In my quest for more hair, I was given the chance to try out Philip Kingsley's treatment for all hair related issues. The store at Palais Renaissance is the only one in Singapore and is fronted by their trichologist, Lornica.

Trichologist, Lornica, giving us a tour of the salon

Philip Kingsley uses hair products manufactured in the UK and is based on trichological remedies.  They were established in London, with over 40 years of history treating hair health in the most customised approach. What I liked about them is that all new customers will have a consultation with the trichologist in order to get a personalised treatment. This is important because every individual is different and you definitely need some form of consultation and process to keep track of your progress.

Similar to the new hair treatment centres, Philip Kingsley is salon-based and it is quite a cosy corner where busy clients can relax and even request for additional service such as pedicures (at an additional cost).

I was given the general treatment and two of the attendants separated my hair and applied a cream which was supposed to help cleanse the scalp and invigorate the blood circulation through the mint inside. After the cream was applied directly onto the scalp, they sprayed another type of solution onto the hair and it is supposed to help with the elasticity of the hair strands.

I was pleasantly surprised that one of the attendants actually knew what HairMax is! I've mentioned this many times to a lot of other salons but none of them did not seem to have heard of it or of cold laser helping with hair loss.

Next, it was steaming my whole head. I do notice a pattern here. Most hair treatments I get seem to make me feel like a steamed chicken and I bet that there'll be some roasting going on later.

After steaming, it was onto the wash area to rinse off the products and next was...see...roasting. Ok, it's not a roasting per se but it's infra-red lamps that help to kill off any bacteria and it's also supposed to help with the blood circulation to the scalp.

After the infra red session was the blow dry and I had the best blow dry ever! She seemed to know exactly why my hairdresser gave me a fringe and how to blow it such that it covers all my thinning areas.

The whole process seemed quite usual but the more important matter should be the products' efficacy. I liked that when the products were applied, there wasn't any strong smells but oddly, after the blow dry, my hair smelt as if I just coloured by hair. You know what I mean? That very strong chemical smell. Furthermore, my hair did not feel soft but a bit stiff and towards the end of the day, I could feel a bit of tangles starting to happen plus my scalp was slightly itchy. Nevertheless, my scalp was slightly less oily the next day, so I think the cream did do its job in eliminating the oil.

Would I go back to Philip Kingsley again for more treatments? Perhaps not. Especially when I do know better and slightly less expensive alternative solutions.

Philip Kingsley
390 Orchard Road
#03-08/09 Palais Renaissance

Website: http://www.philipkingsley.com.sg
Tel no: +65 6834 0988

When I posted this photo on Instagram and Facebook a week ago stating that I was going to get rid of (unknown) parasites in my body, I was really surprised at the response I received. A lot of friends and family members started asking me questions about why I was doing this, whether the Paraway Plus was a laxative (no it's not) as well as what this whole Herbal Body Cleansing is all about.

Let me start with the easy question: Why am I doing this?
Su Lee invited me to her talk on detox seminar where she showed a few videos about parasites and how all of us living in 1st world countries often think that we're parasite-free but it may be a fallacy. I found the following videos by Dr Oz which I prefer over the ones that I watched during the seminar as Dr Oz comes from a more scientific but yet natural approach to dealing with medical issues.

Be warned that some of the images are quite disturbing.

As you can see, parasites are commonly found even in so-called 'clean' countries and if you eat raw foods or have pets, your chances of getting parasites are increased. In addition, after Su Lee's bit, a few of the audience members started sharing their testimonial stories about going on this 30-day detox programme where they found either moving worms or the eggs in their stool! Su Lee herself told me months before this talk that she had gone on the cleanse and found 1 moving worm in her stool.

If you were me, wouldn't you get paranoid too and want to go on a parasite cleanse? Those who know me also know that I love my sashimi and sushi, not to mention that I'm eating a lot more salads nowadays. Yes, there are alternatives like eating garlic or papaya seeds mixed with honey but I decided that for my first cleanse, let's do this in a slightly more 'instant' method of just popping pills.

Paraway Plus is actually part of a 30-day Detox Programme called "ClearStart" but I chose to only take the parasite cleansing one because I don't really believe in detoxing (that'll be explained in another article).

