Dove My Hair My Say (March 8, 2019)

It’s 2019 already. There are already so many problems in this world that need our attention rather than nitpicking each other and nitpicking each other’s hair. We have a water, electricity, rice and infrastructure crisis all at the same time, so indeed, there’s no time to waste on useless thoughts and judgments.

There also should no longer be time spent on overthinking how others thought of our hair! I’m sure all of you reading this have had some sort of experience of being told that your hair is too short/long/curly/frizzy/light/dark. Like there is no hairstyle that is truly optimal. But then we really just can’t please everyone, and in the first place, we have a say on what we want to do with our hair. Dove understands that pain of many people, hence the new My Hair My Say campaign.

You may have already seen the pretty ladies in the TVC’s. But to further the campaign, they had an event held at Greenbelt 5 to have a gallery of the ambassadresses.

There was a short program with host Katz Salao.

Shortly, we get to see the galleries. The campaign resonates with me so much! When I was little, I had long hair, and I liked my hair down because I felt it was pretty to have it down. On TV all the shampoo commercial girls had their hair down. But my teachers often complained that my hair would cover my face, so against my will, they made my mom tie my hair into twintails everyday. I didn’t like it at all. I hated the fact more that I was often compared to this uber neat classmate that people often praised and painted as the model student. This classmate was one of the meanest and most conceited people in our batch, despite being immaculately neat and presentable. I thought: “What use is it to be so neat on the outside if you’re rotten on the inside?” And heck, I wasn’t even a train wreck! My hair was just moving a lot when I played.

But indeed, when we prejudice or stereotype someone based on their hair, not only is it wrong, but we often cannot have the full story if our mind is already clouded with a pre-conceived bias. In the gallery, as you’ll see in the photos, there are women with bright colored hair, looooong hair, blonde hair, and they fight the biases of society.

Michelle, who’s a business director, has unicorn hair, but isn’t afraid of judgment. Her work speaks for herself, not her hair.

Bea, who has curly hair, cares not that people compare her hair to pancit canton, because yeah, was there ever a person who disliked pancit canton?!

Bianca, who is a pretty morena, fights the stereotype that morenas can’t have blonde hair and sports her blonde hair with pride. This resonated with me so much because in the Philippines we have this crazy mindset that mestisas can do anything and everything but chinitas and morenas should limit their styling and makeup choices to certain shades and styles. I honestly think that there is always a tasteful way to sport a trend regardless of skintone, so I also wished that Pinoys would get out of that boxed mindset!

Farrah, who sports red hair, has been told she looks better with ‘normal’ hair. She thinks: “I say, why would I want to stick to normal?”

Maybelline has really beautiful long black hair, but gets told that it’s baduy. She’s right that it’s just subjective––I love it sooo much! I honestly wish my hair grew fast enough for me to have hair like her. I would even pay have hair like hers!!!

And of course, there was no shortage of Dove products on display. With their expansive range of products, in the technical aspect, the products will protect Pinays from hair damage, no matter what kind of style they want to go for. I personally like Dove for the exact reason that the haircare range is able to make chemically damaged hair soft and shiny again, but without making the scalp so oily. And at friendly prices! When I had my hair bleached, this was among the more affordable choices I had to keep my hair soft, as purple shampoo was too pricey to use everyday.

But of course, I now love Dove more for encouraging people to express themselves through their hairstyles without fear of judgment. We should be putting each other’s crowns instead of pulling each other down over really petty things.

Aaaand here are Dove managers as well as members of their hardworking agencies pose for a photo.

They also pose for a boomerang. This photo is mid boomerang!

And finally a photo with the beautiful Jackie Mañago!!! We came from the same department in UP, and though she might be unaware of it, she was the it girl. She’s beautiful, smart, and talented, so it was no wonder a lot of us looked up to her.

And a photo with Jacque!!! The last time we saw each other was a looong time ago (I think the past Dove event way back in November), so it’s so nice to see her again.