This Summer, a New Sunsilk Hairkada Forms and Shows What Girlhood Looks Like Now

There’s a certain kind of ease you recognize immediately—not because it’s effortless, but because it feels lived-in. The kind of presence that doesn’t need to announce itself, only to move. On set, that movement takes many forms. Hair catching light mid-turn. A step forward that lands just right. A moment held long enough for the camera to believe it. It’s in these in-between gestures, the ones that can’t be forced, where something real begins to take shape.

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This is where the NEW Sunsilk enters—not just as part of the frame, but as part of the vibe. A brand that has long understood that hair is never just hair: it is expression, it is memory. It’s the confidence of knowing who you are, and the freedom to move as that person, fully.

Today, that idea finds form in three young women who each carry their own rhythm: Belle Mariano, Ashtine Olviga, and Kai Montinola.

Individually, they are distinct. But placed in the same space, something begins to shift—not into sameness, but into something shared.

Three Different Beginnings, Three Different Ways of Moving Forward

Each of them arrives here with a story that does not mirror the others.

Belle Mariano grew up within the structure of the industry, learning early what it means to show up, to stay consistent, to let experience accumulate into instinct. From Goin’ Bulilit to Princess and I and FPJ’s Ang Probinsyano, she learned how to hold space long before she was asked to lead it. When He’s Into Her positioned her at the center, it felt less like a transformation and more like a natural next step. It’s the kind of progression that sways with her—steady, assured, and grounded in a sense of self that doesn’t need to be performed, only carried forward. Having grown up in the public eye, she’s also grown into herself in full view—her journey running parallel to being a longtime Sunsilk Hairkada.

Kai Montinola entered in a way that reflects how audiences now discover new names—immediate, visible, and shaped in real time. Pinoy Big Brother: Gen 11 placed her directly in front of viewers, where presence matters as much as performance. She understood that instinctively. There was no distance to bridge. Instead, she learned how to sway with it—meeting the moment as it unfolded, responding as herself, and allowing that openness to become her strength.

Ashtine Olviga’s path unfolded differently. Beginning with Born To Be A Star in 2016, she moved through P-pop’s evolving landscape, from U Go Girls to PPop Generation and LITZ, each step refining something that would later translate into acting. From early appearances in Miss Granny to her lead role in Ang Mutya ng Section E, the trajectory reads not as delay, but as timing. At one point, she appeared in the background of a Sunsilk campaign as a dancer. Now, she stands at its center—carrying a journey that learned how to sway with every shift, until it finally arrived fully her own.

What they share now is not the same position, but the same momentum—one they sway through with grace.

Belle moves into 2026 with a clarity that comes from having already proven her place. Tayo sa Wakas, her forthcoming project alongside Donny Pangilinan, marks her return to the big screen, while 2025’s Meet, Greet, and Bye places her within an ensemble, expanding the way she occupies a story.

Kai continues to build—her trajectory still in motion but increasingly defined. Your Face Sounds Familiar keeps her visible as a TV and music talent, while Roja, the action teleserye she has just wrapped, signals her versatility as a performer.

Ashtine holds her momentum with a steadiness that feels earned. Ang Mutya ng Section E continues into its next chapter in June, while last year’s Manila’s Finest and current four-part anthology under Viva One Originals widen the scope of her work.

They are not in the same phase, and they do not need to be. What matters is that each of them is moving forward, in her own way.

Somewhere Between the Work and the Waiting, a Hairkada Is Born

The day begins in fragments. Separate call times. Different corners of the room claimed early. Hair and makeup unfolding in parallel, each with its own rhythm. Assistants moving in and out. Stylists adjusting, re-adjusting, stepping back to assess.

By midday, the rooftop becomes part of the story. The heat settles in, unrelenting, turning every movement into something deliberate. And still, they move through it without hesitation. There is a discipline here, one that doesn’t call attention to itself. They hit their marks, shift when asked, hold poses longer than comfort allows.

Individually, the three girls are precise. There is no softness in how seriously they take the work. But the shift happens later, when the structure of the day begins to loosen.

Belle, Ashtine, and Kai sit together, finally without strict art direction or the pressure of the elements, and something changes. The energy softens, not in a way that diminishes it, but in a way that makes it more familiar. Conversation takes over. Belle slips into a karaoke voice prompt impression that lands immediately. Ashtine talks about a small fidget toy—a keyboard charm—and talk of their last online hauls begins. Kai speaks in a lower register, her tone steady, grounding the conversation without interrupting it.

It doesn’t happen all at once. But somewhere between the work and the waiting, between separate call times and shared conversations, a throughline begins to emerge. Three different trajectories intersect—and what binds them isn’t similarity, but recognition. That, and an easy, flowy kind of energy that sways through the room.

That is what makes them a Sunsilk Hairkada.

