Poh Kim Jewellery - a hidden gem for wedding bands

After hiking through Mount Faber Park, we exited at Depot road and made our way to Poh Kim Jewellery ☺It’s actually a hidden gem inside an industrial estate so do not be shocked if you do not see any familiar looking jewellery retail shops. 

Poh Kim Jewellery is tucked at a corner on level 6 of the industrial estate and tbh, I wouldn’t have dared to come alone if not with T LOL. But when we arrived, we were greeted by a cute auntie that welcomed us. 

It does not look like a jewellery shop at all. It looked like a lab/warehouse on our first impression. They do not have jewellery on display, no pretty models plastered over their shop. It looked like a normal office and T&I had to double check we were at the right place haha. Although it was a weekday, there were a few couples inside the shop choosing their rings alr and Mr Kim Seng was attending to them. The auntie showed us to a corner and said she would bring us the different wedding bands for us to try on. While the set-up of the place was unremarkable, but we felt really cosy and comfortable in the environment. 

While waiting for the wedding bands, we started chatting with the auntie sitting beside us who was hard at work making the wax up for the ring. It was interesting because it reminded us of lab work in school lol. So we started asking her about the sprues, investing and casting. She was patient and started introducing to us the different materials and what are the general steps in casting a ring. 

Here’s a picture of the workplace:

While we were in the middle of the conversation, we were presented with multiple trays of wedding bands and the number of choices were beyond what we expected! We were told that if we have any design in mind, we could just show them the ring and WALA they will make it for you. Hehe. So anyways, prior to going to Poh Kim, we went to many shops to check out their wedding bands and I’ve narrowed down to two types. 1. Criss cross type. 2. The half eternity band. I couldn’t decide between the two TT so T suggested I get the criss cross design and then next time he would buy the other one if I want LOL. T chose a simple and flat design which didn’t match mine. But it’s okay! 

Mr Kim Seng then came over to attend to us to get our ring size. Just like what the other brides have said on forums, he is really a humble man. We both felt really comfortable talking to him and didn’t feel that he was forcing sales onto us or what. We even talked about the mount faber park trail and random eating areas around that area. When we enquired the price, it was around $700-$800 which he said could only be finalized after the ring was done. This sounded fair as during casting there’s always shrinkage/expansion during the entire process so +/- of the gold weight is reasonable. With that, I paid a $200 deposit via paynow - they don’t accept credit card (sad no cash back/miles for us). 

Let’s talk about why we bought our wedding bands from them without much hesitation: 

1. Ring 

The ring designs were to our liking and as we have been to many places, we could feel the weight in gold (pun intended). What I mean by this was that their ring is not hollow 18k gold but solid white gold as I could feel the difference in weight. I accidentally came across a forum online regarding another shop (which we also went) but they are selling hollow rings and thus their lower price range. Thank god I came across that review because we almost went for that because of their very attractive price (<$500). Side track a bit – hollow rings tend to break easily so unless you are really tight on budget, try not to go for them. I mean I wouldn’t want my wedding band to break haha, to most people its 不吉利. Also, it was close to our heart to get our rings from somewhere where we saw how they waxed-up their rings, invested, casted them and eventually polished them. 

2. Price 

Their price is not jacked up as they do not rely on advertisements to get their customers. I found out about this place via theheartlandboy and also bride forums☺ Their price is the same as those of bigger retailers AFTER discount – guess that’s how much they jack up their price for. We decided on it because we felt that it was value for money seeing how much hard work they put in by crafting their rings in house. I think it ranges within our budget of ~$1600 for both rings. 

3. Ambience 

It’s weird but I like how humble the whole set up is and there is no ounce of pretentious vibes present. Everything was so chill and somehow we just bought our rings! 

If you are interested, do check them out on Instagram @pohkimjewellery. You could book appointment via Instagram and perhaps try to go on a weekday so that you will experience lesser crowd and more personalized service. 

Here’s their address - 1092 Lower Delta Rd, #06-01, Singapore 169203. 

