WRECK AN OLD DRESS AND TURN IT INTO SOMETHING FUN.

So I started something in my Youtube channel last week, I shoot a video of me wrecking an old dress (I bought it in thrift store only because it's polkadot) and turned it into something fun. It's always been my hobby to mess around with old clothes and give it a new life, in fact it's one of the things I always do in my early blogging days. This time I decided to film and share you guys the process. I hope you like the quick transformation! xx

Don't forget to share and subscribe if you like it and let me know if you want more videos like this. More D-I-Y series coming up! :)

music: Hang On - Plains

Before I stuff this blog with loads of updates from my recent Singapore & Bangkok Fashion Week (and some of Jakarta’s latest fashion shows), I'll show you a bit of behind-the-scene routine that has been going on for two weeks straight. On this post, I'm sharing you my hair routine when I'm away from home, salon, my hairstylist, or everyone. This might help when you have to survive alone and you're the only man you can count on (think of Tom Hank's 'Cast Away', with the "Hellooo? Anybody????", or writing 'HELP' on the beach if you are a fully-committed drama queen.) So welcome to my room and let's get ready with me. 

One of the most crucial survival skill to master on every work trip is: doing everything on your own, including hair & make-up preparation. Not because you have to be physically pretty for a job (unless your boss is Donald Trump), but looking put together at work is necessary. This means I will have to do my hair and make-up on my own. I rarely go to salon for hair treatment because I'm lazy (I only go to my favorite hairstylist back in Jakarta for a root bleach & trying different colors every other month, because I don't want to be bald trying to bleach my own head???), but at the same time I find it exciting to experiment and do things myself. So when I'm on a trip, I prefer to bring my own products and do it at home, or at the hotel.

MAINTANING PASTEL HAIR 

If you're as obsessed of coloring hair as I am, you might already know that keeping pastel hair color is so tricky & needs a lot of work because it makes your hair dry from bleaching, and the color fades so quickly after every wash. But it's also very pretty you'll do whatever it takes. Now take notes because I'm about to share you a trick I've been doing, that's not only fix your problems but also going to save you a lot of money.

The key to maintaining colored hair:

1. Do not wash your hair very often

Bleaching process usually will make your hair dryer than before, and therefore it's no need to wash your hair as often. For products, I’m currently using a Japanese brand Kose Cosmeport Jel'aime shampoo & hair treatment. I first knew about this product on my trip to Tokyo, but I just found out that you can also get this here. As a huge fan of Japanese beauty products because of these top things I consider: the quality, how it usually works perfectly on my skin or hair type & the weather I live in, the cute packaging, and affordability. On my first impression, this shampoo - conditioner combo smells amazing & stays on my hair longer than the usual shampoo, which comes to a conclusion that you don't really need to wash your hair very often when it's still smelling like bubble gums and flowers after a few days.

2. Get that smooth & shine hair back, without losing all the volume & perkiness.

Bleaching and coloring process already damaged your hair, leaving it looking happy on the outside but dying on the inside. Show some love, show your hair some love with conditioner to get the shine & smoothness back. 

Hack: if you have oily scalp, don't avoid conditioner. What I do is simply use a bit of dry shampoo on the scalp right after drying my hair, it will usually keep it perky a few days longer.

3. Stay away from damaging methods & chemicals.

like your hairdryer, straightening iron, hair dye with ammonia, or hair products with silicon. Je'laime shampoo & conditioner is not only silicon-free, but also contains amino acids to enrich your hair roots to improve hair growth & gaining the thickness back after the bleaching damage.

4. Now the million dollars trick... Put your (vegan) hair dye in the conditioner.

After finding out that this particular conditioner soaks into my hair so well, I experimented by putting one or two drops of vegan hair dye (the one with no ammonia and totally safe for your hair) to my conditioner to maintain the color. I found this as the easiest way to achieve an even hair color tone with far from damaging methods, and giving it a smooth & healthy texture at the same time.

Extra hack: This is also a cheap and easy alternative to purple shampoo, just by adding a bit of purple dye to my conditioner, preventing it from going brassy. Boom, you just saved a lot of money!

Goodbye from my mirror selfie with my perky peach hair, my cute hotel bathroom, and this artsy iphone case specially made by a talented artist and also my good friend, Atreyu Moniaga.

Step by step process of making soy candle, a biodegradable & non-toxic alternative to regular candles.

Learned this at Siam Discovery, on my fashion week trip to Bangkok. Thank you for the wonderful hospitality & the friendliness of the people there making my short visit feels like home.

PS. The whole city was desaturated due to the tough mourning times of the beloved King. My deepest condolences with you, and looking forward to visiting this lovely city next year.