Everyone will agree that whilst an education institution is no doubt necessary in our lives to prepare us for our future careers, there are some vital lessons in life one cannot learn in school. Barring the usual overly sentimental responses like love, life and friendship, there is also what I call the Singaporean heel. Our Achilles heel.

Allow me to demonstrate.

Okay, pretend you have hundred bucks. Now you have plenty of things you want to buy, all of which are in the above-thirty-dollar range. The headphones provided along with your brand new music player is uncomfortable and ugly (now the latter is a very valid reason to discard a pair of headphones if you're a girl). You know you need a good pair of headphones for travelling, however, a good pair of headphones would cost you half of your given sum. Browsing through all authorised headphones distributors at your local mall has confirmed this. Dispirited, you go home, only to find the headphones you've been eyeing selling at those unauthorised retail outlets -- for half the price.

What do you do?

Do you:
a) Sod it all and go for the more expensive product available at authorised distributors
Rationale: Authorised distributors are trusted, so you're sure to get a genuine product, plus servicing if needed
b) Look at the packaging - hmm seems okay Yeah lao ban I want one!
c) Give both choices an evil eye and spend the money somewhere else instead (option not available)

I'll make an assumption here that most people would go for option b, especially students with small wallets and an even smaller wad of pocket money. Why? It's cheap, looks similar to the one sold in the store, and hey, more money can be directed elsewhere!

This is what I term as the Singaporean Mentality : The love for all things cheap / bargains.

Now, thrift is a perfectly good trait to have if you're trying to decide between at regular $2 wastepaper basket (if you go to Daiso that is), or a bloody gold one (I wouldn't put it past royals to get one). It is, unfortunately, NOT a good trait to have if you're seriously contemplating totally nixing the plastic wastepaper basket and just piling it on the ground. It is also not a good trait to have when you're deciding between a trusted brand's hair straightener and a cheap, unreliable one, if those reports about straighteners blowing up in people's hands are anything to go by. And it most certainly is a downright awful trait to have if it causes you to buy suspicious electronics for a lower price and then return home, google it, and find that the version you have is yet another cheap knock-off.

Pardon me. Right now I am feeling slightly hostile towards China due to their ignominous, shameless copying and mass manufacturing of fakes. I'm very sorry if you happen to be from China, because while I understand that China does have some reputable companies with high-quality goods, the sheen of China's emerging industries and the glimmer of its reputation is somewhat tarnished by these black sheep.

Though, quite understandably, it is my fault in the first place for buying cheap products.

WHEN WILL I EVER LEARN??????

So yup. If you think my blog is pretty senseless and bimbotic, and that I am a pompous, overbearing git, please at least learn this lesson before discarding whatever I have to say. Don't. Ever. Buy. Cheap. Products. Especially products with prices that are really really different from ones sold at the local authorised seller, like Harvey Norman. You'll live to regret it (Like I am now, the salient thought running through my mind is:OHMIGOD can I still bring this through the airport will they confiscate it at customs for being counterfeit but I thought it was real is that a reasonable defense ARGHH no I don't have aussie $220 to pay the damn fine ohmigod how how how ARGHHHHH I hate bloody china knockoffs!).

Advice before buying electronics:
1) Do your research. Ensure you know exactly how the product looks like, the accompanying accessories, the details such as the thickness of cord, the smoothness of the pads (Is it wrinkled or smooth?), the brightness of colours, the colour of the logo and its placement, the exact shape of the thing.
2) Scope online websites so as to get a rough estimate of the price
3) Check, check and recheck that the product you have corresponds to what you know. Look out for any spelling errors on the logo (e.g. Recently I saw a pair of ELECOOM headphones, and I knew they were fake straightaway as the genuine product is spelt ELECOM.) Also check that the spelling of the logo is exact to the genuine product (e.g. no caps where there shouldn't be caps, no extra dashes) This is what I call the Logo Test.
4) If the product is sold at those small retail shops, ask if you can open the box and see the product. Ensure that the plastic is sealed firmly, with no gaps.
5) Check that the 'L' and 'R' is printed correctly on the ear pieces, it should not be upside down.
6) This is very mean but check whether the object is made in China. Do not buy if 1) the object is sold at a price that is way lower than what is quoted at authorised sellers 2) the quality of the product is suspect 3) accompanying accessories (if there are) and 3) The product has failed the logo test, and the colours are way off, then don't buy it.