What I like about Paraway Plus is that it's made up of herbs such as Garlic, Peppermint, Chamomile and loads more. Because of the herbal properties, it does not kill the parasites but stuns them so that they release their jaws from your guts where you naturally pass them out through your bowels. If you're having constipation, you might want to do ClearStart instead because it will go hand-in-hand to resolve your bowel issues.

Instructions state that I have to take 2 capsules a day for 10 days before popping 5 capsules for the next 20 days. It has been 7 days and I think I've undergone what is known as a 'healing crisis'. What's a healing crisis? When you're suddenly getting rid of parasites or other toxins from your body, or when bacteria dies within your body, these parasites/toxins/bacteria start releasing  endotoxins into your blood for filtering and natural detoxification by releasing through your urine or stool. However, by going on a plan to really eliminate these parasites and bacteria, it is suddenly a lot of waste for my body's lymph nodes to cope.

What happened next? I fell ill with a fever last Sunday and started having a sore throat. On Monday onwards, my sore throat got so bad that when I looked into the mirror, I didn't need a torchlight to see how my throat was so swollen that the entrance of my oesophagus was half its usual size. I took paracetamol which helped the fever but it came back with a vengeance on Tuesday evening, which was when I went to see the doctor for antibiotics and anti-inflammatory meds.

Besides the flu, I noticed yesterday that my skin was also started to itch and have bumps. Apparently, this is quite normal and some people experience breakouts too. I was talking to Amanda Koh, a yoga instructor, and she said that one of her friends had all his lymph nodes swollen and breaking out into pimples while he was detoxing. Whoa...I really hope that THAT doesn't happen to me when I start onto the 5 capsules a day regime.

Trips to the loo have proven to be quite interesting. I've always been looking out at my stool to observe its size (mainly because my mum had colon polyps so I'm genetically susceptible to it), colour and whether it floats or sink (float = ate too much fats; sink = been eating good). But after going on Paraway Plus, I do scrutinise my stool a little longer for signs of parasites or eggs. I did see some whitish seed-like things which make me then try to think whether I have been eating nuts/seeds.  I'm sorta happy to say that it's currently inconclusive because I do recall eating some seeds on those days but there were days where I really do not recall eating anything resembling seeds.

Su Lee told me that from experience, I'll probably not see anything for another week or so. This was further confirmed by Amanda who told me that natural detox (eg. juice fast) would normally show signs in the 5th week or so. Hmm. I'll keep you guys updated on a weekly basis.

To learn more about the 30-day ClearStart or Paraway Plus, go to https://shop.passhen.com/collections/unicity.

I've added Rogaine (it is also known as Regaine) 5% for women (foam) to my arsenal of weapons to fight against hair loss. This is not the first time I'm using minoxidil (the active component that prevents hair loss) but my scalp was not loving the spray version that's available in Singapore. The foam type is not sold in Singapore!! But I managed to pick them up in the US last month and so, I think it's rather timely for me to do this review because I'm now using a triad of tools:

1. Rogaine 5% foam
2. Aveda Invarti Hair Tonic
3. Hairmax Cold Laser

Results so far:
I don't see any real hair growth but I do see that my scalp is less oily, I do not have as much hair fall as before and I also noticed a strand of white hair turn back to black at the roots. Mind you, I have not coloured my hair nor gone to Bee Choo for the past 2-3 months.

The ladies at Trichokare have told me repeatedly that I need to do some sort of heavy duty hair treatment regularly. Especially since my hair loss is quite serious for my age. Reminder that they too said that any intensive hair loss treatment programme will only show results after 1 year. Results from the usage of minoxidil will only show 4-6 months after.

Patience my dearies, patience.

If you would like to use Minoxidil as a treatment, please see a dermatologist first so that you can ascertain whether you are to go on a 3% or 5% treatment. For men, the default is 5%. Please be aware that Minoxidil works by helping the blood flow to the hair follicles and increasing follicular size and hair shaft diameter, stimulating and prolonging hair growth. It has been shown to help prevent further hair loss in 4 out of 5 men and help stimulate regrowth for a thicker, fuller head of hair.. Hence, if you are going to start using minoxidil, you will NOT be able to discontinue because once you stop, your follicles will immediate revert to what it used to be and cause a sudden huge hair loss.

