Most of you would know that I've had my trademark red hair for as long as ever.
 

And by ever I mean ever since I was granted emancipation from rules and regulations of high school, upon graduation of course. So by the end of 2006, the color of my hair was finally my choice and mine alone.
 

Yup, 5 long years of blood red hair… and counting!

Anyhoozers, I had no idea what gotten into me one fine day.

I wanted a stronger colour of red so I bleached it 3 levels higher.

Gradually, the burning sensation on my scalp came to pass and I brushed it off. But  when I saw my red fading away into blonde, my mouth gaped open.

Urmmm… whaaaa-aaat? I'm blonde now?

ZOMG. I soon found myself looking like a dip-dyed red blondie
 

Thank goodness it didn't go platinum. If it did then I must've had bleached it 8 levels without realizing it.

So I just kept staring and staring at that semi-blonde girl in that mirror. Who on earth?
 

No sirree. There is no way in heaven and hell that TheJessicat would exist in the same sentence as blonde hair. No offense to any blondies whosoever but blonde has just never (and will never) be my colour.
 

Mom and I
 

But the most ironic thing was that after a while of blow-drying and letting everything settle down, I began to be in favour of the end product. At certain angles, you'd see some dip-dye pink and red along with the blonde.
 

I thought it was rather unique… for strange reasons unbeknownst to me.

 

I mean, come on! It was something different, no? I've been a red head for 5 years and I've never seen myself in another colour before. Let alone blonde of all colours someone keeeeel me pleeease.
 

I know the pic on the right made me look like I'm bleeding off the top of my head from

brain haemorrhage but don't worry. It's just the sucky quality of a random camera.
 

Then I started getting curious stares as to why my hair was halfway done like that
 

I don't think any hairdresser would dare to stand up for it LOL. As close as it was to a disaster, I began to grew fond of this new look.

So I decided that it would be sticking around for a bit longer before I turn it back to bloodshot red.
 

But that "longer" lasted for only 72 hours before I couldn't stand the living daylights of being part-blonde anymore.

At work, my editor approached me at my desk and said, "Jess! Why is your hair like that!" and that was the ultimatum.

So goodbye blonde and say hello to the bloody red head

She's back to stay… for good. 
 

Finally!

It’s frustrating to know that red hair dye pigments aren’t exactly very permanent ones, heck I would know, did it red for a total of 7 times already! It’s one tough hairstyle to maintain and not to mention expensive too *sigh*

But it’s all worth it 😀

am loving it

If you’ve been following my tweets yesterday, ya’ll would know that I’m back to being a red-head again 😀

Okay, some of you asked me questions about my red hair and how I maintain it.. etc etc

Well, here are the answers :

1. Where can I find a place to do my hair red like yours?

You can just do it anywhere, but opt for the ones with permanent red pigments. I’ve trusted that for 4 years and its the longest lasting one (buzz me if you want to know the brand)

2. Can I just do it red (from the box) at home?

No one’s stopping you. It’s for a fraction of the salon price but unless you’re a bleached blonde, it ain’t gona work on your Asian head, honey.

One of my besties Cedric, dubbed me an Aluminium Bitch + Lady Gagak LOL

Iconography VI brass ring by Soak Republic

3. How often do you do your hair red?

Twice a year 🙂 (both damaging to my pocket blahh)

4. How much does it cost?

Approximately RM500. If you say I’ve been ripped off, screw you. Sure, I can do it for RM200 or less but it won’t last as long and your hair will be more prone to damage without proper treatment. It IS very drying on the hair and chemicals were never your best friend from the start

5. Do you bleach it before getting it red?

No, I never believe in bleaching. If you do it often enough it WILL turn chilly red by itself.

