First of all, i thought of watching a movie yesterday since i've not been to a cinema for a year already (or more). But then, there wasn't any good movie on screen now and so i decided not to waste my money and time.
Then the shopping part did not turn out well either. There were simply too many people here!
I am not sure if this is usual for Mid Valley over the weekends, or it was because everyone was out shopping for CNY. The mall was crowded, and even more so in the shops that had the red big word "Sales" on display.
So here's how i spent my weekend here.
Yesterday little brother went to KL in the morning and he came over to meet me up for lunch before going home. We had very nice Japanese ramen and a long chat about the department, work and also the plan for this year. After lunch, i did go shopping at Mid Valley but only bought one skirt (for office wear).
Today, i had planned to visit a hair salon to trim my hair and also to do a hair treatment. I was also contemplating to do manicure and pedicure so that i can have pretty nails for CNY. I could have waited till next week when i am back in JB to do all these, but then i figured that it will be the last weekend before CNY and people will pack the hair and nail salons. Since i have plenty of time here, i decided to do it here, and of course i did expect it to be more expensive doing it here.
What i did not expect was that it was THAT expensive - just doing the hair cost me RM535! If your jaw did not drop at that price, please know that all i did were a trim (of only about an inch), washing and hair treatment. I did not colour, perm or rebond my hair. This is considered a very steep price even after exchanged to SGD and if i were to do it in SG!
Before i get on with the story, here's a look at my new expensive hair (with an imagery price tag of RM535 on it):
... which looks the same before and after!!! :(
This morning, i looked up the directory of The Gardens Mall and noticed that there are three hair salons here. Two were named after the owners, who are supposedly famous hair stylists. I do not really know these names but i reckoned that if someone was to name his hair salon with his own name, he must be a somebody in that industry. Normally such salons should be very expensive and hence i chose the third one, which uses Kerastase Hair Care products that i have used before in the salon in JB.
Before i went in to the salon, i checked the price list on display and saw that a hair cut for long hair was below RM100 and hair treatment was priced as "starting from RM130". As mentioned, since i am at The Gardens, i did expect the price to be more expensive than elsewhere, and i thought the listed price was ok (usually in JB, a hair treatment at a normal salon also costs above RM100).
I went there at around 3pm but it was fully booked. I then told the receptionist that i stay at the hotel here and i could be back anytime if she could just put me on the next available slot. She then told me to return at 5pm and asked for my contact number in case there was free slot before that time. I gave her my SG mobile number and then went shopping at Isetan and Robinson (and did not buy anything).
I went back to the hair salon on time and a female hair stylist attended to me. I told her that i only wanted to trim my hair and do a hair treatment. I told her that i wanna keep my fringe long but i needed it to be trimmed a bit for some volume because i have fine and limp hair.
She then asked me if i wanted just a hair treatment or including scalp treatment. I told her i wanted both hair and scalp treatment, and then she told me that she would use a new Kerastase hair treatment product that gives good all-in-one result.
The hair stylist then asked a girl to wash my hair and to perform the scalp and hair treatment. The entire treatment was done in less than an hour, and i did not really feel much difference about the treatment. (A few years back, i had signed up a hair treatment with a salon in JB for hair spa, and it was much better but at lesser price per treatment.)
After the treatment, the hair stylist trimmed my hair, and all she did was just trimmed off about an inch. As for the fringe, she hardly cut any off and just left it as that (because she said i should not cut it if i wanna keep it long). This means that after the cut, my hairstyle is still the same as before, with just an inch shorter only.
So in just less than two hours time, i splurged away RM535 on my hair, which i could have gotten at one-third of the price for similar thing in JB. In fact, i've done a haircut + washing + rebonding + hair treatment at the salon in JB before and it cost less than that! I think even the hair stylist also thought that this was expensive, as she told me not to wash my hair until the day after, and also gave me some samples of shampoo and conditioners that i should use for the following days so that the treatment will last.
To give them some credits, the overall attitude of the staff and hair stylists were good. They were very polite despite i was left waiting sometimes. What i did not like (besides the pricing) was that they did not bother about all the hair fragments that were on my face. The lighting in the salon was not very bright and i did not see that there were lots of hair on my face after the haircut. The hair stylist and the girls at the cashier did not help me to get rid of the hair or did not even tell me about it. I just went off like that and only noticed it after i went to the washroom (and i had already passed by many people in the mall). This wasn't good customer service for a hair salon.
(A regular hair stylist of mine at one of the salons in JB that i used to patronised would always make sure my face was cleaned after the cut. He once even took a piece of tissue paper and wanted to wipe off the hair for me, but i felt the action was a bit too intimate and i told him that i would do it on my own. After that, he always passed me a piece of tissue paper after every haircut.)
Seriously, i am not sure if this is the usual pricing for this salon or not. I wasn't shown a breakdown of the treatment price list and hence it makes me wonder how they came to that pricing. In JB, i've heard story about salons charging higher price if the customer is a Singaporean. I am not sure if this is the case here too, as they might have thought that i am a Singaporean.
Anyway, i was in lousy mood after this over-priced haircut. I didn't have the mood to go shopping again or to do my manicure. All i needed was some sugar to cheer myself up and hence i got myself two Big Apple donuts for dinner (which were VERY sweet).
Sigh, and there goes my diet plan.
Labels: life