Swaying Through with Ease, Flow, and Confidence

Asked how she sustains herself through days like this, Belle answers without overthinking it. “For me, to maintain energy throughout the day, it’s really important to make time to rest. You know—sleep, hydrate, take care of yourself. I think spending time with yourself also helps a lot, so you have more energy to give whenever you’re out and about.”

She speaks about confidence in the same way—grounded, tied to something tangible. “Hair has always been a big factor in my life. I think it really adds to my confidence, especially when my hair is down. I’m able to play around with it—braid it or just let it loose—and it really adds to who I am.”

For Kai, that sense of ease is inseparable from performance. “I feel most in my element when I’m on stage—performing and singing. That’s where I feel the most confident and free.” And then, almost as an extension of that thought, “My hair is also a big part of that. I always make sure it’s in its best state whenever I’m in front of people.”

Ashtine finds it in movement. “Whenever I flip my hair when I dance. I feel the most confident when I’m performing. Doon ako pinaka-free—especially when I’m dancing and just enjoying the moment.”

There is no single definition of confidence here, but there is a shared understanding of where it comes from—something practiced, something returned to, something carried into the work.

If there is something else they’ve learned in their own ways, it’s how to sway like silk—or move with ease—in real life. 

For Belle, it is a matter of knowing what to hold and what to let go. “I don’t think balance is something you fully achieve. It’s more about being able to give time to the things you need to prioritize.”

Kai approaches it with a kind of clarity that resists overcomplication. “I’m very straightforward… Life keeps moving—the world keeps revolving—and for me, it’s about going with that flow and not overcomplicating things.”

Ashtine grounds it in adaptability. “Pagiging flexible and marunong makisama…I adjust depending on the people I work with and the situation.”

None of them describe ease as something given. It is something practiced—over time, through experience, and in the way they choose to move through both hair and life.

Girlhood, According to the Sunsilk Hairkada

What binds them, in the end, is not the work. “Girlhood is about being there for one another and uplifting each other,” Belle says.

Kai expands it beyond the moment. “Girlhood is so important to me… it stays with you as long as you live your life as a woman.”

Ashtine brings it back to something immediate. “Girlhood, for me, is about being happy for each other’s success. Walang inggitan. It’s about supporting one another and creating a safe, happy space together.”

There is nothing performative in how they describe it. It shows up in the way they speak to each other, the way they listen, the way they occupy the same space without needing to outdo it.

By the end of the day, the work is done. The images exist. The schedule has been met. But what endures is something less tangible, and more telling.

Belle, Ashtine, and Kai arrived with their own identities intact, shaped by different experiences, different timelines, and different ways of being seen. None of that disappears. If anything, it becomes more defined. But now, there is something else running alongside it: a shared rhythm. Not identical, not rehearsed, but something they recognize in each other.

They move differently, but they sway though life and work together. And somewhere in that—between the individual and the collective—you begin to understand what the NEW Sunsilk is really pointing to. Hair, here, is not just styling or finish. It becomes part of how they take up space, how they shift between versions of themselves, how they meet the world as they are, in motion. The possibilities don’t narrow—they open to limitless ones. 

And perhaps that’s the point—not just to watch them find that rhythm, but to recognize it when it happens in your own life. In the friendships that hold, the versions of yourself you choose, and the moments where you move more freely and more like yourself.

You too can achieve hair that sways like silk. For more information, follow @sunsilkph on Instagram, Facebook and Tiktok.

Creative Direction by BRIE VENTURA. Photographed by CENON AT MAV. Image Post-Processing by VINCE CANLAPAN (Cover). Makeup by JAKE GALVEZ (Belle), Remcy Santarin (Kai), Aron Guevara (Ashtine) . Hair by RJ Dela Cruz (Belle), Brent Sales (Kai), Fhedz Cordero (Ashtine). Styled by ADRIANNE CONCEPCION (Belle and Kai) and PATTY YAP (Ashtine). Styling Assistants VIA IBARRA, CENT BERMAS, CHIE BOSE (Belle and Kai) and LEN ABRILLO (Ashtine). Sittings Editor PEEWEE REYES-ISIDRO and PATRICK TY. Producer THESSMAR LECTURA, JASON JULIAN, and ANNE DIMAPILIS. Production Design by ARJ MADARANG of JAGGER STUDIO. Videography by KARLO TORIO. Videography Assistants BENCHO FRANCO, SHERMAE GAUPO, BENCHO FRANCO, and GYRO KIERA. 

Special thanks to STAR MAGIC, LAURENTI M. DYOGI, EDITH FARINAS, YANIE CAMANTE, DIVINE VILLASIS, AERIS ORDONEZ, and THESS GUBI (Belle’s Team). ERIK MIRAS and BECK RODRIGUEZ (Kai’s Team). MIGUEL LAURETA (Viva Artists Management).