Straight Naturelle

I grabbed a promo of Ensogo for a classic hair rebond and milk treaatment at Straight Naturelle. The salon has three branches -- Cash 'N Carry in Makati, SM San Pablo and Puregold San Pablo. I searched the net for reviews about this salon before buying the promo.

I reserved two slots for me and my sister at Straight Naturelle. Since hair rebonding takes 5-6 hours, I booked for the salon's opening time. It's good to be the first customer at a salon.

My sister an I arrived at the salon and saw their tarp in front. They have a promo for hair rebonding, P300 above the price I paid for the Ensogo promo. :) The staff were just opening the salon, arranging magazines, opening the lights, wiping the front desk, etc. I told a lady at the salon about my reservation, gave the Ensogo vouchers and wrote our names in the list.

Here are the things done during our hair rebonding session at Straight Naturelle:

1. Hair strand test. The Lady interviewed me about the history of may hair -- last treatment, color (if any), etc.

2. Shampoo. The shampoo area is clean. The shampoo chair is comfortable and I wanted to stay there as the shampoo girl washed my hair.

3. Hair rebonding solution. The lady clipped my hair into sections and she applied the hair rebonding solution to each section. After 30 minutes or so, she asked the shampoo girl to rinse my hair.

4. Hair rinse. All the solution should be removed from the hair with water. Water continuously ran through my hair as Shampoo girl removed the rebonding solution.

5. Blow dry. The Lady blow dried my hair. My hair looked like it was just blow dried, not rebonded. And then there was a brownout, for about 20 minutes.

6. Hair iron. The Lady and another male staff started to iron my hair. They painstakingly ironed my hair is small sections. Hair ironing lasted for two hours.

7. Milk treatment. A white cream was slathered to my hair. It smelled nice. The treatment lasted for 15 minutes.

8. Shampoo. My hair was rinsed. The shampoo girl left me with my head on the sink. I wondered where she went, if she was getting a towel or something. I lay there waiting as I watched a man having a pedicure. After 15 minutes (I think), shampoo girl returned and resumed shampooing my hair.

9. Cold blow dry. My hair was blow dried using cold air. In my previous hair rebonding treatment at a different salon, they used an actual blower. You place your head near the opening of the blower while the salon staff runs her fingers through your hair to dry. It was so uncomfortable, you might get vertigo. Good thing Salon Naturelle has a hair blower with cold setting.

10. Hair trim. The Lady snipped some stray hairs and trimmed the ends of my now beautiful straight locks.

Having my hair rebonded at Straight Naturelle was a good experience. The salon is not filled with customers, the staff are polite, they don't urge you to buy their products nor force you to have hair treatments, and the ambience is relaxing. Also, they don't say that your hair is "DRY" therefore needing a hair treatment. What they say is that your hair is "SENSITIZED" and you should always have treatments to maintain its health and shine.

Now, I'm lovin' my straight and manageable hair!

Sister Regina's Herbal Tea

The next step in my fertility workup with Sister Regina is drinking her herbal tea.

Direction for my condition: 8 teaspoons in one cup of hot water. Drink an hour after breakfast and dinner.

Reading women's forum about this herbal tea gives me apprehensions of drinking it. Some women say they are tea drinkers but they cannot stomach drinking this tea. They just opted to discontinue drinking the tea but continue with acupuncture. Oh my! I'm not a tea drinker how can I swallow this drink?

I read the list of ingredients at the side of the container to know what the h*ll I'm drinking. The label says:

Each 12gm contains the following dry herbs:
Poria - 3g
Cortex Moutan - 3g
Rhizoma Alismatis - 3g
Radix Rehmanniae preparata - 8g
Fructus Corni - 4g
Rhizoma Dioscoreae - 4g
Radix Aconiti Lateralis preparata - 1g
Cortex Cinnamomi - 1g
the above herbs yield an amount of dry exytract - 7g
Corn Starch - 5g

After dinner, I waited an hour, preparing myself in this herbal tea drinking challenge. I will start with half a cup and slowly add the tea volume until my stomach can "stomach" this herbal tea. I think it will be a waste if I start with a full cup only to throw some tea away.

The tea powder is fine and brown. Looks like chocolate drink powder...or dry soil. I put 4 teaspoons of the tea to half a cup of hot water. The cup immediately turned brown, the smell is faint. I imagine of stirring flood water. I have to think about other things aside soil and flood to associate with the tea. When the powder is dissolved, I waited a few minutes to cool this concoction.

