the whole package
February 4, 2012My article in The Star last Wednesday! I talk about The Whole Package.
The Whole Package
Everytime I go to Jakarta for a business trip, I always end up bringing way more things than I usually do. Suddenly things I never bring like my curling tongs and fake eyelashes become essentials in my list, even going above “passport”.
You see, Indonesian ladies are almost walking perfections. From young, most of them have been taught to groom themselves well and chug down enough “jamu” to feed a family. Hey, anything for good skin! It also does not help that some of them have Dutch heritage from the mixed marriages during the imperialism in Indonesia. Long legs, nice skin, long black hair and impeccable style; it is no wonder why men prefer to set up businessin Indonesia.
The difference between the average Malaysian girl and the average Indonesian girl:
Mom asks us to go out and buy milk.
The Malaysian would say “Yeah, sure,” and grabs the key to the car.
The Indonesian would say “Yeah, sure. Hold on.” She will go upstairs, curl her hair, put on make-up, spray some perfume and comes back down. “Ok, I’m ready. Where did you want me to go again?”
Spas in Jakarta are always fully-booked as Indonesians love to groom themselves (lucky for them, spa treatments there are so much cheaper than Malaysia). I kid you not, I have heard of the women who blow-dry their hair at the salon before coming to work in the morning. What do we do before coming to work? Slice of bread in mouth, briefcase in one hand and a cup of coffee in the other, rushing to find our shoes. You get the picture.
Love them or hate them, we all have to admit this. In the beauty department, Indonesians take better care of their image than the average Malaysian. Not necessarily because they are born with “it”, but because they put more effort in themselves than we do. That, we have to learn from them.
During my trips, I have been observing how they keep themselves well-groomed. It is not just about their dressing, it is a whole bigger package. Let me share with you some of my observations:
1) Hair vs make-up
I notice that a lot of the women focus more on their hair than their make-up. They can walk around bare-faced, but their hair is always shiny and bouncy.
Hair is one of the first things people look at so it makes sense to pay attention to this area. Even if you put on the most beautiful make-up on your face, you will not feel complete with greasy and unwashed hair.
It is good to always have clean and healthy hair. Unless you pressed snooze more times than usual in the morning, in which case, bun up your hair.
If you don a headscarf (my mother would love you), always make sure you iron them in the morning. After curry stains, creases are the worst culprits to spoil a stylish outfit.
2) Skincare
Most of the Indonesian ladies I have met have such nice porcelain skin. When asked, they just smile politely and say they do not do anything special. Liars. They have all sorts of facial products, they drink a lot of water, they eat nutritious food, they stay out of the sun and they have been taking jamu (herbal drinks) all their life to keep them gorgeous and healthy.
So there is still hope for us. Once we stop making friends with the pisang goreng and keropok lekor guy outside our offices, we are good to go.
3) Nailcare
Long nails. Dirt underneath fingernails. Non-manicured fingers. Visible dried cuticles. Unheard of in Indonesia.
4) Smile
Not only do they speak softly in a sing-song voice, they also like to smile to people. The cheerful demeanor of Indonesian women makes them so charming and attractive to look at. It is definitely more pleasant to deal with someone who smiles when taking your food order, than someone who goes “Ah, what you want?”
Frowning brings more wrinkles on the forehead and makes us age faster. So, Malaysian women, let’s learn to curve our lips upwards.
Of course I am speaking in the most broad-brush sense and not at all intended to generalize. This is purely my observation over the last few years I’ve visited Jakarta. Neatness is prized in Indonesian culture for both men and women, and that is something we have to admire and emulate. If we already have, then good for us. If not, look up from this newspaper, sit up straight and smile to the person on your right.
Ahh, Vivy, this is spot on! As someone who is half Indonesian, and half Malaysian, I’ve noticed the exact same things you write about here. So true. I need to get my jamu on.
nicely written!
nicely written & so very true!
Apart from that, i would like to highlight on how they do their business. I’m talking about local designers esp. those who sell online products.
Their appreciate and use social media as one way to communicate effectively with their clients. I had an experience where i asked for something in Twitter and they respond immediately, retweet clients’ testimonials about them, keep in touch and follow up with clients etc. They really take extra effort to keep the clients and ensure for regular purchase.
unfortunately i had opposite experience with some of our local designers where most of them usually respond and give warm treatment to regular customers (what happen to first timer?) and their own friends… Its make a huge different bcoz i felt like “thats it” this will be my last purchase coz i felt like being ignored.
Just sharing something that we can learn from them.
I love reading anything written by you Vivy 🙂 x
very very true. not just that though, I feel that women from the ‘older generation’ were a LOT better at grooming themselves because back then neatness and cleanliness was far more important than wearing the sexiest clothes and all those things that girls these days prioritise. beats me! haha.
u never fail to make me smile, grin or laugh whenever i read ur blog. ure d best vivy. keep it up
you are such a good writer vivy! 🙂
Well written Vivy. Love your blog 🙂 keep it up.
