Beauty: Volume Rebonding @ Happy Hair Salon

Happy Hair Salon

G/F, AIC Grande Tower, Garnet Road, Ortigas Center

470-1739/ 070-8251-4127

We can't deny the so-called 'Korean invasion' (한류) here in the Philippines. Besides the growing interest for K-pop music and Korean food, several Korean establishments are also located all over the metro and one of them are salons.

I happened to pass by a Korean salon near my OJT office in Ortigas named Happy Hair Salon and what particularly lured me in is their summer promo banner which offered Volume Rebonding at a starting price of 2500php whereas at a regular salon, this would cost me a whopping 7k.

Before I went to the place, I did some research online (as I always do) and saw only one review. That didn't make me lose interest because according to the review, the salon was "made by Koreans for Koreans" and since I'm a fan of anything Korean authenticity, the deal was sealed.

So what exactly is volume rebonding?

It's just like regular rebonding but the ends are curled for that natural, volumized look. If you ever wondered why Koreans have such perfect hair, they probably had this treatment.

Volume rebonding is different from regular rebonding wherein instead of having stick straight hair that  looks like a broom or walis (which is common here), the ends of the hair are curled. According to a Korean blogger, this curl is referred to as the "C-curl" and it can be either an inward or outward curl, depending on the look you want to achieve. 

This treatment is commonly done to short hair and I learned from my Korean stylist that it's best to have this treatment when you have virgin hair for the curls to take effect.

Now onto my volume rebond experience!

Free drinks and snacks!

My stylist was Ms. Angela Kwon and she's also the owner of the Happy Hair Salon. I made a reservation prior to my visit and by the time I went there, she was working with two other Korean teenagers. One of them was having the treatment I wanted, volume rebonding, and the other, a haircut. Although I waited for about an hour, I did not mind because she was very busy and she was doing all the work.

When it was finally my turn, she apologized and immediately escorted me to the washing area. She really did e-v-e-r-y-t-h-i-n-g! Washing,  blowdrying (with some help of her assistants), application of medicine, ironing my hair... everything! It's very unlike other Korean salons I know that only lets their Korean stylists do the cutting and nothing more.

Here are the exact steps for those who may be curious of how the procedure works:

After the haircut

1. Washed my hair then blowdry

2. Haircut - My hair was layered before and she had to trim it because she can't curl my hair if it was layered. She also gave me my dream bangs! Like those authentic Korean bangs ;u; many 감사!

3. Application of cream/ medicine then rinse - I think this was the rebonding medicine because after my hair was washed, it became stiff/ straight.

4. Blowdry then she applied something on my hair. I'm guessing it's some heat protecting thing.

5. Ironing of the hair - She sectioned my hair into very small, thin layers and ironed each layer. I was surprised that she didn't use hair rollers, instead, she manually ironed the curl at the ends repeatedly. I felt so bad because my hair was damn thick and long and she had to do the whole thing by herself! This took her more than an hour, I'm sure. (Important: She also told me that my hair was slightly damaged because I colored my hair prior to the treatment so the curl may not take effect as much.)

6. Sprayed some solution then after some time, she sprayed again. It took about 30 minutes. Look at the cool eye mask thingy!

7. Washed my hair again then blowdry. She said to comb my hair with my fingers inwards for the curl to appear. She also said that I have to apply a hair serum at the ends of my hair for some shine.

After a total of 3 hours...
...
..
.

Ta-da~ my volume rebonded hair! As you can see, the ends of my hair are not really curly but at least it was not stick straight! I really like it! For my long hair, this cost me around 3000php which already included a haircut. Not bad!

She said that the effect may not last as long (around 4-6 months) so I will try my best to maintain my hair. I'm already on the lookout for good sulfate-free shampoos, hot oil conditioners and hair serums in the market! Suggestions, please?

This is my hair after 2 days. My bangs are oiling up as expected but it looks good so far. Check out my follow up post here. 

Overall, I highly recommend Happy Hair Salon if you want an authentic Korean salon experience. Ms. Kwon is really nice and very talented (she can also do your make-up ala K-pop star! I know because i asked ㅋ).

If you wish to know more about the salon or volume rebonding in general, feel free to leave a comment below!


UPDATE!
This is my hair now after 6 months. I trimmed my hair once just to get rid of the split ends but I love how natural it looks now!