The time came for me to finally face the music. Holding my nose, I quickly drank this herbal tea that will hopefully help me conceive. Gulp. Gulp. Gulp. I keep in mind what my Inay told me when she was pregnant. She said that she drank whatever my Nanay (grandmother) told her to help her in her pregnancy and delivery. How horrible the taste is, it doesn't matter if it will be good for you. So I swallowed and drank till the last drop. The taste is nothing like I've tasted before. The only thing that I remember is that it has a somewhat cinnamon aftertaste.

I can do this!

8th Acupuncture + Herbal Tea

Going to my acupuncturist, Sister Regina, is one of the things that I look forward to. I feel that I'm doing my body and qi (say: chi) some good by having acupuncture. Every session seems a step forward to reaching my ultimate goal of conception and having a healthy pregnancy. It's like running. Every step on the track is important to reach the finish line.

Also, this is the day when I will start taking the herbal medicine Sister Regina talked about during my previous session.

I came thirty minutes before my appointment and only one cubicle is left for me. Looks like a busy day today. I read Frances Mayes' "Under the Tuscan Sun" as I wait for Sister Regina.

The two cubicles before mine belongs to a couple. From the looks of it, they're undergoing a fertility workup too. I heard the man said to Sister Regina that he is trying to loose inches from his waist. It helps when the couple's are healthy to conceive. Having a trim waist line is a sign.

Sister Regina came to my cubicle and she looked at the book I was reading. :) I told her that my May cycle is delayed by about 7 days or so (I had a 40-day cycle, the longest for this year). We did the usual ceremony before the acupuncture. She asked about my period, my bowel movement, PMS, cramps, breast tenderness, etc. Her voice is soft I sometimes cannot hear her well. I'm afraid I might give the wrong answer.

After inserting the needles, Sister Regina left te cubicle to attend to her other patients. And I totally forgot about the herbal medicines!

As I lay there, the moxa burning on my tummy, I hear another patient. I think he has a clogged nose. He's wheezing. I cannot calm my mind, being distracted by the wheezing sound. Oh well.

After thirty minutes, an assistant came to my cubicle and removed the needles. I asked her about the herbal medicines. She told me that it will be given at the front station. She advised me to just bear drinking the herbal tea as it has a not-so-good taste (and maybe smell as well). I've read women forum and they say that Sister Regina's tea is hard to drink. They're tea drinkers but they cannot stomach the herbal tea. Oh my!

In the front station, I asked another assistant about the herbal medicine. She gave me a yellow container with the label in Chinese (P1,400) and a small white plastic teaspoon. I have to dissolve 8 scoops of the tea to one cup of hot water. Drink the tea an hour after breakfast and dinner. Before leaving, I scheduled for another session a week after next.

I'll keep you posted as I brave my way to drinking Sister Regina's herbal tea.

SSS ID Photo Capture

I went to SSS (Main) on my scheduled appointment for the ID and digital signature capture. Bringing the pre-approved E-6 form, official receipt and 2 IDs, I was excited to finally finish the process of getting a new ID in my end.

Turns out, I needed to fill out the "new" E-6 form. I didn't bring a black pen! All my preparations for this day went moot just because of forgetting to bring a pen. Sigh.

An SSS employee checked my new form and got my old ID. She told me to go to the other side of the building where the picture capture is being done.
In the picture capture area, there are several cubicles. Inside are SSS employees. Each of their table has a laptop, scanner and a digital signature capturing device. For the picture taking, there's the Canon DLSR (I think). Sosyal!

Women with long hair are requested to tie their mane and remove earrings. Sorry to those who had prepped their hairs, it's useless during the ID picture capture.

It took me less than 30 minutes to have my photo taken. Maybe because my schedule was in the morning. Nevertheless, I went out the SSS building happy. When I get my new SSS ID, I will then use it to apply for a passport.

...

A few days after, a friend told me that his officemate applied for an SSS ID last year and hasn't received it to this day. OMG!

Home Solar Kit

I want to have solar panels in my future home. Though very pricey, you can save money in electricity bills in the long run and helping save the environment as well.

An official from the Climate Change Commission says having solar panels installed in his home gave their household enough electricity after Typhoon Ondoy wreaked havoc in the Philippines. His neighbors lit candles at night but his family lived comfortably using the saved electricity from the solar panels. To read more about his inspiring story, click here.

The cheapest solar kit I've found available in Manila is ADTEL's home solar kit. It costs P20,000 and can

"...operate an electric fan (40W), a 21-inch TV (70w), a DVD player (30W) and a computer (60W), in addition to charging mobile phones and portable music players."

Should I now start saving for my dream solar kit/panels?