Oh sweet girl, i miss Indonesia more after reading this post. And pampering yourself is way cheaper there,I love the jamu sense and will soon make my girl start her jamu routine.
Maybe,we should prohibit our man from going to Jakarta now! JK 😉
Never been to jaks before, tgk bibik kt sini je so rasa superior lah suda hahaha tp my tukang urut yg sexy selalu pesan ibu rajin minum jamu ya nanti bapaknya syg sekali hehe
True! Not only girls in big cities, even the women from kampungs focused on grooming and style. I can’t stomach air jamu, so I bought the capsules type, after persistent nagging from my makcik urut! =D It’s good for the body, buang angin & whatever shit I don’t know. I don’t like eating them because they make me burp & fart. How to be womanly without acting unwomanly?!
ahhhh, you’ve only seen these women in their capital city – jakarta. especially at the high end malls and luxury hotels kan? other parts of indonesia?
lebih kurang macam you compare NYC to texas.
go figure. mana-mana pun sama. it’s all down to money. malaysia, singapore, brunei and even thailand.
ada duit semua jadi.
i live in indonesia for years n still counting, frankly speaking they do take care of how they look alot!!! they prefer use mineral water to wash their face instead of tap water. Drink fresh juice + lots of water. Never forget to put their moisturizer on before going to sleep. Aha, their hair is superb!!!!
love it!
Wow i’m sorry but what a blatant overgeneralization. Perhaps these are the upper/middle class jakarta people you see strolling in grand indo and other shopping malls. Definitely doesn’t apply to people with low income which is the majority in indonesia and it definitely does not apply in the more rural areas such as acheh, medan and surabaya. Please be more aware about the existence of the less fortunate ppl before coming out with a conclusion because this sounds a bit shallow :/
hi emma.i used to think tat too,until one day i went to mamak near my hse n akak indon working at the mamak gv me a long speech how i should take better care of myself n start taking jamu(she bought jamu for me n force me to drink it the next time i went to the mamak.guess she mmg stand by je jamu tu.hehe).n she said,in her kmpg,even people with low income pn will try to look good by taking jamu n take a very gud care of themselves,not necessarily goin to the saloon pn.so i better not making any excuses for not trying to take care of myself n my apperence(apparently,wearing jeans n t shirt with no make up at all to the mamak stall is not acceptable for the akak indon.haha).plus i think we should take tis in the positive way rather than arguing the conclusion is relevant or not.chill k 🙂
will take note of these, Vivy..thanks 🙂
I was thinking of this article the moment my mom told me to go to the pizza place to pick up the pizzas we ordered, and then i decided not to bother changing my outfit so i settled in loose ‘senteng’ pants n a colourful shawl. And d moment i stepped out of d house, 2 cute guys walked past…. Ahh, no wonder indonesian women seems to be more appealing to malaysian men. ;p lesson learnt, vivy! ;ppp
That is so so true Vivy!Take the Indonesian actresses for instance.Gorgeous from head to toe!
Thanks for the tip Vivy..gotta need those to start grooming myself.Haha..
Have a nice day!
couldnt agree more with you rahma. emma, u may have points but i do notice most of indonesian ladies who worked as cleaners here do dress up after work.by saying after work,i dont mean, they are going gallivanting but they dress up to go home! (cos i always see them waiting for their van to send them home)they dont wear expensive clothes but the way they dress is so neat.
i think most of us malaysian ladies tend to relate being neat is about wearing branded clothing, putting on expensive make up and pampering ourselves at spas and saloons.
I totally agree with emma. This is a lil shallow. Cant just look at those rich girls at the high end malls who can afford to get a blow dry each day and pamper themselves (not merely talking abt taking jamu here, taking care of ur health and body that way is different i.e drinking lots of water and eating healthy) this article is like totally on the ones that style themselves up. Take a look at the poor ones who cant even afford to buy a nice dress for a change, that has a lot more to think abt like putting food on ur plate than what to wear to the mall for a change. Yes taking care of urself and grooming and all are important, but there are many more things apart from just that and to compare urself to those socialites in terms of looks and how u dress up is just a lil silly
Hahaha us Bruneians are like Malaysians too!
Yes Vivy its true. My bibik is 51 yrs old and I love her black shiny hair, not a single grey hair. Love to drink jamu. Rajin buat jamu kunyit asam untuk I, in fact her late mother memang penjual jamu gendong. And she said jamu kunyit asam is very good and she said KD antara celeb Indonesia yang amalkan jamu ni. I beli ramuan, she will prepare it for me. Not only that she can also prepare a very good lulur.
Just take a look at Dian Pelangi, she looks drop dead gorgeous in anything and her skin …. speechless ….