Sunday, February 2, 2020

TK TrichoKare review: Award-Winning Advanced Scalp Detox & Care Treatment

I pride myself in having super long hair, but keeping waist-length tresses comes with a lot of maintenance. It’s not just about using good shampoo and conditioner, though; Healthy hair begins from a healthy scalp, and it’s super important to keep your follicles clear of clogged gunk so that your locks can grow properly without any blockages.
A couple of years ago I did sign up for a scalp treatment package at a hair salon, but stopped after my 10 sessions were up because it was basically just a mask with steam and a wash-and-dry, which I can easily do at home on my own. I’ve since been going DIY-style with my own store-bought scalp masks, but am still open to in-salon treatments if they’re proven to work with scientific backing.




So of course I was happy to be invited down to TK TrichoKare to experience a proper scalp analysis and cleansing with their Award-Winning Advanced Scalp Detox & Care Treatment. Unlike some other places which either focus solely on herbal remedies or medicinal ones to treat hair loss, TK TrichoKare combines both - using a mix of premium European herbal hair treatments formulated by trichologists (hair doctors), customised according to your scalp’s needs and conditions.

Note that this treatment isn’t something you can just replicate at home, as it uses special machinery and technology.

P.S.: Read till the end for a special promo for the same treatment!

~ Consultation ~



You’ll first have to fill in a short questionnaire about your hair and life habits, before being given a scalp analysis. A scanning machine with up to 200 times magnification is used to determine the condition of your scalp. Now, brace yourself for a close-up of my oily scalp:


Eww


According to the Trichologist/consultant, my scalp condition isn’t too bad, with a good number of the active follicles producing 2 or more strands of hair each. However, there’s a fair bit of dead skin and sebum around them. These need to be cleared because the more blockages there are, the thinner your hair strands will become - and without proper maintenance, the follicles will close altogether. In addition to that, the spaces between my hair follicles are large - which means that I already have some clogged ones that can’t grow anything :( At this stage, there is still a possibility for them to be unclogged and sprout baby hair with targeted treatment such as scalp microneedling. During the consultation I was also taught how to effectively double-wash my hair and scalp - especially the crown where most of the oiliness happens - to keep it as clean as possible on a daily basis. Was also told to stick to shampoo for oily hair rather than anything else. It was nice to hear professional advice based on my hair and scalp conditions, as well and suggestions in my daily routine that I could carry out on my own, rather than them only promoting their own products and services.

~ Treatment in a VIP room ~



With my needs determined, I was then brought over to the treatment area.

Disclaimer: For this review, I was given the VIP room, which you’ll be entitled to if you spend a certain amount on your treatments and/or a long-time customer.




 AND THE ROOM IS SUPER NICE. It was a bit Victorian in style, with fancy curlicue wallpaper, cushioned wall panels, and chandeliers! Unlike the regular treatment stations, the ones here came with privacy partitions so you’ll get your own semi-private space. The chairs have a massage function too!

I was then treated to the TriOxy treatment. The treatment began with the hair specialist applying an OxyPeel acid formula with AHA and BHA to my scalp, with the purpose of exfoliating it without depleting hydration.



In tandem, an oxygen “jet” known as OxyJet was used for the acid to be better-absorbed, before letting it sit for around 15 minutes. During which I had a good time with the complimentary tea and snacks.

Tea, biscuits, and crackers

This was followed by a double-cleanse, with a nice head massage incorporated into it.


They were extremely careful, so there was no water dripping on my face and smudging my makeup



After my hair was blow-dried, a serum was applied to it, followed by an OxyNurient ampoule to my scalp. Oxygen was used again, but this time it was kind of “pumped” in, with a pulsating sensation.



Then, the balance ampoule serum was applied all over, while I sat under a photodynamic therapy machine which stimulates absorption, accelerates healing, and supports hair regeneration through laser light technology.

Yup, it’s that thing behind me which looks like something out of an alien sci-fi movie haha. It feels just a little bit warm, but not at all painful. In fact, no part of the treatment hurt at all.

Chilling with a comforting heated neck pad

After another blow-dry, we went back to the consultation room for a second scalp scan.



As you can see above, my scalp was thus effectively cleared of its previous grime - the “before” and “after” pictures speak for themselves. You can spot some of the baby hair emerging in this pic too. Imagine what regular, repeated treatments will do in facilitating more hair growth!

TK TrichoKare promotion by Sample Store



Post-treatment

If you, too, are keen on trying the Award-Winning Advanced Scalp Detox & Care Treatment by TK TrichoKare, head over to Sample Store and get your coupon here. With the discount coupon, you’ll be enjoying the treatment, along with a free travel-sized hair care kit & serum for just $40 nett (worth $745)!

Saturday, May 18, 2019

Taipei Day 4: Yao Yue Teahouse at Maokong, Tamsui, and Shihlin Night Market


Part 1: Modern Toilet Restaurant
Part 2: Taipei Story House, Jiufen & Northeast Coast, and Raohe Night Market
Part 3: Shifen Waterfall, lantern release, and Ningxia Night Market


~ Maokong/Yao Yue Teahouse ~


What's visiting an Oriental country without having a traditional tea tasting experience, right? There are tea houses within the main city area of Taipei but we decided to get the true blue experience by heading further out to Maokong hill, which is full of tea plantations and ancient tea houses.


The Taiwanese really love their cartoon characters; Even their cable cars are cute??

To get to Maokong you first have to take the Maokong Gondola near Taipei Zoo. There are 2 queues: one for normal gondolas and another for glass-bottomed ones. It's super super cheap, way cheaper than Singapore's cable car rides. The glass-bottomed ones are just slightly pricier so you might as well go for those to see all the greenery beneath your feet.


