Will you let a hairdressing student cut your hair?

Yes, if it's a student at Toni & Guy Academy. They can't go wrong.

I first read about cheap haircuts when I spent the night in London before going to Rome in March. Then last week, I got the phone number of Toni & Guy from Mel and quickly scheduled an appointment. Before I called them up, I searched online for reviews, which were generally very positive.

With a voucher from a magazine, the haircut and/or color is free, but without it, you pay £5. Although £5 (~P460) is a lot of money for a haircut in Manila (where the cheapest haircut I know is 50p and my usual spending on a haircut is £2, tips included), I gave in. I don't know of a haircut in London cheaper than £5 (I saw that in a shop in either Dalston or Shoreditch), so I thought it was alright since I had not been to the salon since January.

There were about 25 women and a handful of men who came on the same time slot. We were divided according to the classes who needed us and what we wanted done. I only had square layers (named after the technique, not the shape of the hair, I think) done because I wanted to keep the length (of course, they snipped an inch off the end to keep it healthy).

The whole process, from shampoo to blowdry took three hours because Sam, who was assigned to me, took her time cutting and her teacher had to inspect her work every time she does something, even if it's just sectioning the hair. But the result was fabulous. Of course, when I washed my hair, I had to deal with the same big hair, bigger than before evenm because the weight shifted upwards. But the shape is nice. Now I'm tempted to buy the product they used on me.

I took these images one after the other when I got back to my room. Do I look older or younger? What a difference a top and a hair pin make!