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| Sunday, 27 July 2003 |
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By Jayanthi Liyanage
Sri Lankan hair dressers take great pains in clipping curls and trimming locks but somehow fall short when it comes to making a matching effort in styling. An ingenious art of how one displays one's dexterity with the brush and other styling equipment, the tricks of the styling trade have evaded the grasp of many locals, keen to keep the local flag flying at major international hair events, by achieving immaculateness in hair style or a slick finish in hair cut. But Suchart Kwanreuk, the current President of the Beauty Culture Association of Thailand (BCAT) and a highly accliamed Judge of beauty events in Thailand, Asia and other parts of the world, was at Galadari Hotel last week, to change all that. At the invitation of Sri Lanka Association of Hairdressers and Beauticians (SLAHAB), Suchart held at the hotel a three-day session of workshops and seminars for nearly 200 hair and beauty devotees, assisted by Sarawut Netsawai, Trainer of Champions in Thailand. Revadee Limtrakul, secretary to Suchart, acted as the translator.
"In styling, Thailand and Korea are far ahead of us," said Nanaya Karunaratne, Founder President of SLAHAB, addressing the media during a recess from the sessions sponsored by Proctor and Gamble, local agents for Clairol. "Their dedication is great and a lot of practice goes into achieving that final style. Our hair dressers do not realise that 3-4 hours of daily training is necessary to become competitive at international contests." The expertise of Suchart was to catapult the first step of grooming the local hair-flair amateurs and professionals to excel at the forthcoming world hair events. Hair Asia-Pacific 2003 to be held in Singapore in November and Hair World International Championships 2004, the prime hair competition in the world, to be held in Milan in October next year, are two such trial grounds waiting to try the mettle of local talent. SLAHAB, now the 59th member of the Organization Mondiale de la Coiffure (OMC) - World Hairdressers Organization based in Paris, says this would be the first occasion Sri Lanka would take part in Hair World Championships. "The other purpose of Suchart's visit is to raise the service-quality of the local hairdressers to the international level by teaching them new techniques," says Tilaque de Silva, President of SLAHAB. "This will benefit those who cannot afford overseas training." The second day sessions were entirely devoted to one-to-one coaching for the professionals eyeing the international competitive grounds. "Sri Lankans fare excellently in the Fantasy category and we are always among the top five," says Nayana. "Thailand and Indonesia are absolute wizards in this area." This expertise is clearly seen in the local models styled by the Thai experts and the body painting done by adroit body-painter Sarawut on the model arrayed in the traditional Thai costume, replete with the gold pointed head dress. "Have more vision," Suchart advises local hair enthusiasts, through his 30-year seasoning, adding that the current world trend is the many layered look. Suchart will be back in Colombo later this year, to give further coaching to local hair dressers. |
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