If you are taking public transport, they are many buses that alight about 5 minute’s walk from them. 

Planning my $25k budget wedding part 1

Getting engaged in September sprung me to action to research on weddings in Singapore. A quick research on the average cost of wedding in Singapore ranges about $30k to $50k according to the weddingvowsg.com. Extravagant weddings in Singapore could even go up to $100k. With renovation in mind, which is also going to be a huge expenditure, I really wanted to go for a budget and affordable wedding. My aim was not be in debt and also not to apply for any loans be it for my wedding or for renovation. Here are a few outlines I’ve drawn out for myself to plan for a budget and wallet friendly wedding. *Also a reminder to myself to stay on track*. 

1. Draw out a budget 

Just like how our government draws out a financial budget every year, I figured I need a budget and specific breakdown before I start spending. This allows me to allocate a portion of our combined savings as well as to start funnelling individual amounts to specific categories under the wedding budget. For my fiancé and I, we decided to give ourselves a $25k budget for our church ceremony + lunch banquet. This budget also includes expenditures like my wedding gown, photography, suits, ang paos etc. Basically whatever that you are going to spend on your wedding. Btw, SG budget bride has a good excel sheet that helps with organising your budget as well as to compare your vendors rather effortlessly. You can check it out below. 

Ultimate wedding checklist

2. Do your research 

With internet, it’s less tedious to do your research of comparing prices of vendors, venues etc. It’s damn tedious la but I think its worth it if you really want to save money. A good tip I got from my married friend would be to google what is the average angpao rate for the hotel you are going to book vs the wedding banquet package you are going for. Just make sure you don’t 亏 (lose money). Gone are the days where you can expect to earn money from your wedding. Our goal is really to minimize our debt LOL. 

3. Ask yourself what you really want 

In my initial phase of planning for my wedding, I’ve been thrown with plethora of information of what I need for my wedding because it is my ‘once in a life time’ event. Sponsored contents, well-meaning friends, family members and even random blog posts would tell you that you need a list of stuff that would make your wedding a memory event. Without those, you will certainly miss out. TBH, I was quite stressed out after I keyed in the expected costs of these ‘needs’ into my budget as obviously it exceeded my budget by A LOT (read at least 10k). 

This is when I told myself I need to stop being influenced by social media, friends and the fear of missing out. Yes, my wedding is a once in a lifetime event but are all those ‘needs’ marketed to me going to make a significant difference to my marriage? Is it necessary to spend SO SO much of our hard earn money in a single day or two so that we can get the most insta-gram worthy wedding? Neh. To my fiancé and I, marriage is the celebration of the union between two and while we did not want to be too giam siap, we decided that it was not necessary to splurge too. I will update more about what we decided to exclude in our wedding and what we thought was necessary :) 

Part of the decision to plan a budget and a minimalistic wedding was my new subscription to a new idea of ‘less is more’. I’ve come to realize that one does not need a lot to be happy. Desiring more makes me unhappy as whatever I have currently never seemed to be enough to satisfy. However, understanding my needs vs wants greatly helped me handle my desires to consume more especially as we are living in an increasingly materialistic society. Okay la, I also want to save the earth by consuming less. But yeah, having less desire to buy buy buy really makes me happier. 

4. Start/continue saving! 

While my fiancé and I have been saving consistently ever since we have started working, it is still wise to continue saving and spend prudently. This is because although we may have a budget, there could be some unexpected costs etc that could throw us off balance. Renovation of our house is also going to be a big expenditure so it is always wise to be prudent and save! 

5. Be realistic and most importantly, enjoy the process :) 

When I was on fire for planning my wallet friendly wedding, I swung to the other extreme… I wanted to cut away pre wedding shoot, photography, do my own make up (LOL – cries), give a miser budget of $200 for my wedding dress etc. I’m not saying that it’s not doable but its just that it was to the point where I was getting a little unhappy. A reminder to myself was that although I didn’t want to be extravagant, I didn’t have to starve myself from enjoying my wedding also. I don’t have to go overboard with saving money as for certain things such as paying for a better photographer would save us a lot of agony (remember the bad photos from a bride because they hired a very affordable photographer?). 

