WHATEVER you do, do not touch Barbie Hsu's hair.
Because the consequences will not be pretty, unlike her luxurious locks.
The older half of the Taiwanese singing-hosting-acting duo ASOS, Barbie is extremely protective of her waist-length hair - to the point of being obsessive about it.
No-one is allowed to touch it, not even her family members.
Her hairdressers are also not allowed to use any hair products on it, lest they damage her tresses.
NO LEANING BACK IN CHAIR
She always takes care not to lean back when she sits, in case she crushes her hair.
Even her boyfriend, actor Lan Zheng-long, has to gingerly lift her hair out of the way if he wants to hug her.
Woe betide anyone who doesn't follow her rules. After all, Barbie has a reputation for being fierce.
But when The New Paper spoke to the 28-year-old at a press conference on Thursday, she was warm and friendly. And if she had a nasty temper, well, she had it nicely tucked under her hair.
Barbie, who is the new spokesman for Pantene Pro-V shampoos, explained her no-touching rule: 'You don't know what else people have been touching, before they touch your hair. They might be some chemicals that can damage your hair.'
The unsuspecting Vic Chou from boy band F4 was one of those who had incurred her wrath.
They were co-stars in the recent idol drama Mars, and while doing a scene where he had to grab her, Vic had accidentally pulled Barbie's hair.
'He was so terrified just by me telling him to stop pulling my hair,' said Barbie with a hint of glee.
And as much as she is a dowager with her hair, Barbie admits that there are still things beyond her control - like freak accidents.
Recently, Barbie accidentally got her hair trapped in a mini-fan.
She recalled: 'That day was very hot, and I was holding this mini-fan in front of my face, to prevent my makeup from melting.
'Then my personal assistant came along with this huge fan to cool me down. She put it down behind me, and guess what, my hair flew forward and got entwined with the mini-fan.'
Knowing how precious Barbie's hair was to her, the director had to stop the production while hairdressers lathered Barbie's locks with hair oil and slowly prise strand by strand from the fan.
Barbie said: 'It was so painful, and I was so furious, but I couldn't do anything because I was stuck!' (In case you're wondering her personal assistant is still with her.)
Even though it's a troublesome load, the self-confessed vainpot is determined that she will have long hair for the rest of her life.
Apparently, she has tried experimenting with all sorts of hairstyles before, and has concluded that long hair suits her best.
'I look really ugly with short hair, and I was really upset when I had short hair. Now that it's long, I feel prettier and happier.'
No problems with Jerry Yen now
WHATEVER bad blood there was between Barbie Hsu and her Meteor Garden co-star Jerry Yen, is all in the past now.
The pair had reportedly fallen out during the filming of Meteor Garden 2, and Barbie had even said that she would never want to work with Jerry again.
But when The New Paper spoke to her on Thursday, Barbie said that they had already made up.
'Too many things went wrong with the production that time, and we were both tired, so there were a lot of misunderstandings.
'But we've both realised that we were being childish and foolish. Things are all right between us now.'
Jerry even presented her with a copy of his recently-released debut album.
And Barbie was surprised at how much he had improved in his singing.
'I've always thought that Vanness (Wu) was the best singer among them, but Jerry has obviously been working very hard.'
Now that they are friends again, Barbie even added that she doesn't mind co-starring with Jerry in the future.
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