I will still go to Bee Choo once a month but as I've mentioned previously, I'll go there mainly to have a herbal and less harmful colouring of my grey hairs.

I mentioned before that I'm also taking Biotin supplements and using the GNC Biotin shampoo. I must say that my nails are definitely stronger than before but as for my hair, I do think that there aren't so many hairs breaking due to brittleness or being extra fine. I guess it will work hand-in-hand with the minoxidil to have stronger hair strands growing.

I really feel that when it comes to something as complex and problematic as hair loss, it really is a combination of what you eat, shampoo and use as a tonic which will help.

Due to my endometriosis, I had put on a lot of weight suddenly and it has been a struggle to keep it stable and losing the excess is of course, a lot harder.

Thus, I decided to do something about it and I turned to Su Lee of Look Good, Feel Great Always for a consultation. Su Lee is a trained chemist, working for other industries for 20 years before becoming a wellness coach but because of her chemist background, she studies how food affects the body in a cellular and chemical way.

After an initial meet up, Su Lee asked me to track my food and drink intake (including water) for 3 days in a sheet that she gave to me. After 3 days, I dutifully handed it to her and waited for a couple more days before she could evaluate and meet me for the proper consultation.

Su Lee explaining to me about my diet

So...I was very nervous about the results because although I keep telling myself that I'm eating well (stop thinking that eating well = eating a lot), it's hard to hear what a professional would say about my diet.

Talking about sugar levels and insulin plus fat cells

As expected, my calorie input and output are almost the same. This means that my portioning is good! Personally, I feel that Fitbit has really helped me out on this. However, Su Lee said that I wasn't drinking enough water (oops). What does it mean when you're not drinking enough water? Your body doesn't flush out as much toxins as it should and as a result, it remains in your blood stream until it has the chance to be flushed out and naturally, this taxes your kidneys and liver. Also, I was not eating enough fibre. I do need to load up on fruits and vegetables while continuing to eat meats that are low in fat. Phew! Looks like my tons of research into crafting my diet is paying off! I just need to be a wee bit more conscientious but I told Su Lee that it's really difficult when I'm eating most meals out and breakfast seems to be the only meal that I can control.

Next came out her 'special' weighing machine, which measures not just weight but also skeletal muscle, fat and water in one's body. Reminds me of the machine that I use in my gym!

After taking my weight and comparing what Su Lee's scale churned out against what my gym's machine churned out, the conclusion is that I do have a bit of water retention issue (not drinking enough water) and (duh) I have excess fats.

Since I'm not eating excessively and I do know what I'm eating, I just need a bit of help and so, Su Lee recommended the following:

I got a box which contains 60 packets and will last me for 30 days if I faithfully take 2 packets a day. In addition to this, Su Lee also suggested that I take probiotics to help replace the bad bacteria in my intestines with good ones because this will aid digestion and the body's natural detoxification process.

What I liked about this probiotics is that it tastes like berries while containing the same amount of probiotics when compared to those pills that your doctor prescribes to you after you've had a bout of diarrhoea. Moreover, it contains a lot less sugar than most probiotic drinks out there. If you're lactose intolerant, this is a much better substitute to yoghurt.

I will be blogging about my journey on this new diet regime so please stay tuned for updates! If you'd like to start on the same plan (it's all natural so there's no adverse effects), you can purchase the items accordingly:

Full Set (Bios Life Slim + Shaker + Probionic) S$178

 

Bios Life Slim + Shaker S$140

 

Probiotic $43

 

Please note that all prices are before shipping and GST.

If you would like to book a consultation with Su Lee, her consultation charges are as follows:
1 month - $200
3 months - $400

The consultancy includes an initial meet up, 1 hour face-to-face analysis and recommendation for diet and exercise as well as follow up. All appointments can be booked through Pásshen!