Therefore, be realistic because if I pay peanuts, I get monkeys. It’s always about finding a balance 

Post dengue Hair loss :(

Hello! Will be dedicating my first blog post to post dengue hair loss. I was down with dengue fever in April this year with severe transaminitis. Severe transaminitis refers to elevated liver enzymes (AST/ALT) >1000. Its probably due to the acute viral hepatitis and/or my crazy usage of paracetamol in attempt to reduce my fever and pain :( My dengue episode lasted for about 2 weeks, where I had 1.5 weeks of high fever ranging from 37.5-39 degrees Celsius. I was also hospitalised for 4 days because of the acute viral hepatitis and low platelet count. 

Anyways, fast forward 3 months later in July 2020, I noticed a shocking amount of hair loss during my shower (*read a clump of nasty hair fall). I guess the amount of hair loss looked shocking due to my long hair too. Initially, I thought that the hair loss was due to stress (from work etc) and that it would probably go away after a few weeks. Little did I know that not only did the hair loss not go away, it worsened TT. It got so bad that water wouldn’t flow in my bathroom due to the amount of hair in the sink... Almost on the verge of freaking out, I googled about post dengue hair loss and there were only a few research papers on this topic. There were also little blog posts which talked about post-dengue hair loss. Thus, I would like to share my short journey on post dengue hair loss with everyone! 

Let's begin by explaining a little on the stages of our precious hair cycle. There are 3 stages of hair cycle:

1. Anagen phase 
2. Catagen phase 
3. Telogen phase 

Most of our hair resides in the anagen phase where there is active growth. Hair in this stage can grow up to 7 years before it becomes dormant. 

Next, the catagen phase is a relatively short phase where it only lasts for about 2-3 weeks. 

Finally, telogen phase is also called the resting phase and new hair will grow beneath it. As soon as the hair in the telogen phase drops, new hair from the same follicle would emerge. Hence, it is NORMAL to drop 50-100 strands of hair per day. 

yes... I did count the number of hair in the puddle during the hair shedding episode. It was definitely >>>>>100 strands. 

So what is post-dengue hair loss? 

According to Harvard health, Telogen effluvium is a TEMPORARY hair loss (thank god!) that is triggered by stress, traumatic event or a period of illness. 

This is lifted from the Harvard health article: In a person with telogen effluvium, some body change or shock pushes more hairs into the telogen phase. Typically in this condition, about 30% of the hairs stop growing and go into the resting phase before falling out. So if you have telogen effluvium, you may lose an average of 300 hairs a day instead of 100. 

That's why we hear about postpartum hair loss where new moms experience massive hair loss after delivery. Acute febrile illness with hair fever has been listed as one of the cause. So yes, there were a few reddit commenters who mentioned that there experienced hair loss after dengue/fever/even COVID-19. 

How did I know that I had telogen effluvium and not other hair loss conditions? Well I can only say this now in retrospect since my massive hair loss has since stopped after 2 months of fear... Some guides that allowed me to diagnose: 

• No bald patches or sudden loss of clumps of hair --> please see a dermatologist if you experience this as this could be suggestive of an underlying autoimmune problem as mentioned by many bloggers/articles 
• positive hair pull test: i.e. gently grabbing my hair till the ends resulted in multiple strands of hair dropping each time. 
• history of acute febrile illness. 
• No change in hormones/medication etc 5. no family history of early onset hair loss/genetic hair loss. 

*do note that the above are my experience and thoughts, and shouldn’t constitute as medical advice. Please seek a medical professional if needed* 

BUT with all those precious locks dying every day, I couldn't just sit and wait right?!?!?! While there were many articles saying that we are unable to do anything to stop or reverse the process of telogen effluvium, I felt that I just had to do something. I mean, i cannot become botak at my prime right !!! In the past where I enjoyed thick luscious hair, I didn’t care about the type of shampoo, how i dried my hair, how I took care of my scalp etc. But this event triggered something in me: I have to take care of my hair! 

