Because I want Rory's lashes...

Yes, I am jealous of Rory and her thick, long lashes.

I don't know if it's a Chinese thing, but I have yet to meet a Tsinay with long lashes that are curled naturally.

So when I saw Vivian sporting curled lashes, I asked her if she used an eyelash curler. "Pina-perm ko, sa 'Let's Face It'," she said.

There. Modern technology has given me an answer to sparse, straight lashes.

So the next day, I went to their Timog branch. I was told that the whole process would last for 1.5 hours, and I had to keep my eyes closed the whole time. Will it hurt? The lady in charge (Jessica) assured me it won't. So I lied down and welcomed the 1.5 hours of peace and quiet.

The first few minutes were bearable. Willa told me that Jessica rolled a strip of tape to hold my lashes in place, and used a tweezer to stick my lashes to the tape. I had my eyes closed the whole time, so I couldn't see what exactly she was doing. The tugging and pulling became a bit rough though, and for a few minutes, I was afraid that I might end up with no lashes at all. But Jessica assured me that my lashes were still in place. :)

It was when she applied the perming solution that my eyes started to hurt. Not stinging-hurt. More like how the eyes feel when they're dried out. I became teary eyed, which made it all the more difficult to hold my lashes in place. Even though I was told to keep my eyes closed, I opened them a bit just to check if I can still see. And when I opened them, the solution would seep under my eyelids, making my eyes hurt even more. So I'd close them again, and let the pain subside. But because of the pain, I would open my eyes again to check if I'm going blind. In the end, I decided to just keep my eyes closed. Otherwise, the cycle wouldn't stop.

After an hour, Willa came in to check up on me.

me: How do I look?
Willa: Mukha kang umiyak the whole day.

Great. Even with my eyes closed, I looked like I had sore eyes? Oh joy.

After 90 minutes, Jessica came in and removed all the gook and solutions on my eyelids. I asked for the mirror to see how they looked.

Hallelujah!!! I do have eyelashes!!!

The left lashes were more curled than my right lashes, because my right eye was tearing up the whole time, while my left eye was surprisingly unaffected.

Nobody notices my newly permed lashes, but I feel more dainty and feminine because of them.

I wish though, that I had chosen the lash extensions instead of the lash perming. Because my lashes are still sparse. Curled and pretty, but sparse pa rin.