut. Warna pigmen rambut akan berkurang setiap kali kita mencuci rambut .
Mari kita kembali ke topik awal yaitu tentang pewarna rambut “amonia free”. Pewarna rambut “amonia free” yang membutuhkan hydrogen peroxide untuk oxidize adalah mengandung ethanolamine atau dapat disebut juga dengan 2-aminoethanol atau monoethanolamine ( atau disingkat dengan ETA or MEA ) . Ethanolamine juga biasa disebut dengan monoethanolamine or MEA. [ Ethanolamine atau Monoetaholamine tidak berwarna dan berbentuk cairan seperti air , hygroscopic liquid dengan bau ammonia yang sangat lembut . Sebuah Zat kimia yang digunakan untuk pembuatan kosmetik, surface – active agent, emulsifier, pharmaceuticals, dan plasticizing agents ; a gas –scrubbing agent untuk penyerapan dan menghilangkan H2S dan CO2 dari refinery dan natural gas streams ; carbon dioxide dan pembuatan ammonia ]

MEA hampir tidak berbau dan tidak mengeluarkan bau yang menusuk hidung seperti ammonia. Pada saat kita menuangkan pewarna rambut yang mengandung ammonia ke dalam mangkuk dan dicampur dengan hydrogen peroxide , emulsion mulai oxidize dan ammonia mulai menguap sehingga mengeluarkan bau yang sangat tajam dan menyengat . MEA tidak memberikan efek bau yang menyengat pada saat dicampur dengan hydrogen peroxide dan inilah yang membuat customer dan para hairdresser berpikir bahwa pewarna rambut yang mengandung ammonia lebih agresif daripada pewarna rambut yang mengandung MEA. Pada pewarna rambut yang biasa digunakan mengandung 1-4% ammonia dan pewarna rambut dengan jenis “ammonia free” mengandung hampir 12% MEA. MEA adalah zat yang lebih agresif pada rambut daripada ammonia dan biasanya pewarna rambut yang mengandung MEA mempunyai efek kusam pada saat warna rambut mulai luntur.
Pada kenyataannya , beberapa produk jenis pewarna rambut yang menggunakan zat ammonium hydroxide dan mereka berusaha untuk membohongi para hairdresser dan para pengguna dengan mengatakan bahwa pewarna rambut tersebut “ammonia free”. Jadi permasalahnnya adalah either kita menggunakan pewarna rambut ammonia free yang tidak memerlukan developing agent atau lebih baik kita tetap menggunakan pewarna rambut yang biasa yang mengandung ammonia rendah. Dan pada kenyataannya masih ada beberapa jenis pewarna rambut yang menggunakan ammonia serendah 1-3% pada produk mereka.
Apa yang saya coba untuk jelaskan adalah : sebagai professional hairdresser itu merupakan tugas kita untuk mendidik diri kita dan memberikan saran dengan jujur dan tulus kepada client kita terhadap product yang dibutuhkan untuk rambutnya. Jangan diperdaya oleh perusahaan besar yang mencoba untuk membutakan keprofesionalan kita dengan trik marketing yang digunakan oleh mereka .Kita adalah profesional dan kita tidak dapat berpura-pura tidak tahu . Berhenti mendukung perusahaan-perusahaan yang membodohi kita para hairdresser.

Check out this link for more on "ammonia free" colors.. https://lorealinoa.wordpress.com

Ammonia-Free Colors? Think about it first!

(Will try to get this posted in Bahasa Indonesia soon)

Currently, there are a lot of hype and hoo-haa on ammonia-free permanent colors in the market now. So, what really is it all about of the so called; "Ammonia-Free" colors that still require to be mixed with Hydrogen peroxide in order to work? Doesn't it sounds suspicious? Ask yourself this simple question on why does ammonia free colors need hydrogen peroxide?
As we know, there are a lot of Ammonia-free colors in our industry that are acidic in pH and does not require to be mixed with any hydrogen peroxide or activator. In fact, these kind of ammonia-free colors are so convenient that it can be used directly out from the tube. Without ammonia in them, these colors cannot lift or change our natural melanin in human hair. These colors are meant for direct colors pigments depositing only, thus these range of colors do not stay long on the hair. The direct color pigments will be washed out excessively every time when the hair is being shampoo.
Let's get back to the so called "ammonia-free" colors. These so called "ammonia-free" colors that requires hydrogen peroxide to oxidize; contains Ethanolamine, also called 2-aminoethanol or monoethanolamine (often abbreviated as ETA or MEA).Ethanolamine is commonly called monoethanolamine or MEA. [Ethanolamine or Monoethanolamine is a clear, water-white, hygroscopic liquid with a mild ammoniacal odor. A chemical intermediate in the manufacture of cosmetics, surface-active agents, emulsifiers, pharmaceuticals, and plasticizing agents; a gas-scrubbing agent for the absorption and removal of H2S and CO2 from refinery and natural gas streams; carbon dioxide and ammonia manufacturing.]

MEA is almost odorless and does not produce a pungent smell as strong as an ammonia. When a color cream that contains ammonia is being squeezed out into a color bowl and mixed with a hydrogen peroxide, the emulsion starts to oxidize and ammonia is released and starts to vaporize, thus releasing the pungent smell that is choking. MEA does not have this effect of pungent smell when mixed with hydrogen peroxide and this led to end-users or even hairdressers to think that the colors that contains ammonia are more aggressive to the hair than colors that contains MEA.  Traditional colors contains about 1-4%of ammonia, while so called "ammonia-free" colors contains almost 12% of MEA. MEA is more agressive on the hair than ammonia and usually color lines that uses MEA have the effect of the hair color "brown-out" after the colors fade.
In fact, some products uses Ammonium Hydroxide in their color line and try to pass off as ammonia free to hairdressers and end users. As a matter of fact, either we uses real ammonia free colors that does not need a developing agent or it's still better to stick to our traditional color that contains low ammonia. There are some color line that use as low as 1-3% of ammonia in their colors.

What I am trying to express is; As a professional hairdresser, it is our duty to educate ourselves and to truthfully advise our clients on their hairdressing needs. Do not be mislead by those big products company who try to blind our professionalism through some form of marketing works. We are professionals and we cannot afford to be ignorant. Stop supporting those product companies that lies to us; hairdressers. 

 Check out this link for more on "ammonia free" colors.. https://lorealinoa.wordpress.com