There are various stops along the way but if you're not going to the Zoo and aren't interested in temples, just go all the way and alight at Maokong Station. To make things move faster the staff will make you share the gondola with others, but during our ride the other passengers got off at the other stations so we had the whole cabin all to ourselves after a while :D



Once you reach you'll see a few stores selling food. But the teahouses are much further, up a hill. There are loads of taxis in the area so if you're not up for the trek up you can just flag one of them. We decided to walk up though, because it was our first time there. And because budget.


Nicholas was very pleased to be getting a photo against his favourite Misty Mountains (sorry inside LOTR-related joke)






There's a whole row of tea houses along the stretch but we picked Yao Yue Teahouse, which was...just our luck...all the way at the end. So the entire walk up from start to end took us about half an hour :0 A lot of sources online say that it's the best in the area (and supposedly one of the oldest?) so we stuck with our decision and continued walking on. No regrets! From the outside it already looked like the most "authentic"one, and the view was great to boot.




We picked some kind of Oolong tea and at about $15 for 2 people we thought it was quite pricey, but when the tea set came we were pleasantly surprised to find that the price included the entire tin of tea leaves, not just what's in your pot. Yep you can take the remainder home in a handy tin so it was actually reasonably affordable! And it's quite a substantial amount too.


Nicholas ordered xiao long baos and I got some red bean pancake which turned out to have the consistency of...roti prata?? It was good though!



There's a booklet with all the steps you need to take to make your tea and you can get unlimited refills of hot water for multiple brews. I kept almost knocking shit over because everything was so tiny and delicate, am obviously not cut out for this.



There's a shuttle from the tea house to Maokong Station but it comes at long intervals and we didn't want to wait, so we decided to make the long walk down. But luckily along the way we spotted this taxi driver picking plants (??) by the roadside and he agreed to bring us down.

Before heading taking the cable car back down we stopped for some tea ice cream. There are many stores selling the same thing at the same price but we picked this one because it looked the cosiest.



He didn't like mine (oolong I think) and I didn't like his (green tea) so we happily ate our own. They came with cute kitty tea biscuits! 


Tea eggs




Random cute clock near the zoo

~ Tamsui/Danshui ~

After that we headed over to Tamsui (or Danshui, in Mandarin) to stroll around by the waters and catch the sunset but alas the entire day had been rainy on and off so there wasn't much of a sunset to see. In general the place is scenic and relaxing but I'd skip it next time because it's just like strolling down East Coast Park HAHA.






Played some shooting games, which I sucked at. Nicholas won some mini pinwheel thing as a consolation prize HAHA.


Look at this. The face of a winner. HAHAHA.


It appears that I have no motor skills




BIG BABY!!!


 This sunset is like some sluts' clothes: barely there


Addicted to smelly tofu!!!

~ Shihlin Night Market ~

For all the hype that it's been given, Shihlin Night Market was a little underwhelming. As mentioned in an earlier post, Raohe was the best as it's much larger and feels less stifling. But there are some gems here you won't find at other night markets in Taipei - like snake meat. (And yes, we tried it!) So if it's your first visit to Taipei you'd probably want to drop by here on one night.

This was right outside the snake meat stall. So fat and grotesque!


I'm not very adventurous when it comes to food so snake meat probably wouldn't have been something I'd even think of trying if not for this fellow. But he likes trying strange things (insects, pig balls, you name it...) so I followed suit.


It actually tasted very much like pork!! The soup it came with was some typical cheena soup with red dates. There was also a little shot glass of snake bile, but it was mixed with honey so it didn't taste disgusting at all.


We weren't allowed to snap photos in the shop but we sneakily took one while the owner was busy talking on the phone. Ft. me frantically keeping watch HAHA


Shihlin also has fried milk cubes, which I didn't see at any of the other night markets we visited.



You'll see these candied fruit sticks all over Taiwan. They looked super appetising so I had to try them. Verdict: BIG MISTAKE


I love fruits but the candy layer is super hard and sickly sweet ._. NOT ENJOYABLE AT ALL

Played some games. Didn't win shit. HAHAHHA.



Defeated



I dunno. Just some very intriguing building. Looks so post-apocalyptic especially with the black sky


~ More random food and claw machines at Ximending ~



Didn't eat much at Shihlin so we headed back to Ximending to get more food at this random beef noodle/lu rou fan stall.


Very pleased that he finally got to have Taiwanese braised pork rice on our last night




A CUT SLOBBERING FATTY!!!!! If you look closely you can see the saliva dripping out of his mouth wtf.

His owner was on the phone and he was just LYING there splat on the floor letting just about anyone grope him. Clearly given up on life.

A street performer playing the harp!!!


Ended up in a random 24h claw machine shop not too far from our hotel. Rates are much cheaper than in Singapore (around 45c vs $1) and Nicholas was trying very hard to catch a Miffy for me but failed. I find playing at claw machines akin to gambling (ie mostly a waste of money) and after a few of his failed attempts I was like "Aiyah waste money lah, not like we're going to win anything". He gave up after a while and passed me 2 of his remaining coins to use up, and guess what....


I FREAKING CAUGHT IT IN A FEW TRIES HEHEHE


And the crazy thing is that I was actually aiming for another one (in orange) because I thought it'd be easier to catch. Which is just as well because blue is way nicer than orange lol.


Bought street food to bring back to our hotel for a final feast.


FYI I don't wear that headband out *fashion* okay, it's to keep my hair up when I wash my face


I love Taiwan. To more trips together!!!

Abrupt end of post with no proper conclusion or reflection because this series of Taiwan posts has been dragging on for way too long and I'm tired tired it's now 2019 which means that there's been a 10 month gap between the Day 3 post and this post oh my goodness.

Stay tuned for my next blog post which will probably happen in 2020 or something.

This blogging regularly thing is obviously not working out for me. :(