Mia's Review: Loreal Hair Colouring and Mucota Scena Hair Treatment

Previously, I mentioned about my first experience with the latest Mucota Omega Oil Therapy at Focus Hairdressing and about 3 weeks after getting back frizz-free, shiny and smooth hair, I returned to Focus Hairdressing to get rid of my Golden Lion Tamarin hair. 

Due to previous hair damage from bleaching, Ken highly recommended that I do a glossing with a semi-permanent hair colour as they're less damaging to the hair as compared to the usual permanent hair colour. So, Loreal DiaLight it was!
Knowing that I wish to get rid of the yellowish-gold tones of my faded colour, Ken ran through his recommended colour (eg. how ash tones will help neutralise out my yellowness) and shade numbers with me before I finally decided on the colour I wanted. 

Saying goodbye to my yellow-gold hair....

They were pretty packed that day and I was tended to by Sito, and then a few other stylists who were free to check on me while Ken got busy with other customers. Even Marcus, the founder of Focus Hairdressing, was in for a haircut when I got there. 

Just like Ken, Sito isn't your overly friendly, unusually chatty kind of hair stylist, which went just right with me. The whole session of having the hair colouring cream applied onto my hair was just comfortably silent, so for those who prefer hair stylists who doesn't try too hard to strike up conversations, Sito is the stylist you'll want to look for. 

The hair colouring procedure was just like the usual and in about an hour and a half of work, I got rid of my golden yellowish hair and welcomed back my chocolate brownish hair. 

And of course, I moved on to my hair treatment for the day, the Mucota Scena hair treatment, which was highly recommended by Ken to further save my well recovering bleach-damaged hair, with its effect lasting up to 1 month. 

Well, just to show you that they're really made in Japan. 

I apologise for the really bad picture of the products, I gave up on trying to arrange them nicely on the obstructing cloth. 

The mucota scena hair treatment also comes in 3 step procedure: 

1. Moisture Treatment (Blue bottle)

2. Hair Repair (Blue spray)

3. Protect Cuticle (Pink bottle)

By right, I should have my hair going into the steamer after both step 1 and 2, but in order to protect my new hair colour, hair steaming was skipped for step 1. 

And so, after going through all 3 steps of the hair treatment....

Say hello to my brown, soft, smooth and shiny tresses! 

I know, the 'balayage' effect from the bleaching is still there, but at least I don't get a random tuff of barbie-blonde hair on the left side of my head.

It's really important that we do a hair treatment after a hair colouring, not just to keep our hair soft and shiny, but also because the effects of the hair treatment done right after hair colouring is the greatest (apparently, the hair absorbs the nutrients better and more easily as our hair cuticles are all 'opened' from the chemical procedure). 

And it's just so nice that Focus Hairdressing gives a 20% discount on Mucota Scena Hair Treatment as long as you couple it with a hair colouring service for now, so instead of the usual $120 (flat rate, unless you have abnormally thick and long mane), it will only be $96! 

For more information on Focus Hairdressing's rates and latest promotion, please visit their facebook page HERE

Till then,

Mia Foo

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Mia's Review: Mucota Omega Oil Therapy by Focus Hairdressing [Sponsored]

-picture credits to FocusHairdressing-

After a couple times being a paying customer of Focus Hairdressing for their Mucota Opera Rebonding (read my past review HERE), I was really glad to be offered a sponsored session of their latest Mucota Omega Oil Therapy! 

This sponsorship was like a God-send for me because I was already having some problems with my hair after a bleach and I was already searching up Google for Mucota DYNA treatment, doing some planning to make a trip back down to Focus to save my dying (or pretty dead) hair. I didn't have any qualms accepting this offer for another rebonding session at all despite my hair ends are already pretty fried, albeit I did warn them my hair is cui from a recent bleach just in case they didn't want to sponsor someone with dead hair and possibly ruin their reputation. 

Well, Focus has given me soft and smooth rebonded hair like no other before, twice (or thrice). And I willingly paid my money for that, meaning to say I truly trust them.

And this time, it's FREE! YAYYY!

-picture credits to FocusHairdressing-

I was also pleasantly surprised to find out that they have undergone a renovation and the place does look much less 'neighbourhood-ish' after the shopfront's makeover. 

Omega Oil Therapy is a healing hair treatment that prevents iron damage, provides moisture and leaves a silky shine to the hair. It is specially formulated to help promote shine and softness in our hair. 

And now, let the pictures do some in-depth talking....

Was told by Ken, their senior stylist, that the main difference between DYNA and Omega is, apart from the oils they contain (DYNA is all about argan oil), is that Omega is still more of rebonding while DYNA is more of treatment. Hence, for fellow ladies with more stubborn curls in their hair, Omega might be a better choice for you if you want to achieve straighter looking hair. 

Initially, when heard that my hair is damaged from bleaching, Ken did mention that they will usually advise to do DYNA for bleached hair but after accessing my hair condition (partially revived from the all the keratin hair mask I've been doing on a daily basis for the week), I was given a choice of either DYNA or Omega, which I opted for the latter due to promises of much straighter looking hair. 

One of the main characteristic of Mucota Omega (a difference to Mucota Opera), a set of 3 products that was applied to our hair in 3 phases. 

CS+1: A pre-treatment agent with cationic chitosan, medowfoam oil, keratin to help protect our hair from the chemicals and prevent our hair proteins from leaching out.

