Last November 7, 2011 together with mother Ricky Reyes and 35 Philippine delegates we went to Macau to participate and compete in the 15th APHCA(Asia Pacific Hairdressers & Cosmetologists Association) International Competition. The venue for the event was at the Venetian Hotel & Convention Center. Three years back the we also joined Ricky Reyes in Guangzhou, China for the same competition my blog post about it: Beauty Tour with mother Ricky.
The APHCA(Asia Pacific Hairdressers & Cosmetologists Association) participated by 40 different countries all over Asia Pacific some of them are: Hong Kong, Singapore, Thailand, China, Taipei, Taiwan, Sri Lanka, Australia, Korea, Japan, Mongolia, Malaysia, Bangladesh, Macau, Indonesia and the Philippines. I noticed that their are a lot of countries who joined and participated these year than 3 years ago including 6 from Europe. I saw Spain, Portugal, Germany, Russia, France and many more. According to the organizers the purpose of the competition is to stimulate the cooperation and development among the salon industry players and as a result to unite the Hairstyle and Cosmetology industries in Asia Pacific region and uplift their skills to next level.
Or very own Ricky Reyes is the president of the association. Every year the Philippines compete in these prestigious international hair competition and we do not go home empty handed. These year Stephani Ilagan won 1st runner up in the Bridal Make-up category, while Nitz, Ester Garcia, Peping de Guzman, Antonio Agustin, Ronald Tuano, Vicente Hisola, Racquel Pangilaga (all from Manila and Luzon) and our very own Giovanni Luage (Expression Salon-ILIGAN CITY) and my brother Daniel Lois Buddy Congson received honorable mentions for various categories such as Evening Hairstyle, Evening Make-up, Bridal Make-up, Cut and Creative Color.
Initially, I went there to be a judge in one of the categories but I became an impromptu model for my brother, Daniel Lois Buddy Congson for the evening make-up and for Peping de Guzman for the evening hairstyle booth gained honorable mentions for their superb work. It was a very different experience for me this year really an eye opening. I learned that models work in these kind of competitions are no joke, they have to bare wearing outrageous outfits, super high heels, big and heavy head piece, and artistic high fashion hair color and hair style. They need to carry and present the look matched with what the hairstylist or make-up artist envisioned it to be. No runway walk needed for models here, they just need to stay put and when judges approach them they have to show the work of art make by their hairstylist & make-up artist as creatively as they can possibly do it.
Judging these huge event is very different, they have judges from participating countries and assign them to different categories each of the judges has 10+ lucky cards, and the model who has been given the most number of lucky cards will win the category.
I was really at awe with the creativity of hairstylist and make-up artist coming from different countries and culture.
So, ’til next year we might go to either Korea or Cambodia they’ve yet to finalize who will host 2012 APHCA Hair Olympics
Last November 2008 I had the privilege to go to Guangzhou, China & Hongkong together with Ricky Reyes (which in our industry we all call Mother Ricky) as one of the Philippine delegates for the 12th APHCA Hair & Make-up International Competition.
The delegates of the Philippines for the said international competition wearing “barong” and “filipiniana.” The ones wearing black are the competitors representing our country. The rest of us are assigned to judge specific categories that do not have Philippine competitors to avoid bias. I was amazed by the reaction of delegates from other country because they liked our “barong and filipiniana” and even pose for a picture with us.
Mother Ricky is the current President of APHCA (Asia Pacific Hairdressers & Cosmetologists Association). As a filipino I’m very proud that from the rest of the participating Asian countries the President of the said Association is from the Philippines.
The competition day a lot of competitors from different countries joined. Each category is only given 30 minutes to finish example evening make-up, the models are in their gowns already but the make-up is done right there in the stage.
Here are some of the photos of other competitors from different countries:
It was an eye opening experience for me because there I saw a lot of people from different countries and we were all connected on one thing the “beauty industry.” I met delegates from Australia, Taiwan, Thailand, Singapore, Macau, China, Korea, Cambodia, Hong Kong, Sri Lanka, Mongolia, Taipei and Japan.
Our hair style and make-up are not far away from that of the other competing countries we have the trophies to prove that. But by attending that international event i gained new and interesting knowledge about our industry. I have learned new techniques in make-up, hair extension and eyelash extension that i brought back here in our home town General Santos City.
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