Thank you #summerseve for picking me as your Week 4 winner of the awesome goodie bag! #freebies #contests

A photo posted by melfann (@melfann) on Jul 11, 2015 at 8:40pm PDT

I was really lucky to be chosen as one of the winners of the Summer's Eve contest where I won this hamper full of feminine products and Triumph Bra vouchers. I've used Summer's Eve feminine wash before and I never really thought much of it but in this hamper, I found this:

It is a feminine deodorant spray!! I don't know about you but some of us have issues with the smell down there after a long day, which is why some of us like to wear panty liners but I always felt that those were a bit of a waste of money plus it's not very good for people with sensitive skin.

This spray has been tested by Gynaes and it's hypoallergenic so I decided to give it a shot. Besides spraying on yourself, it works better if you also sprayed it on your panty. Smells quite floral and pleasant.

After 1 whole day, I must say that I'm a convert. This is THE best product that they've ever come up with. I didn't have any embarrassing stains on my underwear and no smells!! I haven't gone to the stores to check it out but I reckon that this will be easily available at major shops such as Watsons and Guardian. Go get a bottle if you have the same issues as me!

It's the 3rd or 4th time that I've received a call from Jonsson to redeem a free trial hair care session and the 'excuse' this time round was SG50. See...I told you that more people were jumping onto the SG50 bandwagon.

Pardon the horrible photo above. Don't know why it didn't turn up as landscape. Anyway, I finally caved in for this session at Jonsson for 2 reasons: I wanted to do a comparison between as many hair loss treatment centres in Singapore and the telemarketer assured me that there wouldn't be any hard selling. She also told me that it would take only 1.5 hrs to 2 hrs.

I arrived at 11.15 am and it started off well enough with the usual procedure where they take your profile and ask you tons of questions regarding your hair history:

• Have you sought other treatments? Yes, I've gone to Trichokare, Yun Nam, Bee Choo and am using Phyto shampoo and cold laser.
• When did you start noticing your hair loss?
• Do you like spicy and oily/fried foods?

Yadayadayada...anyway, onto the scan!
  

Compare the above to the one that I took at Trichokare:

Me wonders whether the sales consultant at Jonsson zoomed in onto the thinning portion on purpose. After the scan, I heard the usual spiel about how my scalp is oily and that I need to control the oil before hair regrowth could be tackled. So far so good.

I then listened for the next 45 min (yes, I looked at my phone's clock) about how hair follicles work and how Jonsson uses a special protein named VE protein to target hair regrowth. Apparently, the VE protein molecules are so small that the hair follicles will absorb them upon application. Cue the eye roll because as we all know, protein can only be 'absorbed' by being broken down into amino acids and then your body decides where the amino acids are going to and what sort of proteins it'll build. If the protein in this serum is really 'absorbed' by the hair follicles, I reckon its more like nutrients rather than protein.

So...in that 45 min "consultation" period, there was a bit of naysay-ing against Bee Choo by the sales woman (Bee Choo might be quite irritated to know that said sales consultant said that Bee Choo uses henna) before I was marketed a package of 10 sessions for the grand price of $1.5k or so. I gave my usual line of "it's too expensive" and they countered by asking me to get 5 sessions instead. To which, I replied that I don't like make up my mind even before the trial treatment is finished! A little more back and forth before she relented the hard selling (I was starting to get a bit pissed off) and brought me to the treatment room at about noon.
 

Oh look! I've got my own private room! I later learnt from the assistant consultant that they have a couple of private rooms for Muslim females who do not want to reveal their hair to the public/men and it's also useful for those who just want to sleep while their heads are getting massaged and steamed. I found this really thoughtful! This is something that I have yet to see at the other places that I've been to.

This consultant gave me a really awesome shoulder and head massage *thumbs up*, which helped me really start to relax after the slightly distasteful hard selling by her senior. This was their special shampoo to cleanse the oil from the scalp.

After the shampoo was washed off, a serum of sorts was applied onto my scalp with a brush before I went under the steamer.

I was quite amused by the boxy steamer which has a cloth 'wrap' and again, the design made sense because this eliminated dripping along my face.

