adventures at Philippe's

Is four hours really how long it takes to get one's hair highlighted and trimmed? At Philippe's in Manila, it definitely takes that long. Every time I go, I plan for two hours in my head and then I go completely nuts when I realize that it's going to be four hours. It took an hour and a half for them to complete the foil for my highlights. Am I the only woman in the world who hates lolly gagging around the hair salon?

Philippe's is never uneventful (you might recall my previous run ins at this salon with this and this, and this). Since Philippe's sacking of my hair stylist, Pascal (so so sad), I have been wavering between going to a salon closer to the house or back to Philippe's. I figured since I needed the highlights at Philippe's, I'd just have one of their senior stylists cut my hair at the same time. In I go with an appointment with Thomas. He's a stout Filipino with bleached blonde curly short hair and rigid features favoring the Spanish bloodlines in the Philippines. I love that this man always wears a bright scarf tied around his neck. He's boisterous and bawdy and must be funny because all the staff laugh at what he says. If I only I spoke Tagalog.

In between my color and my cut, I had a shampoo. Sounds simple enough right? I lay my head down and the guy removes the foil, I tell him I want cold water for the shampoo (this has to be the most invigorating thing ever, no more hot water on my head). He starts rinsing my hair and then introduces himself and asks for my name (ok buddy you're going to get a tip now that I know your name, nice tactic). Jake, then proceeds to shampoo my hair with the strongest fingers and hands I have ever come across. It was pretty great. After the shampoo he adds conditioner and tells me to relax during the conditioning massage. He's rubbing, and scrubbing, and massaging, and suddenly I feel like this head massage is no longer an innocent shampoo but instead, a slightly-too-intimate head massage. It's was a little too sensual. He massaged my scalp and then gently wiped the suds off my forehead. This guy knows what he's doing. It felt fabulous but I almost needed to crack a joke to lighten the mood a little. Jake asks "are my hands too hard?" Oh boy, does it really take this long to wash my hair? -I'm thinking. It felt great Jake, but I think you might want to save THAT head massage for your after-hours clients.

Thomas ran his comb through my wet hair and said "This is a Pascal hair style, right? I can tell by the sectioning of hair." Why yes, it is Thomas. Thomas proceeded to use Pascal's haircut as a cheat sheet. Good for you Thomas. Turned out great and the color is slammin'. Blondes really do have more fun.

As if he were in shock, his hand flew to his mouth as he uttered "YOU have two kids?" That's how Thomas got his tip.

Jake got his for, well...you know.