From the Valley Low to the Mountain Top: An Analysis of Edgar Edwin Samots

Personality through the Psychoanalytic Social Theory, Humanistic Psychoanalysis and

Holistic-Dynamic Theory

It was on March 18 of this year in the Luis Aguado Viewing Room that I met
Edgar Edwin Samot in person. He was the first guest speaker of the Success Stories
Seriesa program of the De La Salle University-Dasmarias Scholarship Office. That
seminar filled me with tons of inspirations and motivations. Ewdin Samot was a popular
celebrity hair stylist. He has been in the hair business for thirty-two years and currently
own eighteen salons. With this success of him, he is almost in the same level with
Fanny Serrano, Ricky Reyes and Jing Monis when it comes to beauty salons. Who
would think that hes an ex-convict before?

Edwin grew up in a poverty-stricken home. Surviving each day was hard for him
because he has a lot of siblings and the combined income of his father who was a
jeepney driver and her mother who was a laundress wasnt enough. Because of this, he
wasnt able to enter high school and even college. But then life became good to him and
he was able to rise above the gigantic poverty that imprisoned him for years.

As a child, Edwin didnt receive his need for love and his need for affection
wasnt satisfied. For him, he hadnt felt the love of his parents. He wasnt that cared by
his mother because there was only a small age-gap between him and his siblings. His
mother was neither affectionate nor supportive while his father who was drunk most of
the time hit him often. He was really not close to both his mother and father. I could
remember that there were times where he would hide inside their cabinet so that his
drunk father wont find and beat him. He also said,

Kahit ganoon yung tatay ko, dahil sa kanya natuto kong magdasal. Ang una
kong dasal ay sana mamatay na siya kasi sobrang hirap lang ang dinanas ko sa
kanya. (These are his exact words because I had the full seminar recorded).

He further recounted how his father would tie him in front of their house naked.
Because of this he felt isolated and helpless. These difficult childhood experiences that
he had might be the reason why he had some neurotic needs. One of them is the
neurotic need for a partner who will take over ones life. He admitted to us that he
started to enter homosexual relationships at the age of 15. Although he knew that what
boys only want from him is his money, he continued it and he even had more than one
homosexual partner at the same time. When he was 15 years old he rarely went to their
house and from stealing in markets he began stealing in shops and malls. He did this to
be able to give money to his relationship partners. He said,

Sa sitwasyon na iyon, ang pera ko talaga napupunta lang sa mga boyfriends

ko.

Having relationships might be his way of compensating for the loneliness and
inadequacy that he felt because of the way he was treated by his parents. Aside from
this, he also has the neurotic need for personal admiration. He was driven to create an
idealized image of himself, as a matter of fact he even came to the point of pretending
as a Lasallian student. He made a fake school ID of De La Salle University-Manila so he
would attract more boys and would not be suspected of being a thief inside shopping
malls. Moreover, he also wanted to be admired and be held highly by other people. With
this, he really made his boyfriend believed that he was a rich gay and came up with
many alibis just to keep his secrets. But one time, he was caught and was imprisoned
for six months. During that time he wasnt worried by his parents but by the thought that
his boyfriend would find him and would discover that he was in prison. This proved how
he cared for the idealized image that he had made in the mind of his boyfriend.

Being involved in a series of relationship with men, it was apparent that he felt
the drive for union with another person. However, he related through submission. He
often gave to his boyfriend whatever it asked of him even if it would mean stealing from
a mall and doing a lot of other illegal sidelines. As time went by, he became involved in
different vices and criminal activities. But when he got out of the jail for the third time, he
started to feel the urge to rise above the kind of existence that he had that time. Edwin
went to Cebu and there he worked as a salon assistant. He started saving money to put
up a small salon of his own. When his savings reached six thousand pesos, he rented a
small place, and he bought one comb, scissors, and other needed equipments in a
parlor. From this, his parlor improved and became prominent. At last he was able to
transcend his passive existence and entered the realm of purposefulness and freedom.
He was able to express himself through the things that he does in salon and was able to
figure out his purpose and what he loves to do in life. He was also able to make sense
of the past events that happened to him. He realized that maybe he faced all those
hardships to learn how to persevere in life and not to fool other people. The difficulty
that he had experienced when he tried to find a job taught him how important it was to
keep a good image. From the moment when he started his small salon, his road map in
life became clearer and he knew that time his exact plans and the principles he needed
to hold. Although it can be said that he possessed Fromms concept of Frame of
Orientation, it wasnt that solid because there were still times where he would engage in
his past vices and would again enter into homosexual relationships. But he was able to
overcome it when he began his own journey with God. Being a Born Again Christian
helped him in having a sense of identity. His dependence on the love that others would
provide in exchange of money was lessened when he acquired the capacity to be aware
of himself as a separate entity.

In addition, he also has a productive character orientation and that is Biophilia. It

can be seen the way his salon and house were styled.