CS+2: A heat protecting treatment with anionic chitosan, shea butter, castor oil and jojoba seed oil to protect our hair from dryness and heat from the flat iron. The anionic chitosan also forms an ionic complex with the cationic chitosan in CS+1 to firmly protect our hair from the heat.

CS+3: A after-treatment with macadamia nut oil, hydrolysed collagen, fatty acids and latic acid. There's also two types of seaweed extract to give our hair a lustrous and smooth finish, hold moisture and promotes hair growth. The lactic acid also helps to neutralise the alkali from the previous chemical process to keep our hair texture smooth and healthy. 

While waiting to wash off the rebonding cream...

Other than an upgrade of shine and softness in our hair, I realised that Omega also gives a slightly shorter waiting time as compared to Opera. 

And TADAA~ 

After Ken's 2.5 hours of hard work on my thicker than average hair. Apart from the obvious straightness and less fried-looking ends, there's also a glowy shine in my hair, which is one of the main selling point of Mucota Omega Oil Therapy. The shine should be even more obvious in unbleached, healthier hair. 

And to show you how much this Omega Oil Therapy has helped me, let me show you how my ends looked like before I went to Focus. 

Yes, they were fried, no doubt. 

And the frizz in my hair was just, explosive. And I started to see a resemblance to this little guy whenever I see myself in the mirror.

Golden Lion Tamarin. 

So now, about 1 week after my Mucota Omega Oil Therapy, my hair has developed a slight natural wave in my hair to frame my face (and glasses) nicely just like how my previous Mucota Opera has turned out. My hair remains soft and smooth, and my ends (though not 'on par' with my roots) were no longer extremely dry and scratchy. 

For more information on Focus Hairdressing and their current promotions for Mucota Omega Oil Therapy (and Opera Rebonding), do visit their Facebook page HERE

Till then,

Mia Foo

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Mia's Review: MUCOTA Rebonding @ Focus Hairdressing

I didn't have the intention of giving a blog review on my MUCOTA Rebonding experience at Focus Hairdressing when I went for the appointment. But the ever so indecisive me decided that I'm going to give a short review of it, almost 3 weeks after the rebonding session, hence the serious lack of proper pictures for this post. 

Just, bear with me yeah? :)

 

-picture credits to Focus Hairdressing-

 Focus Hairdressing is conveniently located at Cuppage Plaza level 1 (opposite Cuppage Terrace), within comfortable walking distance from Somerset MRT. I've did some quick research and decided to give Focus a try, based on almost NO bad reviews for their Mucota Rebonding, albeit a few criticisms do exist for some of their stylists who might be lacking in some haircutting skills as compared to Marcus (lead stylist). 

I did a pretty last minute appointment booking (2 days in advance for a weekend) and managed to get a slot (with no preference of stylists) for 11am (right when they open) on a Saturday. I didn't want to request for Marcus, because who knows how long will the next available appointment date be. I reached the salon promptly at 11:05am, and was tended to by KC, their senior stylist.

This is not my first rebonding experience (I started rebonding my hair 10 yrs back) and I'm sure that even if you haven't done rebonding before, you should know what's it all about. So I shall skip all the procedures and what not.

One of my pet peeve while having my hair rebonded is that I'm always passed from stylist to stylist, and even to trainees (yikes!) as the session progresses, and there MUST always be at least 2 stylists/trainees blow drying and/or flat ironing my hair. 

Yes, I know my hair is friggin thick and long, but do you really have to pass me on like a baton and subsequently share me like a piece of meat?

And the sad thing is, I wasn't spared from this over at Focus. Initially KC was really nice and attentive as he blew dried my hair alone after giving it an initial wash, and cut away 3.5" of my horribly dried ends. 

But barely 1/4 into application of the straightener cream, he turned to the guy, who's in charge of sweeping the floor, for help. 

Err, okay lor....

After that, I pretty much got stuck with the sweep apprentice, even for hair wash, flat ironing, application of neutraliser, and the pear shine treatment. KC left me in his hands midway through flat-ironing to tend to another walk-in customer and only came back for a brief moment to tell him what to do with the neutraliser. 

Oh well, at least the apprentice didn't cut my hair, eh? 

I've tried Loreal Rebonding and Shideido Crystallizing Straight Rebonding before. And if you think Shiseido gives you soft and smooth enough rebonded hair, wait till you try Mucota Rebonding. Loreal obviously was the worst of the lot, giving me wiry straight wig-like hair.

Here's how my hair look, 1 day after the rebonding session. 

My hair obviously was pretty flat and straight, soft and flowy (because there was wind in my hair, duh!). 

 And here's how my hair look 2 to 3 weeks after the rebonding session. It has gained some volume after my daily washes (expected as my hair is stubbornly curly), and developed some natural waves (especially at the fringe area) to frame my face/glasses.

I really like how it turns out to give me naturally bouncy, straight looking hair, rather than an obviously rebonded one.

Giving you an idea of how unnaturally straight my hair was after Loreal rebonding. See that turf of wire-straight fringe that extended (as a structurally trained engineer, I'm really tempted to describe it as cantilever but I don't think this joke will be well received here) over my glasses frame and basically just went on sticking out from the side of my face because it's not soft enough to droop down?

*rofl*

For more details on Focus Hairdressing, visit their FB page HERE
For my review of their latest Mucota Omega Oil Therapy, click HERE

Till then,

Mia

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