For refreshments, I was served a glass of their protein drink and the nice consultant naively told me that the protein in this drink goes immediately to the hair. If you have a stunned face before breaking into laughter, that was me (minus the laughter) and I went on to explain to her the basics of digestion of protein to amino acids etc. Despite my scientific explanation, she didn't believe me. I wonder what they've been teaching their consultants and then to their clients...what a sharp contrast to what Trichokare's senior consultant, Alysha Ng, said during WellnessYogi RESET on Saturday.

Everything was really fine until they took this moment of my head being steamed to try and hard sell me once more! The sales woman tried to sell me the package again and said things like "I know that money is an issue so I've spoken to my manager and we can get you a smaller package where each session is only $56." Dodgy, no? How are you able to suddenly drop your session from $150 to $56 if there's no special promotion?

With my look of disbelief, Ms. Hardsell shoved me a book of all of their testimonials and the typical before/after photos. I honestly do believe that their treatments are probably effective for most of their customers and getting testimonials from them is a piece of cake. However, she forgot that she's trying to market to a marketer, which is something that I had blatantly told her right from the start when she asked me what my occupation was (Marketing Manager).

Now, I had 2 work crises happening at the same time at the very same moment although I was on leave. Moreover, I had promised to meet my biz partner at 1.30pm. It was already 1.15pm when they started bombarding me. Stressed me kept emphasising that I needed to leave and meet someone at 1.30pm and guess what was her reaction?

"That's why I'm here discussing with you while you're having your treatment. Just pass me your credit card and I'll process it for you. All you need to do is to sign and then once we're done you can just leave."

*Jaw drops*

Again, I told her that I didn't want to buy ANY package and that I prefer to pay each time I visit the store. I also mentioned that I was very stressed and therefore, was not in the right frame of mind to make any decisions when it came to this. Goodness knows how many times we both repeated our usual lines. What really took me off the edge was when she told me that I needed to "give myself a chance". My response? Yeah...I'm giving myself a chance, which is why I'm here in the first place? Moreover, I'm giving myself LOTS of hair regrowth chances by all the various products that I purchase. Oh...so she changed tactics and said that I needed to give Jonsson a chance. Uh huh...isn't the fact that I'm there trying out their treatment equaling the fact that I'm giving them a chance to prove their treatment's awesomeness to me? (-_-)

So...with my super black face on, she realised that there was NO way that I was going to buy a package from her so Ms. Hardsell decided to be really cute and tried selling me their hair tonic and shampoo. For the very lovely price of $190-something. Seriously?

She repeated her whole "give me your credit card..." line. I kept quiet. I thought my resting bitch face would be enough clue to her that I'm not buying that stuff. If you can't convince, then confuse - that was her final strategy. She went, "So ok? Just pass me your credit card and I'll pack this up for you." I was angry but I controlled myself as my hair was being blown dry by the young consultant. When I remarked that I really didn't like being forced to buy something, her reply was one of slight shock before going, "Not forcing!! Forcing is like putting a knife to you and making you buy!" Tell me...what's the difference with her hard selling/ guilt-tripping sales strategy and resorting to selling me tonics? Isn't it obvious that her bottom line was that she MUST make a sale then and there, whatever the tactic was? Aiyoh...how much is her comms? Maybe I should've told her, "I'll just pay you the comms to shut you up, ok?"

I had to make a phone call in the midst of her hard selling and the hair blowing to try and resolve one of the work crises. They finally left the room to give me some privacy. This made me also think whether that is why they put me in a private room - to try to sell me something and if I throw any tantrums, none of their regulars will be affected. Hmm.

Anyway, as it was already 1.35pm, I couldn't be bothered with my half-blown hair and proceeded to walk out of the room. To their shock, they asked me to go back to the room as they hadn't applied the tonic. I thought that she'd relent and stop with the hard selling but she persisted and still asked me to give myself a chance. *Groan* I've gotta give it to her for persistence though.

Honestly, this is pretty similar to a lot of spa salons and other treatment centres and the industry really needs to change their sales strategy! This is also another HUGE factor as to why I started Passhen. I want this hard sell culture to end. I want consumers to feel safe and free of hassle when they want to try quality services/products from merchants.

