Ludy's Beauty (Parlor)

She was the town’s best hairdresser for decades but due to the silent outrage of COVID-19, her business perished. The pandemic is so devastating for those like her who make a living by touching people, literally speaking.

“At my age, I can still work but my passion and livelihood were lost as quick as a wink of an eye,” she says. In late 2019, Ludy’s Beauty Parlor was then transferred to Chua Commercial Complex which is adjacent to the Municipal Public Market from its former location for almost half a century along Rajah Soliman Street fronting Michael Shopping Center. At her age, this petite granny (she didn’t even reach 5 feet, I think.) is one of the towering figures in the business in San Jose, Occidental Mindoro, this scribe’s place of birth.

Her parents, Pedro Reotan of Naga City and Marcela Razon of Manila, migrated to Pandurucan (San Jose’s name of yore) in the early 50s. Ludy was born in Manila on June 3, 1943. Her old man, from being a Malacañang Palace employee during the Philippine Commonwealth period, was assigned to Occidental Mindoro as part of the Philippine-American Program for Malaria Control in the Philippines. He was a Bicolano.

I was able to bump into her while attending the 70^th birth anniversary of Mrs. Liwayway Viaña Delas Alas, mother of Ma’am Roselle (Santos), my wife’s principal, last Saturday, July 8, 2023, at Grandiya Venue and Restaurant along the famous nighttime destination in town, the Aroma Beach Baywalk.

This historic beach is usually where Ludy brisk walks every morning. The place is very accessible to her for she and her husband Romy, a retired police officer, live in Nolasco Subdivision in the nearby Barangay Bubog. Romy and Ludy’s marriage produced three children: Ed, Julius or Jojo, and Ginalyn (now Santos). “I keep myself physically and mentally in top shape,” she says. Though she occasionally visits the doctor, unlike those seniors of her age, she was not prescribed any maintenance medicine.

With all her antics and as a frivolous, flighty person who can't keep still, she came to the birthday party donning Adidas rubber shoes, a neatly ironed checkered light brown polo, and black short pants. She danced around like a child to every music aired in that ship-shaped venue that afternoon.

Lourdes “Ludy” Reotan Villaflores, now 80 years of age, started putting up her parlor in the mid-70s. She took a Bachelor of Science in Education at the National Teachers College (NTC) upon the assertion of her parents to become a teacher, she enrolled at NTC which was opened to the student public on June 10, 1929, and was granted government recognition on February 17, 1930. But her true passion is fashion and not teaching. She opted for this vocational course than any academic one.

Against the will of her parents, the young lady in Ludy dropped her course at NTC and went to Samson Fashion School and took up Hairdressing, a vocational course and after two years, she got her diploma.

Ludy worked with the legendary Dory Acuña who was, in the late ’50s and early ’60s, the counterpart of today’s Ricky Reyes. She worked with Acuña who is considered during her time "the beautician of the stars". Ludy’s stint with the known beautician opened the opportunity for her to meet movie stars. She was frequently sitting on the set of movie director Pablo Santiago where she rubbed elbows with her favorite silver screen idols in the 60s, I was told.

“I love dressing somebody’s hair. Even today, when I go out for a walk or hear mass, I always bring along my comb and scissors with me. I hair-style my friends for free,” she said between laughs.  “To see someone look at themselves and smile gives me the most satisfaction imaginable,” says she.

In many of her Career Week speeches in different schools, she keeps on emphasizing the importance of doing what you love. There is dignity even in taking up vocational courses and that is what she always imparts to her young audiences.

“I could no longer cite the names of my customer-friends. They are too many to mention,” she said. “All I can say is that I am forever honored that they let me accentuate their beauty,” she said with her face aglow.

My short chat with her made me understand more these words from Kahlil Gibran: "Beauty is not in the face; beauty is a light in the heart."

And there lies Aling Ludy’s true beauty.