Of course there are other things you can check like the packaging, but often I find that unless you're very familiar with the genuine product and its packaging, you can't tell the diff between the real deal and the fake. So the logo test is by far the best way to tell.

I took yet another plunge and rebonded my hair yesterday. Boy am I ever so relieved to iron those defiant waves back to stick-straight submission! See that, waves? Thou shalt not exist on Chanel's head unless you want to soak in chemicals and ironed like common laundry!

Unfortunately, the salon I frequent recently moved to Millenia Walk. Thank goodness I called them up to enquire about the price, because they would've charged me 300+ without batting an eye. Sodding daylight robbery, I tell you. I'd rather spend those 300 bucks on a new camera (eyeing a canon camera) instead of my hair, however argably important my hair is.

I then went about Marine Parade, trying to find a decent price for my rebonding job. The best price for the L'Oreal extenso one was $170, cut included. No, wait, that was second-best, but I had already booked an appointment there. And the salon staff seemed friendly and honest enough, so I can't very well back out without feeling guilty. Damn. The best price was $140, cut and treatment included at a place called cut and curl.

I spent the next half an hour rationalising that since the charge is too cheap, and the product(s0 themselves are expensive, and adding on utility expenses as well as labour, there is no possible way they would charge peanuts and expect to survive. It's business. They've been operating there for about 5 years, so if they offer such cheap packages, either the product itself is defective or they use normal straightening cream and try to bluff impressionable young people like me who, upon flipping the pages of a glossy Seventeen magazine, suddenly become convinced that wearing expensive perfume to prom is a MUST. There. Rationalisation completed. Guilt alleviated. Wallet now sporting a very large laceration and a jagged wound.

Anyway the whole point of this leading-in story which is much less interesting than how I envisioned it in my head is that I paid bloody $170 for my rebonding job, and it damn well better be well-maintained and awesome. I walked out of the salon, absolutely happy with my straight hair and thinking that, yep, three days will melt away. And the new moon, like a silver bow -

Yes, that was from Midsummer Night's Dream. A totally random and shameless interjection meant to prove that I did study for the Literature exam. Where was I?

Oh, right. The whole lalaland bombz thing, wherein I thought things will go smoothly. Nuh-uh. With my luck, everything goes pear-shaped. Shit I loathe my luck, I wish I could tear it out like a leathery skin and cast it away, preferably into a marine trench where a hapless shark can eat it and become shark's fin soup. No, no, not a shark, sharks are endangered already. What about cancer? Yeah. Cancer can eat my bad luck up and die and this animal disease will no longer be able to claim someone's aunt's life.

It was only Day One after rebonding, and my mum already noticed my oily hair. Ugh. Why can't my hair oils be evenly distributed along the entirety of my mane? I reckon I'll be able to save on frizz-taming serums, leave-in conditiners, treatment masks, conditioners, salon shampoos; the whole gamut and spend the money, instead, on...on... Holy crap I just realised that I spend the most on my hair. On a string of dead cells coated with keratin. My life is so fulfilling. My money is sooo well spent. Can't you feel the sarcasm oozing off every word like snot?

Yeah, my similies definitely need some work.

Since it's only Day One, with two days of oiliness to go, I figured I can't keep sticking to the MyNew-Haircare-Product-Is-Too-Rich excuse. I can't go with the But-I-washed-my-hair-I-just-exercised-a-lot excuse either, because that is a complete bald-faced and blatant lie, since my mum very well knows I haven't exercised a day in my life since the conception of Miss PC and Mr Internet, as well as the very gender-confused Novel.

Thankfully, Mr Google has a solution. Introducing....dry shampoo!

I know. I wasn't familiar with dry shampoo beforehand either, due to preconceived notions of shampoos being all liquid and wash-off, preferably sudsing with loads of lather, zankyou. Heck, I didn't even know it existed until last year, when I was worried of my shampoo being too harsh and stripping the natural oils away. Excessive vanity, thy name is Chanel.

Obviously, ever since the Egg Hair Mask Disaster of 2008, the discovery was met with an appropriate volume of disbelief as well as scorn. Ha, dry shampoo? As if! You're not gonna take advantage of a poor wide-eyed, albeit pimply, teenager's trust and turn her lovely tresses into gladiator spikes! Or dandruff! Or hair sludge (Is that possible? If you kow, don't answer that, please. Some things are better left unknown.) Or something of equal horrendous, disastrous, catastrophic, cataclysmic proportions and magnitude!