Needless to say, I'm not going back to Jonsson's anytime soon.

Jonsson Protein's website: http://www.jonssonprotein.com.sg/

Specially for my readers, Passhen users as well as those on WellnessYogi's mailing list! Don't say that I don't share good deals! Head onto www.tk-hair.com/wellnessyogi to enjoy the super good deal!

If you've seen this ad on YouTube, especially if you're Singaporean, you might immediately be interested in this product as we get a lot of sun (ie. super prone to dark spots) and we don't really like patches on our skin. My mum definitely falls into that category! She's been complaining about brown spots the older she gets and these spots are also often called 'age spots' as they only show up years after the UV has done it's job on your skin.

Here comes 2 of Palmer's latest products from their White & Even series. The one on the left is a CBB cream, meaning that it is a combination of a CC and a BB cream. I like that it has SPF15 so when I wear it, I can skip my usual sunblock after putting on my moisturiser.

Let's review the Dark Spot Corrector first and I'll review the CBB cream in a separate post. The formula is supposed to contain concentrated amounts of advanced pigment-perfecting ingredients, with the key ingredient being Japanese Songyi Mushroom Extract. Great thing about this is that it's meant for all skin types and doesn't contain any parabens or sulphates so if you have sensitive skin like me, you can use this without woes.

The formula comes out like a gel-serum like texture that is light and doesn't smell like either it's signature cocoa nor like mushroom, although it still contains cocoa butter. It's surprisingly fruity...to a certain extent. I passed this to my mum to try as her age spots are a lot more obvious than mine.

Before Palmer's Dark Spot Corrector

As you can see, my mum has quite a lot of freckles and age spots on her cheek. These are not moles ok...they're spots caused by UV after sun exposure over the years. Nonetheless, there are people who also get such spots due to change in hormones or acne scarring.

1 week after using Palmer's Dark Spot Corrector

After using it everyday for 1 week, the above is my mum's cheek. The age spots are still rather visible but I reckon that 1 week is really too early to tell. However, I do notice that her skin looks a bit more moisturised and her crow's feet are a little less visible. Thus, the short term benefit is that it does help fight signs of aging pretty fast but you'll probably need to use it a little more regularly before you can see the full effects.

Well, it's so typical of everything when it comes to our bodies. Quick to be damaged but a long time to be repaired. At least there's a solution! I'm using it too...as I've seen through ClearSK's scan that a few years down the road, I will see them age spots popping up...so if I want to lighten them, I must start now!

The Palmer's Dark Spot Corrector is really affordable at S$29.90 for a 30ml bottle and you can find it at your nearest Watsons, Guardian, BHG, Robinsons, John Little, Essentials Pharmacy, Nishino Pharmacy, all leading pharmacies, departmental and cosmetics stores.

However, when I posted this on my Instagram 2 weeks ago, 1 of my followers was unable to find it at her nearest Guardian. Hopefully it's all stocked up now!

In my quest for more hair, as I've mentioned in another post, I've got a full on strategy on how to combat my hair loss problem and I figured that there's no harm in trying out another herbal remedy that's available.

TK Trichokare has been in Singapore since 2005 and unlike their competitors Yun Nam and Bee Choo (both of which I've gone to and still occasionally go to), Trichokare uses European herbs instead of Chinese herbs. Also, they have a group of Trichologists who work with them to train their staff as well as validate the efficacy of the chemicals and ingredients used in their treatments.

I was invited to try out their Puri-Scalp treatment (S$69.99 for 1st timers but my readers can get it at S$59 here) and you know that their business is booming when it was soo hard to fix a weekday night appointment with them. I finally managed to get a slot last Wed at their Orchard Gateway branch.

When you step in, you realise that it does not have any distinctive herbal smell. In fact, it smells too...normal? The decor definitely sets it apart from the very utilitarian set up of both Yun Nam and Bee Choo.

Was led into a consultation room with a computer and scanner. This is where I normally will have my guard up and be prepared to be hard sold on how hair follicles work and how unhealthy my scalp is yada yada yada....