Fooling around at the hair salon

6. How do you maintain the red hair?

I use two shampoos whenever I wash my hair – one is to enhance the colour and the other is to lock the color in. (again, buzz me if you want to know the brand) After shampooing, I use a color reflective conditioner to protect it from damaging weather conditions i.e sun

7. Does the red hair color fade?

DUH. Nothing lasts forever babe. And I wouldn’t have to do it 7 times if it never faded in the first place! 😀

8. Why do you choose to do red?

Simply because it’s visually arresting and no doubt my favorite color. Bet you can tell by the color of this blog anyway 😉

red Blackberry pimp by Berry Addictions

I totally felt like walking past the other hair salon which totally cheated me of my money.

I told them I wanted chilly red and even pointed to a few red items in sight, like their Chinese lanterns and ‘Welcome’ carpet for instance. Those morons told me they knew exactly what I wanted and I had nothing to worry about.

When it was finally done. I looked like a fig tree. My hair was quite damaged and the color? Not even the least bit close to red. They didn’t even have the decency to apologize nor refund. Instead, kept insisting it was red.

What, if you’re not colour blind nor have eyeballs hinderd with severe cataract, you’re definitely not fooling anyone but your unprofessional self mind you.

DO NOT GET CHEATED BY UNORTHODOX HAIR STYLISTS!

Always go for the established ones or at least, the ones you trust.

Anything else you wanna know? Just spill and I’ll be happy to answer them for you.

Check out my post writen last year about having it done red. And no, I don’t do any other colour besides red 🙂

Till then, hope you like it just as much as I do!

Cos it’s here to stay at least for the next 6 months haha!

😀 😀

Okay, I’ve made up my mind. My 3rd tattoo will be inked above my ankle after Chinese New year. Will be heading down to Borneo Ink with a friend, Joe, to do his 4th tattoo as well. Piercings? I’ve always wanted to pierce my lip but … *trails off* heh.

Had my bangs cut again just yesterday and getting them back to red just like I’ve always had.

Okay, just kidding. That ain’t me. I have no idea who this girl is. But I pretty damn like her style. Very very bloodshot and goth. Even I didn’t come as close during Halloween

Don’t really have a new piccie of the bangs except the brief one that I posted on my [Twitter page] yesterday. But it more or less looks like the one below, except thicker.

Oh and speaking of tattoos, I actually had quite a lot of requests asking me to show both my tattoos in one picture. Sorry guys, for taking so long! Reason being I really didn’t have a proper photograph that showed both my inks. But whilst clearing up my photo archive, I just realized I had ONE PICTURE!

I don’t remember when it was taken but I think I was
shooting some night shots of KLCC

Honestly, I don’t really like both of them as I think they’re kinda juvenile -__-“
Well, I WAS only a friggin’ teenager when I did it! That explains it. This time round, Imma attempt to do something more bold and daring.

Don’t worry, I’m not emo.
In fact, I’ve been a really happy girl the whole of this year
thanks to a special someone *winks*

Anyways, looking forward to get myself tattooed and scrunching my face in pain again! Hey, it’s actually quite addictive. This time round, I better make sure I video the process of me getting inked. Can’t believe I didn’t get a video of my first two! -___-

But Imma show you some really AWESOME TATTOOS and also, the really horrid/epic fail/cannot make it/diedotcom ones. Enjoy! 🙂 That sorta teaches one to REALLY REALLY be sure of what tattoo to have one because there’s no turning back!

-edit-
Oh, managed to snap a piccie of the new hair at my condo balcony when it was really sunny. Red checkered bow and metallic black bangle courtesy of mom. 🙂

ROARRRRRRR 🙂
I just LOVE how body art perpetuates in all areas!

Gone are the days where body art only restricts us to draw Buncho or Acrylic paints on our faces during a circus carnival. Tattoos might’ve been something to frown upon by the elders back in the days but oh no, not anymore – not in this era.

You see many urbanites sporting artsy-fartsy tatts and yes, even grizzly looking ones on almost all areas of the body namely the arms, calves, shoulder blades, back, belly, ears, neck, wrist and the list goes on. But have you actually seen one :

Now you will.
BECAUSE IMMA SHOW YOU THAT IT’S POSSIBLE.

