Colour me red... or purple

chandigarh: it's being used to make a fashion statement the world over and in the city... with every salon in chandigarh confirming that they cater to clients opting for colour on a daily basis. schwarzkopf, a hair colour company, also launched here recently and even hairstylist jawed habib during a visit dinned the message home - go for colour. says rangoli sodhi of vlcc, sector 8: "there is no age bar as far as colour goes; we have people of all ages (from 13-60) coming in for colouring." adds apeksha gill of apeksha beauty clinic, sector 33: "most women are switching from henna to colour as they find henna too messy. though they know the long-term effects of colour, they still prefer it. in fact, 90 per cent of my clients are into colouring now." what's also a common trend at most salons is that while the young girls go in for streaking or highlighting, the older women opt for a complete colour job. "apart from the usual, we also offer a unique form of colouring - double colour highlighting," says varun mitra of habib's, sector 8. "we first change the base colour of the hair and then highlight it." this job costs around rs 2,000. rates vary at almost all the salons. at apeksha's, it starts at rs 50 for root touching and rs 75 for all over application (if client brings her own colour), otherwise she stocks l'oreal, wella, revlon and charges the mrp on the packet plus the same application charges. highlighting is also done and charges start at rs 250 and go on till about rs 450. at vlcc, the charges range between rs 500-rs 1,200. at habib's, it's between rs 900-rs 2,000. and at oleega, sector 11, owner rashid khan says: "it depends on the length of hair. roughly, it's between rs 350-rs 1,500." at the other oleega branch in sector 9, indrani khan tells us that the rates vary between rs 650-rs 1,600. and surprise, surprise, most of the people we spoke to at the salons said the colour in maximum demand for streaking was red. "purple streaks are also in," says apeksha. other colours in vogue are burgundy, plum and auburn. "we have this other style we try - we give a razor cut and then colour the edges copper," says indrani khan. so, if you haven't yet been bold enough to experiment till now, it's time to ditch the inhibitions and go for colour. and, a tip as we go: if you don't have a big budget, just walk into any departmental store, try the shade card, match a colour which will go with your natural base (their shade cards are very easy to use), and buy a pack of colour. then, just do it yourself at home. the instructions are simple and the results good. rates of a pack vary between rs 170-rs 320. brands available are l'oreal, garnier, wella, revlon and sunsilk.