My consultant and therapist, En En, was really nice and I was totally upfront with her about my recent trip to Bee Choo on Sunday to colour my grey hair as well as to help curb the hair loss. In fact, she was so cool about it and there wasn't any bitching about the competitors or the typical "what makes us different is ____" speech.

This is the result of my 1st scan. Top left scan showed that I do have some oil blocking up some hair follicles and some areas of my scalp was really greasy. Also, I was quite amazed at how the herbs from Bee Choo was still staining my scalp!

The consultant then told me that oily scalp and hair loss is quite common and for most clients, she recommends going for weekly scalp treatments (if you're already on a hair treatment programme) to first stablise the oil glands on the scalp before they go into the hair growth treatment. Rationale is this: if you don't get rid of the oil/dandruff, your follicles are not going to be able to absorb the treatment and hair loss will still continue.

Good news is that my follicles are generally healthy. Only issue was the greasy scalp plus the baby hair growing is getting thinner and thinner because of the oil clogs. So...it is important for me to have a clean scalp!

I then went on about my Hair Max and cold laser (yes...I am so honest...just to catch people off guard) and I was pleasantly surprised when En En said that Trichokare used to use it but stopped for reasons unbeknownst to her. She then told me to use it immediately after I've applied my hair tonic (yes, she knew that it was from Bee Choo) to encourage further absorption of the tonic.

I also asked what's the usual "package" (oops...kinda bordering on being a trick question) where she said that it depends on individual clients' needs as well as response to the treatment. Most important was to first regulate the scalp before working on strengthening the hair and then increase density.

With that, it was onto the treatment area!

Looks like a typical hairdresser salon, no? But what struck me was this: no herbal smell! My therapist told me that it's probably because instead of boiling down the herbs and fermenting it, Trichokare products are made from the extraction of the herbal essences. In other words, they extract what actually helps with the hair growth and prevents hair loss from the herbs instead of using it lock, stock and barrel.

My therapist soon came along to slather my scalp with the scalp purifying solution with what looks strangely like a paint brush. The solution had a very light floral herbal scent from the European botanicals. Think more Ricola as opposed to Hock___ Herbal Medical Hall. After which, I was given a very relaxing head massage before I was left to my own devices for the next 10 min.

When bored, take selfie with horrible hair. Haha...anyway, I felt a slight itch on my scalp after a couple of minutes. According to the therapist, it is normal and some clients even described it as tingly or stinging. Why? Apparently, this scalp purifying treatment is working on the oil on my scalp as well as the oil globules coming out from the glands under the skin.

Soon, it was off to the washing area to shampoo this all off and that's where the pampering began. My hair was shampooed twice and each round came with a head massage. 3 massages within a short span of time! Can't complain. My therapist also took a lot of time to use her fingers to separate my hair before conditioning it. It was not rushed and she really took her time when she encountered any knots.

Back at my seat, the pampering continued by a warm herbal 'pillow' (with a few drops of essential oil) that wrapped around my shoulders and my therapist gave me a shoulder massage while waiting for the towel to absorb more moisture from my hair. Those pillows are imported from overseas and you can purchase one from the shop for S$129 and enjoy some warm relief on the shoulders at home.

She thoroughly dried my hair before adding tonic as she mentioned that you should ensure that you apply tonic to a dry scalp so that it's not diluted and fully absorbed by your hair follicles. When she felt how dry my hair tips were, she even added serum!

While this was all going on, she told me how many of her colleagues were former hair stylists before moving to learn more about hair wellness. Thus, if you find out that your therapist is one of these former hair stylists, you definitely can ask them for tips on cutting certain hair styles to better cover up those bald spots while looking sassy, ;)

My therapist definitely learnt quite a bit from her colleagues because her blow dry techniques were very professional. Quite a contrast to the random drying I keep experiencing at Bee Choo and had experienced at Yun Nam (don't talk to me about how some of the YN therapists messed up my hairstyle).

After making my hair perfectly straight and bouncy, I was wrapped by the octopus of anti-bacterialism. Ok, that's not a proper word. I just coined it. This contraption is to kill off any germs and bacteria because we all know how much they love water and how they're evil to hair follicles. 'Nuff said.

