When my supervisor told me to attend a complimentary hair treatment session at Beijing 101, I was borderline insulted.
After all, I had a full head of hair, with no history of early baldness in my family.
Why on earth do I need to go for hair treatment?
I remember asking my supervisor: “Are you hinting that I’m balding?”
However, when I realised I could miss two whole meetings (woohoo) for attending the treatment, I quietly accepted my task without any further fuss.
After all, what did I have to lose?
I was losing more hair than I realised
I went to my nearest Beijing 101 Hair Consultants outlet, located at Funan Mall, #B1-18.
The place had a minimalist decor, and the abundance of greenery helped to make me more relaxed.
Relaxing vibes only.
To start things off, I had to fill out a personalised form, in order to choose the right treatment for me.
The form included questions like how often I washed my hair, whether I exercised regularly, and whether I experienced any unusual hair fall while I shower.
These were all pretty straightforward, and I promptly answered them all, confidently answering “no” to the last question.
How stressed are you from 1-10? *laughs to self*
Shortly after, my hair specialist looked at my answers, and squinted at the hair fall portion of the questionnaire.
She then ruffled through my hair, and within a few seconds, she had multiple strands of my hair trapped between her fingers.
“Normally you should only drop two to three strands of hair. This is a lot,” she said.
She then used a special tool to analyse my scalp and took zoomed-in pictures for me to see the real situation.
The detailed Hair & Scalp Analysis revealed the seemingly horrible state of my hair.
Apparently, my scalp was really oily, and I had dandruff, which I wasn’t quite aware of.
As she was checking through my hair, she asked, “Did you know that you have dandruff? Very obvious leh.”
This is the face of a man who did not know he had dandruff.
She then showed me several pictures of my oily scalp, with dandruff flakes all over, just to prove her point.
Photo of my very oily scalp. Viewer's discretion is advised.
At this point, I was a lot less confident in the state of my hair, having seen how it really looked up close.
I slept through a lot of the treatment as it was so comfortable
The treatment started with a special serum, which was meant to deep-cleanse my hair follicles.
While the hair specialist was massaging the solution into my scalp, she used the time to teach me how to take better care of my hair.
For example, she advised me to use my finger tips, rather than my fingernails, to massage the shampoo in my hair while showering, as it is less damaging to my hair.
This might seem basic, but for someone whose hair care routine in the past was simply putting shampoo into my hair, and rinsing it off, this was a solid piece of advice.
Next, she applied a hair mask onto my scalp, which was meant to detox my scalp and make it less oily.
The hair mask contained a number of premium Chinese herbs, including Ginseng (nourishes your scalp), LingZhi (helps hair growth) and He Shou Wu (prevents premature grey hair).
Although she warned me that it would be itchy, I didn’t really feel any discomfort, and I promptly fell asleep while waiting.
After around 20 minutes, the hair specialist rinsed the hair mask away, giving my hair a good wash in the process.
It's always great to have someone wash your hair for you.
Remember how I said my hair-fall situation isn’t that bad? Well, here’s the counter-evidence I was shown:
This was the result of a quick hair wash. Sigh.
Turns out I’m actually losing quite a bit of hair with every shower, without even realising it.
Since I have relatively short hair, it was simply not as obvious (or maybe I was just oblivious).
This was definitely more hair fall than I expected, and although I’m still far from balding, this was definitely a reminder that I cannot take the health of my hair for granted.
After drying my hair off, my hair specialist gave me a 20-minute scalp massage, in order to help me relax, since I might have been freaking out over my new-found hair loss.
The massage was the highlight of my experience.
There were four different options, and since I had trouble deciding which one to go for, I simply went with the first option, and promptly fell asleep once again, while the treatment was going on.
In hindsight, maybe I should have gone for the stress-relieving massage.
The results
So what did my hair look like after the treatment?
Well, it certainly looked better, as even though I’m not an expert, it did seem visibly cleaner than before, with less dandruff flakes.
Top photos: My scalp before the treatment. Bottom photos: My scalp after the treatment.
The hair specialist even gave me some nourishing shampoo and herbal conditioner for my hair, and told me to wash my hair more thoroughly in the future.
And while I can’t really tell whether I’m losing less hair or not after the treatment, my hair did feel less oily, at least for a few days.
This is fair enough, since I suppose I would need regular sessions to see more lasting results.
Stress might cause you to lose more hair
From my own experience, even if you think your hair is healthy, chances are, it really isn’t.
I was also told that stress is one of the main reasons for hair loss among Singaporeans, so if you’re like me, and are stressed at work, you might be losing more hair than you realise.
Even celebrities need to care for their hair. Image via Beijing 101.
For those who are interested in getting hair treatment, Beijing 101 is offering their limited edition Award Winning Hair Revival Treatment, at only S$42 (U.P. S$502).
Customers will even receive a S$10 Fairprice voucher.
Honestly, I might go back just for the scalp massage. That was pretty good.
This sponsored article by Beijing 101 Hair Consultants made the writer realise he might be balding earlier than he expected.
Top image via Jia Hwee Tan.