From The Straits Times    |

Health spa  entrepreneur and newlywed Jacelyn Tay has been named the Hair & Wellness Ambassador for Japanese haircare brand Asience.

The 36 year-old, who wed business partner Brian Wong, 43, in October 2010, is also five months pregnant with her first child – a boy.

“I’m still quite slim and very glad about it,” she joked. It was true though – in a black and white outfit at the exclusive press preview of Asience’s new Customized Treatment Range on March 15, 2011, the actress hardly looked pregnant.

Even though she looks radiant now, the refreshingly candid ex-actress revealed she hadn’t gotten to experience much of married life as her baby was conceived right after the wedding.

The early stages of pregnancy were filled with nausea and “puking” as she put it.

Having a baby also threw her grooming plans for a loop. “I just didn’t have time to do my hair. I was busy puking! But I’m very particular about my hair, so one day, I just told my husband that I’m going out to do my hair and shop.”

“Now that it’s the ‘babymoon’, I’m planning to enjoy myself,” she says.

The self-confessed perfectionist also admits she’s the “kan cheong spider” mother, meaning she gets worried easily, and has been going on courses to learn breathing and muscle strengthening exercises.

“We’ve made the roles very clear – I’ll be the nurturing mother so my son can come to me crying but then he will go to my husband to be disciplined!” she tells me when I asked how husband and wife are going to split parental roles.

Ms Tay’s other baby, Body Inc. has gone from a health centre to having its own café and spa, and now face and body treatments.

It offers five disciplines of alternative medicine – Western herbal medicine (healing by using plants), osteopathy (which concentrates on realigning the nerves, muscles and bones), traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), aromatherapy and dietetics and nutrition.

“And because of me, we’re going to include infant massage to help with colic, too” said Ms Tay.

Surprisingly, her interest in alternative forms of therapy stemmed from her unhealthy eating habits when she was younger.

“My mum was very busy so I’d eat tidbits and instant food and didn’t nourish my body properly. I used to fall sick easily and my hair was thinning because I had an iron deficiency, which I didn’t know about. I had been taking antibiotics often and they were of no help, so I turned to herbs, instead.”

Hair care products aside, she recommends wolfberry and cordycep drinks, as well as a monthly liver detox as other ways to get healthy hair.

“You can take supplements or even go for a liver osteopathy massage to activate the organ’s functions and stimulate the nerves surrounding it.”

In TCM, the liver is believed to store blood and a person’s hair is an extension of the blood in the liver, according to Freddie Sun, a TCM practitioner with Body Inc. Thus, problems like hair loss and premature whitening are associated with liver problems.

This belief in herbs and the need to build beauty from the inside is why she thinks she’ll fit well into her new role as ambassador for Asience.

The brand is known for using traditional Asian ingredients like shell ginger, young bamboo and pearl in its products.

Asience’s new Customized Treatment Range  ($16.90 to $24.90) will be available in stores in April, 2011. For more on Body Inc, go to http://www.bodyinc.com.sg/.

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