Straight Answers

jawed habib, hairstylist on current trends what are the current trends? there is no trend as such nowadays. now, hairstyles are very practical and manageable. hence, perming and other styles that require maintenance are out and i don't think they will ever come back into fashion. straight hair is in; it gives a soft look to the face. styling is all about being natural.almost everyone's hair falls around the face, so the mantra now is: let it fall. then what is a stylist's job? a stylist's job is to balance the hair with the face. if someone is very short, then add height with hair on the top to balance; if someone is tall then add height to the sides of the hair. also, some parts of the head are carrying extra weight because the hair over there is not balanced. a balanced cut is very important. also, if someone is in school, then the cut should be simple; if in college then you can experiment, and so on. do people still ape hairstyles of actresses, models? no, not really. now hardly anyone comes and says 'i want the sadhna cut or the dimple look or the madhuri look,' but yes, everyone wants aamir khan's dil chahta hai look. even if they don't have the similar height or face or hair, they want it. moreover, actresses have to keep long hair because after all it's an indian movie, so they experiment with wigs, which have also gone very colourful and trendy. what about colour? it is going to become very big soon. while highlighting is now out, global colour (all over) is the in thing. also, now it's not just burgundy but combinations of shades such as burgundy and copper or burgundy and gold. one should go two shades lighter than the natural base and also see that the colour matches the skin tone. if you are dark go for gold, if fair then copper. does the indian hair industry have enough trained people and what qualities should you have to be a good stylist? in some countries abroad you need a license to cut hair; here the minute you can hold a pair of scissors you open a parlour. but training institutes are coming up. and we (after a bad incident) have given up the franchisee policy and are opening our own salons with trained people. we have 20 in the country (three are coming up in amritsar, jalandhar and chandigarh). we also have our own line of hair products and skin creams available at salons and retail outlets. as to the qualities a stylist should have; he/she should have a good temperament and personality and should not be moody. geetika_bhandari@indiatimes.com