Hair nor there

In the global celebrity war of hairstyles,Bollywood is far behind. Blame it on ���fear of acceptability��� thatleads to this lack of experimentation. Indian women are reluctant to experimentwith ultra-trendy hairstyles compared to their super-glamorous Frenchcounterparts. Bollywood���s leading hairstylist Dilshad, who cuts thetresses of Urmila, Shah Rukh and Preity Zinta agrees, ���Blame the Indianmen, because they love women with long hair. Indian women don���t wear hairto please themselves, they want to be sexy for the men. They seek theirapproval. I���ve had Bollywood actresses who are extremely reluctant aboutgoing short. Urmila, of course, is the gutsy lady. She came and told me,���I want to go short���. Indian women need to take lessons in hairexperimentation from the French. Go bold. We���re so ���80s, unchangingand inflexible. Look at women attending Page Three parties, they change theirbags and clothes but not their hair.���Real women look tocelebrities for inspiration, be it Katie Holmes��� fringe, JessicaAlba���s bangs, Priyanka���s layered look or Deepika���s ���longcurls���. But what happens if the celebrities fail to be iconictrendsetters? No wonder, Cameron Diaz was photographed in Grazia magazinearriving at her local salon in Los Angeles with a dog-eared photo of KateMoss.Even now, everyone gets nostalgic about Dimple���s waves,Sadhana���s fringe, because they were the bold ones; ready to experiment.���These Bollywood actresses made their hairstyles iconic ���Dimple���s superglamorous layers, everyone wanted hair like her; Saira Banuwas immensely fashionable; Sadhana���s fringes were so bold. Now,Kangana���s going short for her next film,��� addsDilshad.The evolution of iconic hairstyles comes withexperimentation. Be it the bob of 1920s, Twiggy crop of 60s, worn by supermodelTwiggy, Babita cut of 70s, Zeenat���s retro, hippy look of 80s, the Mumtazbeehive ��� there have been some radical hairstyles that changed history ofpopular culture. Right now, Mandira Bedi and Gul Panag have changed the shape oftheir hair, drastically. ���Going short requires guts in India,��� saysPanag. Are women reluctant to have radically different hair? ���I think so,men find long hair sexier, so women just comply. Even in the West, women startedexperimenting in 1930s and 40s. Personally, I���ve had very long hair, thencut them short. It���s fun, doing different styles,��� addsPanag.Most hairdressers tell us stories of how even celebrities cometo them with glossy magazines saying, ���we want that hair!��� Sadly,however Bollywood���s leading ladies haven���t really shown adventure inexperimenting with changing their hair, except Priyanka Chopra. Komal Gulati,stylist says, ���Though Kareena looks terrific, she���s just changed herhair colour. Change is something Indian actresses aren���t too comfortablewith. I feel Shilpa Shetty, Dimple Kapadia and Priyanka Chopra carry their hairproudly and are iconic.��� The most influential hairstyles ofall times, according to The Independent, have been those of Princess Diana,Marilyn Monroe, Audrey Hepburn, Madonna, Sharon Stone, Sophia Loren, Sinead0��� Connor and Catherina Zeta Jones. When a Bollywood celebrity gets atrendy haircut, it becomes a cult craze, hairstylist Sylvie agrees, ���Womenin India don���t really understand creativity in hair. I���ve cut hairfor Tara Sharma, Isha Koppikar ��� both have been reluctant about cutting itshort. Bipasha doesn���t always experiment, she wears wigs. Our girls have afear of going short. Kareena has great hair, but it falls straight and short.Right now, the women who experiment with hair and look splendid are ���Urmilla, Shabana.���Fringe or flicks? Side-swept or blunt?Whatever the hair trick, Bollywood needs a new hair story. Celebrityhairstylist, Rod Anker of Kim Robinson Salon at Aman says, ���In India, Ifeel there���s lack of confidence and trust in going for a drastic new look.French women are just so confident. Bollywood needs to watch them for that newhair confidence.���