Courtesy of Xavier Mah, PR Manager of A Cut Above, I was extended an invitation to attend Malaysia’s Largest Hair Tattoo Competition Finals 2009 held in Zouk KL. Being an avid fan of tattoos, body art and body mods myself, I was looking forward to it all week! 🙂

Thanks dude! 🙂

So yeah, we made our way to the VIP area of Zouk’s mainroom and waited for the event to begin. It kickstarted with 2 emcees which looked as thought they came out from the netherworld, complete with dreadlocks, doning black from top to toe and with kohl liners too.

We were kinda the only few peeps who weren’t wearing black

In fact, this event had THE MOST amount of guests wearing black that I have ever saw. Ya know in Malaysia, hair stylists or people in this in hair industry always seem to have a thing for black. Everyone looked like groupies of My Chemical Romance! 🙂

Mr. Don Seale of Wahl Far East gave his speach on why Wahl products
should only be used for fine and precise hair tattooing

The emcees then introduced a special guest and one of the judges for this Hair Tattoo Competition up the stage. Mac is a world reknowned hair tattooist all the way from Japan!

I reckon that “Mac” could be a short name from his
looooooong Japanese name 🙂

Charity is always such a beautiful thing. To give and donate to others with a kind heart gives a sense of a fulfilling wonder back to you. This whole event was actually a joint collaboration between Hair For You For Me (H4ufme) Malaysia and Lions Club of Bukit Tengku, supported by their main sponsor Wahl.

All the proceeds of this charitable event goes to 5 designated beneficiaries Disabled Homes, Deaf Homes, Childrens’ Homes and Kidney Failure Patients. Count me in whenever there’s charity involved! 🙂

Here’s Mac demonstrating a Phoenix + Dragon hair tattoo

It was soon time for the finalists to come up on stage to showcase their fine works of tattoo art. The stage was very oddly shaped so I couldn’t get to shoot ALL of the contestants but here’s a few though. Let’s take a look at some of them!

I have my personal favorites, what’s yours?

This one was a fusion!
Reggae colors and dreadlocks on top

The flaming skull totally reminded me of Hot Wheels!

Bloody cool Hellboy designs
Not to mention, the hair tattooist was really cute too
with hair ala dragonball character

THE NEXT ONE TOTALLY WOWED ME

My personal favorite 🙂
Look closer, you’ll see facial features,
complete with eyelashes and mascara

AND SINCE
it’s my favorite, here’s another angle of them 🙂

Blingblings on the sideburns yo!

More! Spot Spiderman
All of them vying to win the overall tital

When all the contestants finished doing their thang on stage with a few intervals of mysterious dance shows of dancers clad fully in a black translucent netting by A Cut Above, it was time for THE WALK of fame.

She was the only female model being hair tattooed!

My booties were beginning to kill me. So I finally sat down after a few hours standing. When each and every finalist and their models were done with the catwalks,it was time to reveal the winner!

But while waiting, how can I not camwhore with the peeps around me ey?

Mac the (cute) Hair Tatoo Artist from Japan and I

And of course Xavier and Erin
who were sitting beside me 🙂

OKAY NOW LEMME ANNOUNCE THE TOP 3!

Winner

R5. Steve Chong Wai Fatt + His striking hellboy creation

1^st Runner Up

R2. Heacky Cheach Yeu Hoe + His multi-coloured skull creation

2^nd Runner Up

R6. Peter Pang Yong Chang + His life facial features creation

(He also bagged Most Talented Artist Award!)

Which was your fave anyhow?
Mine is still THE FACE! 🙂
So abstract and Aquarius-like

I arrived rather nervously, at a highway I’ve never taken to Bangsar before. Slowly but surely my car halted to a stop at a traffic light and I immediately spotted BSC, Bangsar Shopping Complex on my far left.