From the outside, you can easily say that Edwin Samot is a nature-lover
because of the many plants and trees that welcome clients.

This statement was one of the posts of his customer that I got from the internet.
Moreover, the hallway of his three-storey house was garden-inspired.

With the good career of his business today, his physiological and safety needs
are probably satisfied. His love and belongingness need are also satisfied. When asked
in our seminar if he has forgiven his parents, he answered us with a yes and a smile. He
told us that he had been reconciled with them. He finally fulfilled the need to belong to a
family. Because his father is dead now, he cherished each moment that he has with his
mother. He brought his mother and siblings their own houses and even gathered the
family for bonding events and activities. He also has a lot of close friends and one of
them is Fanny Serrano. What is better is the fact that although he wasnt married until
now, he has already satisfied his desire to have children. He adopted two children, one
is a boy and the other one is a girl. His daughter actually studies here in De La Salle
University-Dasmarias while his son who is an incoming Senior High School student
also planned to enroll in DLSU-D.

Furthermore, he now found the self-respect he had lost before. Aside from
having a good reputation he also has a high self-esteem. This is why he can manage
his business excellently and make it grow larger.

I could also say that he possessed some of the characteristics of a self-

actualizing individual. Firstly, he has acceptance of self, others, and nature. He accepts
the way he was and was not critical of his own shortcomings. He has experienced
closing some of his salons branches but he wasnt that negatively affected by it. He can
also tolerate weakness in others. As a matter of fact, he doesnt require specific
educational attainment from his employees in salon. As long as their willing to be
trained, he accepts them with an open arms even if they didnt finish high school.
Secondly, he has autonomy and this is why he is not upset by the criticisms of others
especially his competitors in the business. He no longer depends on the approval of
others and this gives him an inner peace and serenity. Thirdly, he possessed the
continued freshness of appreciation. He appreciates all the things that he has now. He
even said that all the days of his life would not be enough to thank God for all the good
things He has given him. He also makes sure that the people around him, especially his
children would feel how he was grateful to have them. He doesnt also complain about
how hectic his schedule was because of the eighteen branches of his salon that he
supervises. Fourthly, he had an experience that was mystical in nature and has given
him a feeling of transcendence. When he was at the peak of his business success, he
was asked by a big company that specializes in hair products to attend a conference in
abroad to represent their products and be their model. First, he refused and it was not
because he didnt want it but because he was afraid that in the course of getting
requirements for going outside the country his past criminal records would be
discovered. What happened next was unbelievable because he found out that he has
no criminal records because his previous ones were accounted under the name Edwin
Samot and not on his real name which is Edgar Samot. At that moment he clearly saw
his place in the universe and how things fall in their proper places. He also has
Gemeinschaftsgefhl or social interest. He is actually regarded by the 700 Club Asia as
one of the generous financial supporters of Christian ministries. Aside from this, he
leads a program aimed at helping others and sharing the Gospel to them. It is also
apparent in the way he started his speech in the seminar. He said that he didnt accept
the invitation of the scholarship office of DLSU-D to endorse his salon but to give us an
inspiration. He cared for students like us and he wanted to help us even through the
motivations and inspirations that he could share with us that morning. He also shows
profound interpersonal relations. He has a deep friendship with others like with Fanny
Serrano. They were very close friends, as a matter of fact the wood fixtures that can be
seen in his house is the same with those that were in the house of Fanny Serrano. He
was also creative and it was proven by the fact that he was the landscape artist of his
garden and the interior designer of his 2000 square meter house in Cavite. The style of
his house was aristically designed and it was like a wide maze and each room in his
house was connected to a hallway which he made like a garden. Moreover, some of the
conversation piece in his house was made from repurposed materials like the ark in his
living room that was made from a wood and an old wooden bed from his salon. His
ceiling was made from joint woods, mirrors, and chandeliers. The over-all theme of his
house is an eclectic combination of modern, ethnic, and colonial designs.

In the end, I could say that Edgar Edwin Samot is an excellent person and he is
worth emulating. How he endured the life in his impoverished home and in the street is
admirable. I was amazed by how he has proven that one can still rise above the painful
experiences and become a psychologically healthy individual despite the hardships one
had been through. He is very inspiring because the journey of his life is like walking
from the valley low to climbing and reaching the mountain top of life.

Resources:
 http://www.gmanetwork.com/news/story/542192/publicaffairs/powerhouse/ex-
convict-turned-hairstylist-na-si-edwin-samot-kikilalanin-ng-
powerhouse#sthash.KGXvsofN.dpuf
http://www.gmanetwork.com/news/story/55587/publicaffairs/powerhouse/dream-
home-kasama-si-kara-david-mapapanood-na-ngayong-
biyernes#sthash.6nuY7a7q.dpuf
http://edwinsamotsalon.wix.com/edwinsamot#!about/c1x9v