We’ve heard many good things about Picasso Hair Studio from friends and reviewers so we’ve decided to send Agent S down for a perm and colour to see if the hype about Picasso is justified!
August 2015
Hi I’m Agent S.
I’m not a beauty blogger, Instagram is more my cup of tea, and by day, I’m an Art Director in a creative agency. It’s been peak period for the past few months, which has resulted in my hair being ridiculously flat. The kind when you wake up and you wonder what you ever did to have had Volume walk out of your life.
Left: My very talented playwright friend, Nabilah. Right: Me of Meh Hair.
On top of that, I haven’t coloured my hair in ages, so you can also see how my roots are trying to hide from the world. Given I have client meetings every other day, I needed to do something. Fast.
An emergency call to Agent G (codename: Fairy Godmother), and in she came to save the day suggesting I try out Picasso Hair Studio.
Now, I’m the sort of person who’s nervy around unfamiliar hairdressers and hair studios. I’m reluctant to let someone untested (at least to me) touch my hair.
I suppose it stems from when I was 2. And bald. I assure you, I wasn’t rocking it. Thus, a good haircut is essential for me to wake up looking half-decent.
Thus, the requisite online check: Picasso’s Review Page on Beauty Undercover
- Customer hair photos looked legit.
- Reviews looked real.
- Place looked nice.
Alright, here we go then!
Part I: The Picasso Perm Experience
The moment you sit down, there’s service with a smile and a question of your beverage choice – which is presented along with hand cream and a moist towel. Lovely!
Picasso carries its art theme through the entire studio, with its easel hair stations and colourful painting.
What I like best is this Customer Consultation Sketch Sheet hanging with a wooden palette.
My very experienced hairstylist, Jesly, sketched for me what type of perm I would be having and where the curls were.
There is also a scale for your skin tone (warm to cool) which was helpful particularly for colouring.
During the consultation, Jesly also showed me a plethora of pictures and styles to choose from.
With her clear explanation and professional advice, it was easy to choose the type of curl that suits my face shape best. As I wanted an easy-to-manage hairstyle with quite a bit of volume, the Rebonding Perm suited me best.
As I underestimated the time taken for the entire perming process, my friend taking photos for me had to leave prematurely. Regrettably, this means no photos of the perming process. (My bad!)
What I can do, however, is ask for your patience in taking an imaginary walk with me:
- After the thorough consultation, Jesly applied some pretreatment to ensure that my hair is well protected during the rebonding / perming process.
- Once the pre-treatment was washed off, the straightening lotion and perming lotion are then applied at different sections to achieve the final rebonding perm effect. This is the first time I’ve heard of and tried such a hybrid perm / rebonding service. From what I’ve heard, Picasso Hair Studio is one of the first to introduce such a combination.
- The chemicals are then left to penetrate for about 15-20 minutes before I’m brought over for a hair wash. As my hair is damaged more at some areas than at others, the chemicals are left for varying degrees of time to avoid excessive damage
- After which Jesly uses the iron and curlers in combination to tame the top part of my hair and create the appropriate volume at the bottom.
- Next, she applies the neutralizer to fix the curls and after a final hair wash and blowdry…
For some casual shots a few hours later:
A proper before and after comparison:
Overall, really enjoyed my first experience at Picasso Hair Studio.
Other than the beautiful perm, another thing that really stood out is their willingness to share their hair knowledge with me.
Jesly took at least 10-15 minutes teaching me the technique on how to blow dry my hair properly to get the best out of my curls.
This is how it looks like at the end of a normal workday 2 months after the perm (without blowdrying)!
I’m in the middle with the same lemon bag
Part II: Hair Colouring
Before Colouring
As you can see in the above picture, my hair roots were showing due to months of neglect. I considered doing the hair colour at the same time as the perm, however Jesly advised me to come again about 2 weeks later to minimize damage to the hair and get the best results for both the colouring and the perm.
Impressed with the results of her perm, I made another appointment for hair colouring.
Jesly talked me through my choices, and gave her suggestions as well.
As the previous perm would have somewhat damaged the hair, bright vibrant colours or ash colours that require bleaching were not ideal. Bleaching would only damage the hair further and cause the perm to loosen faster.
I appreciate how she explained her recommendations systematically, taking into consideration my hair health, skin tone, lifestyle and preferences.
As I wanted something more subtle this time around, something that would brighten the curls and be versatile enough for me to carry off different looks, I chose a shade of brown based on her recommendations.
Here we go!
As hair colour at the roots is different from the rest of my hair, it is important to section it properly to ensure an even colour later on!
After about 15-20 minutes, hair colour is finally applied throughout my hair.
To encourage penetration of the hair colour, the hair is wrapped to warm up the hair with my body heat.
20 minutes later, it is time for the hair wash!
Here, Jesly makes a final check on the hair colour after the wash.
A little more blowdrying…
And we are almost done!
Before & After:
Before Colour
After Colour
More shots from my talented photographer:
Conclusion
I genuinely enjoyed my time at Picasso Hair Studio.
The whole team was skilled, and down-to-earth. They were able to clarify any queries I had and gave very clear and simple explanations. There was also never any hard-sell or pressure to commit to more than what I came for. They were also rather friendly and thoughtful throughout the entire time I was there.
This is a salon I would readily recommend my friends and needless to say, I’ll be back 
If you are interested to find out more about Picasso Hair Studio, read reviews and see their customer photos here: http://www.beautyundercover.sg/hair/picasso-hair-studio-bugis-haji-lane/
PS. Jesly may be on maternity leave for a couple of months from September to October 2015 but we hear that stylist Jeremy is just as good with rebonding and perm as well!