It's back to the consultation room after the treatment for another scan. The top 2 images are the before while the bottom 2 are the after pictures. As you can see, their puri-scalp treatment got rid of the oil and brown stain from my scalp, something that my shampoo could not do for the past 3 days! Unfortunately, some stubborn oil blobs are still on my scalp but that's why it takes about a month or so for the scalp to be perfectly clean and balanced before further treatments can take place.

Besides the pampering and relaxation, the best thing about my trip to Trichokare was that there was NO hard sell. They let you know your options and that they scan your scalp at every session so as to track your scalp progress and customise your treatments.

A day after the treatment, my scalp was visibly less oily throughout the whole day! I was warned that the opposite may happen because the herbal solution sometimes is very effective at extracting oil from the oil glands, encouraging expulsion so that it can be washed away through shampoo. My scalp was less itchy and I saw fewer strands of hair in the shower! Needless to say, I am very happy with this trial session and I might have to visit them again. Especially when I can get another session for $39 and the following one at a $90 discount. Details below:

Trichokare is a Gold Sponsor at WellnessYogi RESET on 11 July where they will talk more about Hair Care and wellness at their 2.45pm workshop. In addition, they have a few special treats for attendees:

1. Early birds will get a complimentary Puri-Scalp Treatment AND the chance to win $500 worth of Capitaland Vouchers when they fill in the lucky draw form on the day itself!
2. Full Day Pass holders will get a $90 discount voucher for the Puri-Scalp Treatment + Detox + Scalp Therapy (U.P. S$388) and a free home care kit with an anti-static hair brush

If you're not going for the workshop, join us at the Wellness Bazaar that is open to the public as Trichokare will also have special prices JUST for the day! Instead of the usual S$69.99 as mentioned earlier (as well as on their website), you can get a trial session of Puri-Scalp Treatment + Detox + Scalp Therapy for only S$39!

For my readers who can't make it down to the event, fret not. You'll get a discount too. You can also get a trial session of the Puri-Scalp Treatment + Detox + Scalp Therapy for S$59 when you click this LINK.

Go on...challenge the science behind hair growth and start your own hair and scalp care regime.

Whoever said that adults do not get acne is lying. Sure, it's not that serious an outbreak but...acne and pimples still pop up on adult skins! What makes things worse is that these scars take longer to lighten and disappear as you get older. Moreover, if you're fair like me, the scars are horribly obvious.

Here comes Hiruscar, which is a Post Acne gel to help lighten these scars, improve any depressions caused by these scars as well as prevent further acne action! Which means, boys and girls, this is great for people aged 15 - 24 and even those in their 30s like moi.

Hiruscar is a clear gel that you're supposed to put onto your scars 2-3 times a day, washing your hands before and after application.

I had an outbreak 2 weeks ago and as you can see, I do have a couple of acne/pimple scars on my chin and neck with a little depression around it.

Now...let's try this Hiruscar gel. Like I mentioned earlier, it's clear and it has absolutely no smell whatsoever. It glides on very well without feeling sticky but when it first dries, you can feel a slight film over the area. This feeling will disappear once you apply your moisturiser over it.

My nose is really oily and even when I applied on my nose (it's supposed to help prevent acne right?), it didn't cause new pimples and my nose appeared less oily so I conclude that the gel is good to go on oily, acne prone skin. The Pionin in the gel acts as an anti-bacterial and it did help with preventing new pimples from popping up.

I felt that applying it 3 times a day was almost impossible for me as I work full time and I'm too busy to whip it out in the middle of the day to apply. Therefore, I only applied it in the morning and in the evenings. I have to admit that there were days where I completely forgot about applying the gel. Oops.

This is 10 days later. As you can see, the large red scar has reduced in size by quite a bit and the one on my chin is gone. Also, the skin has smoothed a little. There was no peeling of my skin although the instructions inside the box stated that the formulation has a peeling effect to help restore the skin's appearance. I guess I am lucky?

If you are plagued by your acne/pimple scars, it really doesn't hurt to try a tube of Hiruscar. It's really affordable at S$22.90/10ml and is easily available at Watson's, Guardian, Pharmacies and polyclinics.