Pin builds an empire

Author: Dinna Chan Vasquez
Column: Life & Entertainment

Please don’t go to stylist Pin Antonio if you just want a little hair trimming.

“Sayang naman [it’s such a waste]. I ask them to allow me to style their hair because that’s what I do best,” says Antonio, the creative force behind Salon de Manila and Antonio’s Hairdressing and the woman who styles the hair of many celebrities, including Sharon Cuneta, Agot Isidro, Bing Loyzaga, Valerie Concepcion, Mariel Rodriguez and many others.

And she is right. A session with Antonio would cost anywhere from P1,500 to P2,000 and that’s excluding color.

When Antonio styled Rodriguez’s hair into an asymmetrical bob about two years ago, women went to their favorite salons and asked for the same haircut. The style eventually gave birth to many mutations and versions.

Antonio was a 17-year-old fine arts student at the University of Sto. Tomas when she and her sister Ruby Tubig decided to embark on a career of beautifying women, specifically cutting hair. The sisters became popular for their edgy styles and bold colors and beauty-conscious women were lining up at the door. When Ruby passed away, Pin became the sole proponent of styles that were way ahead of their time.

Every year, Antonio goes to London and the US for further training. She has even trained on doing hair extensions in Hollywood. Personal appointments with her are much sought after. On the day of this interview, one of her clients at Salon de Manila in Tomas Morato was a young Filipina mother based in South Korea who is married to a US service man.

“Swerte lang po [I was lucky],” says the woman about being able to book an appointment with the “Stylist to the Stars.”

In just a few minutes, the woman’s hairstyle had taken shape and she looked like a different person, even if the cut wasn’t completed yet and she needed her hair to be colored.

The woman says jokingly that if her husband sees her, he would get her pregnant again.

“I am happy when I get the reaction that my haircut has changed a person’s life,” says Antonio. “Because that is why I’m here.”

Throughout the week, Antonio goes around Salon de Manila’s six branches to meet with women who are seeking life-changing hairstyles.

Antonio explains that she believes that a woman’s hair should be her crowning glory.

“It’s just like makeup, you won’t go out of the house if your lipstick is not applied properly. A woman shouldn’t also go out of the house with messy hair unless that is the style she is going for,” she adds.

Her pet peeve is when women go out of the house with wet or damp hair.

“Damp hair exposes the shaft to dirt and pollution, which causes frizz. If you go out with damp hair, you will have a bad hair day and you will not look polished,’’ says Antonio, who on the day of this interview is wearing a skull cap with a ribbon on her short spiky hair.

These days, Antonio takes great pride not only in her reputation as one of the country’s premier stylists but also in the fact that her son Adlai, who is in his 20s, seems to be following in her footsteps.

Adlai, whose clients include Kyla, Claudine Barretto and Carmina Villaroel, has trained in Malaysia and Singapore and learned cutting from his father and coloring from Lilia Lacbayen, Salon de Manila’s head colorist.

“At first, I did not expect that I’d be in the hair industry. Since my mom is in it, I tried giving it a shot,” says Adlai, a Culinary Arts graduate.

“Then when I’ve tried it I felt it on my veins that I would excel on this field... that creativity is already in the blood of Antonio ancestry. That’s when I realized that precision haircutting and creative coloring is similar to cooking... the clients choose their dish; make it superb with the right mix and match the ingredients to suit their taste and sooner than you know, they’ll just keep on coming back to you for more,” he says in Salon de Manila’s Web site.

Antonio’s daughter, 19-year-old Malkha, is into hair extensions. Her clients include Bing Loyzaga, Amy Perez, Asia Agaoili and Angel Locsin. Ruby’s daughter Scion, a UST Fine Arts graduate, is a promising makeup artist who has done the faces of Tessa Prieto Valdes and Mariel Rodriguez.

“I’m very proud of them,” says Antonio. “And I am happy that they went into this on their own, without being forced. Loving what you do is very important.”

To book a haircut with Pin Antonio herself, call 0917-8268954 or 893-1308-09.

Source: Manila Standard Today

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