Well, there is that, those risks...but I was deperate to escape detection since I wasn't supposed to rebond my hair (and amazingly, my parents didn't notice. I had a perfectly good explantion prepared, which includes gesticulation as well as some rather far-fetched theories on the combined abilities of a simple hair dryer and a comb producing straight locks. Rebond? Moi? Non, non. It's mind over matter [herein I insert a charming smile and try to distract them with my green painted nails. Don't arch your eyebrow. I think green is a perfectly respectable colour for nails]).

Oh well. At least I don't have to go out and purchase a bottle - cornmeal (whatever that is), starch, and baby powder will do very well. It's easily obtainable...of no cost...Hm.

At least the hugeass bottle of Johnsons and Johnsons languishing at the back of my closet will get its one silver moment of glory. I'm doing a good deed. Yes, I'm getting pretty adept at lying to myself and rationalising, I know. It's an ability magically acquired during O level year.

The powder is innocent. Is innocuous, sitting calmly in my palm like tufts of icing sugar. I took a breath, squeezed my eyes shut, and hoped for the best while sprinkling the powder liberally over a small section of my fringe. I figured that this way, I can easily do damage control. If it works, I try it out the next day, yippee for non-detection and sayonara head that looks like a BP oil spill. If it doesn't...well, a rather thick fashion magazine told me that grey, apprently, is an 'in' colour as a dye, because it is 'chic', 'unique' (a maybe-euphemism for 'downright awful', right up there with 'repulsive', 'repugnant' and 'odious-but-I'm-too-polite-to-say-so') and...current? I forget the exact words, but I do remember the word 'chic'. Lady Gaga dyed her hair grey. Lady Gaga is considered to influence the fashion industry, and is fashionable, nevermind the numerous tabloids who dismiss her style as kooky or plain weird. So, grey is good. Grey is not so bad. Grey is - HOLY CRAP IT WORKED!

Within seconds the powder separated the clumped-together hair and the hair is dry and smooth once more, feeling clean, although albeit discoloured (i.e. grey). It all falls out better than I could hope for! (Cue fireworks and celebratory chocolate.)

Alright, ladies. So now you know what to do during those three tortuous days of being unable to wash your hair even though your hair is repulsingly oily! Broken down into FOUR easy steps:

1.Simply dump 2-3 tablespoons of your powder of choice (I used baby powder, Google says alternatives include salt [but salt tends to cling to extremely oily hair, so I don't recommend that], cornmeal, oat, flour... ), then massage it into your scalp (and into oily parts of hair, if necessary. I did that to my fringe, and it worked out fine).

2.Comb it through the oily parts, and add more if needed (to make things easier, just add until you can separate individual strands from a clump of oily hair).

3. Afterwards, let it set for about 5-10 minutes. This is to let the powder absorb the oil.

4.Then, turn your head upside down and brush your hair out. Try doing it over a sink, because it can get a little messy. If you wish to be quick, though, you can use a hair dryer to blow the powder away. I can't say for sure when everything is brushed away, but I think if you just keep brushing for two to three minutes, everything will be more or less gone. Don't worry about it building up in your hair -- it's no different from the leave-on conditiners we all put. Just make sure that the grey is no longer visible.

Admittedly, I was initially apprehensive about the powder making me look like I had a case of chronic dandruff, but I'm happy to report that it didn't happen. It worked wonderfully, leaving that section of hair feeling clean and dry, no longer sticking together in clumps like oily hair. It's cheap, good, and excellent for those days when you're too busy to wash your hair, or if your hair is extremely oily and washing once a day just does not suffice. It's not recommended to wash your hair twice a day anyway, since shampoos strip your hair of oils, making it dry and brittle. Trust me on this.

A word of caution, though (and a little common sense) - Don't replace the normal (liquid) shampoo with dry shampoo. Well, I guess you can if you want to, but there's always the hygiene preference factor. Nothing quite beats lather and smelling nice and fresh like you preferred brand of shampoo. I heard that during confinement some expecting mothers use the dry shampoo for about one week and it worked out fine, so I guess the maximum length of time you can use it is one week? No idea, but it sounds quite...unsatisfactory.

Moral of story: Dry shampoo works. It is effective, and its effects are similar to that of shampoo, minus the oil-stripping. It is definitely faster than shampooing and conditioning, a major plus if you're rushing for time. But at the end of the day, I still love my normal L'Oreal shampoo more.