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Winning cuts

By Jayanthi Liyanage

Tony and Guy will be in Colombo next week. Who is Tony and Guy? "He is your Bill Gates, I was informed," Nayana Karunaratne, former President, Sri Lanka Association of Hairdressers and Beauticians (SLAHAB), told the press at the SLAHAB office at Alban's Place, Colombo 4, last week.

This 'Bill Gates', a British Academy from Singapore, carrying the potential of doing marvels for our hair dressing industry, will conduct exclusively for SLAHAB members, "Cuts and Colours", its first-ever workshop in Sri Lanka, on September 3 at Hotel Galadari.

"Good cutting can be accomplished by training, but colour needs education," advised Nayana, 

assuring that this full-day workshop would bring a modicum of 'colour education' practically to the doorstep of SLAHAB hair professionals, who, otherwise, would have to spend extravagant sums travelling to be trained by Tony and Guy Educational Academy in Singapore. Tony and Guy, which will celebrate 40 years in hair business with a mammoth show in London this September, is considered to be one of the best in the Asian region.

The demonstration of the winning cuts and styles at the workshop will be done by Tony and Guy's Principal Director David Mercer. What of the colours? The colours which go easy on Asian hair will come from L'Oreal, producers of hair cosmetics, and Melroy Dickson of L'Oreal Professional will complement the demonstration with the newest hair colouring techniques. The workshop will close in a Grand Finale at 4 p.m. with about 25 models taking to the ramp in a display of the total look for hair - in colour, cut, styling and setting.

If you are keen on creating hair wizardry and wish to be among the audience of this day, you can do so by becoming a member of SLAHAB.

September 4 and 5 have been set apart for intense training by David and Melroy and ten participants have been selected for this "choice grill".

"Hair dressing is a very technical field and you must know how the professional operates, to be successful in hair dressing," said Vineet Bhardwaj, Export Co-ordinator, L'Oreal India which entered India at a time when Indian knowledge of hair dressing was at a low ebb. Now, five years elapsed since L'Oreal commenced training Indian hair dressers on the effective use of colour, Vineet beams that "They are number one in the industry".

"Hair product knowledge is very poor in Sri Lanka," pointed out Tilaque de Silva, President, SLAHAB. "Our people usually buy their products from the supermarkets whereas the knowledge hangs around with the professionals like L'Oreal. You can achieve your targeted results by using such professional products".

Apart from the Academy in Singapore, Tony & Guy runs a range of salons in London, Paris and the world over, said Nayana. "Theirs is a beautifully-run business, combining an artistic team and a creative team".

Tony and Guy works with top brands of hair cosmetics and mostly with L'Oreal, with twice-a-year assembly to update its cache of world trends in hair dressing.

"Tony and Guy doesn't use the razor but only the scissor," enlightened Ramzi Rahaman, the well-known hair expert and a member of SLAHAB. "Why not we Asians do our hair the Asian way rather than going to London? Tony & Guy shuttles around the world and know what is 'happening' in the hair industry. I have been to different schools of hair dressing and Tony and Guy's methods and the way of teaching is very good! They use a longish comb and now I'm hooked onto it!"

"When we go up in career, we forget the basics," remarked Tilaque de Silva, President, SLAHAB. "It's good to have a regular back-to-basics focal. Many of our members in the regional branches cannot come to Colombo for seminars and have difficulty in following them in English. So, we get the knowledge, go out and demonstrate to them. Now the hair boom is in outstations and there is a good demand for colour there".

The arrival of Tony and Guy in Sri Lanka is but just one cog in a tremendous task SLAHAB has embarked on. "SLAHAB, as the Consulting and Guiding Authority for the hair dressing industry, appointed by the Ministry of Tertiary Education, has prepared a curriculum for training a trainer cadre of hair dressers in the two arms of hair dressing and beauty therapy," Nayana said. "For the future, we need at least 500 trainers".

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