Courtesy of Xavier Mah, the PR & Communications Manager of the premier and leading hairstyling center and academy, A Cut Above, I was extended an invitation to their grand opening.

Prepare for some wicked and bewildering looks of the century! 🙂

Whoa!

The grand opening of today’s event marks the start of the largest A Cut Above outlet – ever! With an abundance of hairstyling space and private rooms, tools & equipments, staff and well-trained craftsmanship from A Cut Above, this new flagship store is something to look forward to!

The front entrance

Right before the press conference, I checked out the entire interior of this new outlet. And I love it! Such a modern feel yet never leaving the key elements of a hair salon should resemble. Here’s only one part of it though, the hairwash section :

From what I noticed, they use leading brands such as Kerastase
and Loreal while servicing their clients

Whilst I was still exploring, I managed to catch the preperations and last minute touch-ups in progress. Whoaa for big hairdos!

Must be for the hair show later, I reckon

Dayang Nurfaizah getting her hair all stylo-mylo
before making her appearance

I hung out for a while walking around and chatting with some familiar faces (in the media line, you’re bound to keep meeting the same people over and over again!) when I bumped into Winnie Loo. Without her, A Cut Above wouldn’t have been proudly standing here till today.

She’s the queen bee yo
Founder and MD of A Cut Above!

Much respect goes to her. She started this empire from scratch when she was young and has since spread its wings to many outlets in the Klang Valley and KL City.

The press conference soon began and we were ushered to another room to have a seat. This was where she and Xavier shared the lowdown on the opening of this spanking new outlet. When I threw the question, I asked if she was still very much involved in the haircutting/hairstyling part where she 1st begun, despite climbing so high in this industry and already being on the manegerial level.

She mentioned that she was “still very hands on and even
personally cuts the hair of some of her clients upon request.”

I liked the part where she stated that despite having thousands and thousands of staff, she “will never put down her scizzors, why give the fun to someone else?” Well said, babe!

Moments later before the event officially begun, I spotted even more familiar faces and as usual, we camwhored over some drinks, a dinner buffet and yes.. Haagen Daaz ice-cream!

To grace this event, over 40 celebrities were seen mingling about as well. A notable pair being the one directly above. Anita Sarawak, the diva and her Caucasian husband, now acknowledged as Mahathir. I like how they match perfectly well at every event, from the hair colour (were both blonde previously!) to the apparel they have on their backs.

The official ribbon-cutting ceremony!

Both, the emcees Baki and Aishah Sinclair
did a swell job in hyping up the crowd!

The 1st to go on stage was a duo of Dennis Lau, the amazing musician and Shafinaz Selamat, the Malaysian songbird. Together they cooked up a ravishing duet performance of both vocals and instrumental elements!

As soulful as ever

What really cracked me up during the following performance was that the singer was in her own world singing while Winnie Loo was also in her own element spraying the former’s hair!

In their very niche of life!
Such an entertaining performance

Before we knew it, dramatic music was heard blasting from the speakers and everyone huddled by the red carpet to watch the fiery showdown of eccentric hairdos of the century.

Such creative hairdos really enthralled all of us. Coupled with tight fitting latex suits and heavy make up, this one’s perfect for a galactic battle!

Singing ‘One Night Only’ was Nikki, a former Malaysian Idol finalist. I could hardly recognize her as the last time I watched it was when I was still in high school. My my, look how much she progressed in terms of vocals and stage presense! Woots

Last but never the least, came buddy Shawn the human beatbox to crank up the after party. Who’s not to love him? He’s our small little fellow who can bellow a herd of wilderbeasts away!

Beatboxing one of his trademark performances,
Benny Benassi’s Satisfaction

The party ended with more photo taking, mingling and fooling around. I had a great time at the event and well, it was a blast! From the food, the warm company, the performances and everything… kudos to A Cut Above!

You’ll see me back here very soon, Imma dye back my red streaks of hair. It’s time for a touch up! Oh but.. um.. not.. like this afro though!

never in a thousand years!