I rarely visit salons in Manila. When I am here in the US, I go to one black salon. I call it black because all the beauticians and hairstylists are African-American. I actually go there because I like the happy vibes.
The ladies like to engage in friendly banter. They watch the morning talk show while giving their own opinions. They laugh and giggle. Although I have difficulty deciphering their sentences because of the accent, I do get a good laugh sometimes. Nakikitawa ako sa jokes nila.
They are also not judgmental. People come and go to the salon and they don’t really scan you from head to toe. They are a bunch of good-natured people.
Just like any salon, they have mani-pedi, facial, hair cuts, color, curls. The most senior hairstylist does mostly braiding. You know how African Americans like fabulously coiffed hair. They meticulously attach tiny braids into the real hair. This lasts for two or three months till the natural hair grow longer then it’s time to visit the salon for another round of braiding.
Last January, I saw a teen girl having one side of her head braided, while the other half shaved.
Black people have a lot of good physical features that I don’t have. I observe them and wonder, oh my, look at how curly and long their eyelashes are, how well endowed their bodies are—- rounded behind and more rounded frontage. Notice too how majority of them have smaller and naturally super white teeth.
I was there last Friday afternoon. Ron agreed to take me in for a 4 pm appointment. I got there at 3:30 pm. My beautician is sporting a new up-do, short curly hair which looks very nice on her. It looks very sophisticated. Black people have naturally curly hair. She said it’s not her real hair. She attached it to her own hair. This needs to be removed and re-attached after two months she said. I am sure next time I see her, she will have a different style, a yellow hair perhaps. This is something we can’t do in Manila. People will talk about you in a bad way.
While we were having a chit-chat, she got a call from her uncle. “It’s true? So it’s true. Oh My God!”.
Her cousin’s parents (that makes them her uncle and auntie?) were found murdered inside their two story home. Their relatives have been worried because it’s been days that they couldn’t be contacted. They were not answering calls. Yun pala, they were dead. Ron said it’s a home invasion. The couple, 64 & 67, lived in an old community with mostly black residents.
So sad.