To keep the long story short, these are the few things that I've started doing ever since my hair loss saga started: 

1. Change of shampoo. 

2. Introduction of hair tonic 

3. Tying my hair in a looser bun 

4. Massaging my scalp more often 

Firstly, I decided to find a shampoo that would target hair loss and stimulate hair growth. I bought the OGX black soybean and propolis hair shampoo from Guardian when there was 1 for 1 promotion (the aunty in me is squealing with delight). 

• black soybean apparently helps with alleviating hair loss and promotes blood supply to the scalp. 
• propolis is found in royal jelly and is said to help to stimulate hair growth. 

I'm not sure whether it's true or not but there were many good review online so I tried it. Anyways, it had 50% discount so why not? Eh... not sure whether it is my hallucination or what but I noticed my hair did drop lesser after a few washes !! Really !!! Plus the aroma of the shampoo smells awesome too. I also started massaging the shampoo into my scalp while bathing to stimulate blood circulation as well. 

2. I have never used a hair tonic before but after googling for ways to help with my hair loss, many articles suggested hair tonic. 

I bought 'The ordinary" Multi peptide serum for Hair density. There has been raving reviews on YouTube/google reviews so I thought why not give it a try! It is marketed as a serum that helps our hair look thicker, denser, fuller and healthier. It was 60 ml for about $29SGD? I bought from a carousell dealer. That's about $0.50 per ml LOL. It came with a glass dropper and hence I thought it was hygienic and I was also able to control where I wanted the product to go on my head. Perhaps it was the combination of the new shampoo plus this serum, my hair loss reduced drastically within 1 week. (but I mean it could be due to the end of the telogen effluvium cycle too). The scent was slightly floral and was not overbearing. 

After application, my scalp felt a little tingling sensation as if my little hair follicles are trying to push those little ones out. After finishing the bottle in less than a month, I decided not to repurchase due to the cost. Aunty me decided to look for alternatives. 

The second bottle of hair tonic I tried is (still using yes) called the Yanagiya hair tonic. I couldn’t really find much reviews online although it was recommended under the best hair tonic in dailyvanity.sg. However, if you were to google 柳屋 or in YouTube, you can find more reviews. Guess the product is more popular in China/Taiwan/Japan. 

It comes in a 240ml glass bottle. I bought it on Carousell for $5 just to try it but you could find it in either Lazada or Shopee, its around $19-$21. You may take a while to get use to the smell because it kinda smells like men cologne? But after spraying, the smell kind of dissipates so it's not too much of a concern. My scalp had a nice minty and icy feeling after. 

I use it twice daily. Morning before I go out and night time after my wash my hair and is dried. However, as the original bottle comes with a nozzle, it is less functional compared to the ordinary dropper. Thus, I transferred the Yanagiya 'potion' to a spray bottle so that I could spray at targeted spots. While I cannot comment how much it has helped my hair to grow, one thing for sure was that my scalp is less itchy and those psoriasis patches on my head have calmed down quite a bit. I also massage the hair tonic in after spraying. Let all the good stuff be absorbed !! Furthermore, a healthy scalp also creates a conducive environment for the new hair to grow. 

Will I repurchase this hair tonic again? I think I would, given that it is way more affordable than most hair serums at $0.0875 cents ($21/240ml) per ml at original price. A bottle goes a long way. For those of you who do not like the smell, there is an unscented version and a citrus version. Do check it out :) 

Lastly, due to work reasons, I have to bun up my hair for >5 hours a day which causes undue stress to my follicles. I have since started making the bun looser and also letting my hair down as much as possible to let it rest. Alright! That's all for today. So for those of y’all who are currently experiencing sudden hair shedding after dengue (or any other acute viral fever), do not worry too much because there is light at the end of the tunnel. Perhaps it is the time now to take better care of your locks!