Rocio Trillo. Photographed by Rojan Maguyon.
Four modern muses redefine what it means to have volumized, hydrated hair and how they measure confidence not by how much space it takes up, but by how freely it moves.
Throughout history, hair has served as a means to tell stories of identity, pride, and resilience. In pre-colonial Visayas, long braids and extensions reaching down to the ankles were seen as symbols of status and familial honor. In parts of Mindanao, cutting one’s hair signified mourning or loss in battle, while the early Tagalogs of Luzon valued cleanliness and self-care, often bathing more than most of us do today.
Centuries later, the Filipino approach to hair has since looked beyond its cultural significance, becoming also a testament to one’s wellbeing, mood, and style. And despite foreign hair trends and influences, the modern Filipino hairstyle has remained true to its inherently wavy and volumized look.
Alongside drag performer Arizona Brandy, content creators Belle Rodolfo and Ulya Nikita, Rocio Trillo, and Anna Tongco, Unilever R&D Technical Project Lead, the five women share the rituals that keep their hair healthy and expressive, and how Cream Silk’s Hydration & Volume Salon Renewal Mask allowed them to elevate their natural manes’ hydrated and volumized looks.
Belle Rodolfo
“I think in recent years, my hair care has only become more tailored to my personal hair needs,” she shares. “Previously, I would use shampoo and conditioner every day, but then, as I got to know different kinds of treatments, I started to get my hair colored relentlessly, so I had to learn what factors like sulphate-free mean.”
As a beauty editor-turned-creator with a decade of experience, she recalls how being in lockdown allowed her to slow down from exploring different colors and styles. This allowed her to focus on her hair’s health instead, tailoring her shower routines with products that can restore and enhance the hydration and volume of her hair strands every day. “It’s impossible for me not wash my hair every day. And to further prevent any damage to my hair, I even stopped putting my hair up. So if it means I have to work out with my hair not tied, at least my hair is healthier than before.”
Rodolfo also shares that slowing down her hair experiments encouraged her to grow out and embrace her naturally straight hair, while reserving her desire to wear more curled and voluminous styles for special occasions as her way of maintaining her hair’s overall health and strength.
Tongco echoes these sentiments as well. She says, “It’s all about finding that balance. It’s not right for hair to be too dry or to have too much moisture within it. Too much water makes hair prone to tangling and breakage; too little can cause cracks to develop, making it vulnerable to outside aggressors.”
Arizona Brandy
From the Cubao drag scene to becoming a fan-favorite on Season 2 of Drag Race Philippines, as well as Drag Race Philippines: Slaysian Royale, Arizona Brandy stands out as a creative who brings performance and personality to every look.
Beneath the glam, however, Brandy shares how their hair story is defined by what happens when faces are bare, and the wigs are off. “As a drag queen, we’re always wearing wigs, so the damage to my hair is more on my scalp,” they say. “So even though I also take care of the wigs that I have, I still make sure to use products that accommodate what’s underneath.”
Whether on or off stage, Brandy has learned to see their hair health as an essential to their self-expression, sharing how their nighttime routine became a ritual for them to rejuvenate the hair beneath the wig with products that work to hydrate and volumize their hair for the next day. “Sometimes we need volume in life, too. Even if you’re not a drag queen, everyone has the right to look good.” Tongco echoes, “It’s not just about making hair big, it’s about allowing it to be light, to move freely and reflect the shape it naturally takes. That’s what real, healthy volume looks like.”
Rocio Trillo
“I think my approach to hair care has leaned on being less is more,” says Trillo. As a former courtside reporter, Trillo reflects on the number of products she had to use and apply before each game, emphasizing how heat-based tools and heavy stadium humidity became a growing concern for her hair’s health. Trillo also mentions that being under the sun and other natural aggressors have prompted her to pay closer attention to the products she uses for her everyday hair care.
“We have a lot of consumers who have naturally wavy and curly hair, so we wanted to look at hair that has a bit more movement, and that involves the shape of one’s hair structure as well as the condition on the outside,” adds Tongco. “The shape of your hair will determine its movement and flexibility, but at the same time, because we live in a tropical country that’s very humid, one of the problems we tried to solve was how we can give our consumers that volume and bounce while also keeping it protected from aggressors that are present in the Philippines.”
Though Trillo now focuses on balancing content creation along with her studies in International Relations, she also reflects on how her daily lifestyle encouraged her to find products that protect and maintain her hair’s hydration, all while adding extra volume and bounce to her naturally wavy hair. “So I really love to use Cream Silk or any type of nourishing product for my hair because I’m always out in the city. I also walk to school, and the pollution really takes a toll on my hair, so taking care of it is really important.”
Ulya Nikita
Content creator Ulya Nikita is known for her playful hair experiments with length, curl, and style, turning her mane into an echo of the mood she finds herself lingering in. But between shoulder-length waves and pixie cuts, she often shares how being able to let her hair down gives her a sense of power and femininity. “I usually like my hair away from my face,” she says, “but whenever my hair is untied, I also just feel so powerful, beautiful, feminine.”
While she usually leaves her choice of hairstyles up to her mood, Ulya is now focused on growing her hair out for 2026. And as she balances the responsibilities of being both a content creator and mother in her day-to-day, Nikita expresses how her approach to hair care remains unchanged, earnestly adding Cream Silk as her solution to achieving bouncy and volumized hair, regardless of the hairstyle she adopts.
Tongco adds, “I think a lot of people assume that because we’re in Southeast Asia, where loads of other people have stick-straight hair, that that’s all our hair can be, which is not the case. In the same way that we’re not boxed in one beauty standard, Cream Silk’s Hydration & Volume Salon Renewal Mask encourages people to have a look at what their hair naturally is, what they feel that it can be, and to embrace that.”
Discover more about Cream Silk’s Hydration & Volume Salon Renewal Mask campaign through Allure Philippines Volume 3: The Truth Issue.
Visit Cream Silk Philippines on Facebook and Instagram to learn more.
