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By Namita A Shrivastava

Your hair makes a more definitive style statement than the clothes you wear. The best ensembles can get busted by bad hair-dos. Though cuts and lengths have ruled hair trends for years, textures and colours are defining the hottest looks. There are also many styling products available in the market with which hairstylists are having a ball.

For our first demo, Sachin, who is a qualified cosmetologist, a hairstylist and make-up artist, decided to create a very with-it look. One look at Dionne and he declared: “It’s a dream head. For her, the hairstyle she keeps will decide her facial features.” He chose to crop her hair really short because he believes that this short cut suits softer, rounder faces and gives them a slightly elongated appearance.

A make-up artist and former model, Dionne was game for her new look. Sachin decided to give her a radical cut and an asymmetric look. Taking the crown as the pivot point, he graded the length at the back. In the front, he left short wisps to highlight Dionne’s elfin looks. And on the sides, the longer points were kept to caress her cheeks. Later, the lines of the cut were broken down by deep notches and point cutting was used to customise a sideward sweep where the fringe is.

Sachin then coloured Dionne’s hair with reds and styled it into place with a volumising spray which was used at the roots and rough dried. Tecni.art Clay was added at the roots to create an extra lift. The best part of this cut was that it allowed Dionne to have two looks. The styling added texture and made the head interesting.

Grunge look: This sharp look contrasts dramatically with Dionne’s features. The hair was finger shaped into spikes to highlight Dionne’s elfin looks. Clay was used to emphasise texture. And Tecniart Digit Gloss was rubbed at the tips for shine and definition. For more drama, the hair on the crown was twisted into screw tops. Result : Dionne looked like a pixie with a punk look. As Sachin worked on her hair he advised, “Don’t be afraid to use modern products. There are so many deposit-removing shampoos these days. Go with what your stylist recommends.”
DIY: To get this look at home, first make sure you have a similar haircut or short hair like that of Dionne’s. You can colour your hair in a shade that suits your skin tone and then use a gel to spike up your hair.

Cocktail look: For this contemporary and sleek look, Dionne’s hair was finger combed into place. The movement followed the cut. It was combed into place around the face and the nape of the neck. For a perfect random finish, Sachin used the Digit Gloss liberally. And there was Dionne sporting an international look.
DIY: This look works for an evening out. Comb your hair into place and then use gel to get that sleek look.

For Karen Balm, a young college-going model with shoulder-length hair, Sachin decided to keep the length. He chose this style because Karen is a model who clotheshorses for traditional saris.

Shoulder-length hair softens the features of people with square faces or with a sharp jawline. Sachin chose her to demonstrate how the way hair frames the face - left loose or pinned up — can create a different look.

Karen’s thick wavy hair was falling flat because of the weight. To complement her petite features, Sachin decided to give her a radical cut. He retained more length around the face and nape, and volume on top. By doing so, he removed the weight from the head and let the hair fall free. Since Karen’s original hair was light brown, Sachin chose to give Karen gold flashes through the top. In thick hair, fine highlights don’t show, so thick slices were taken at the back. Sachin believes in judging movement and cut while colouring. He uses the creative style as opposed to the methodical style of colouring. A more blonde gold was woven around the face and top layers to enhance the movement and appeal.

To create body, lots of volumising mousse was worked into damp hair.

Casual look: To create the romantic waves in hair, fingers were dipped in mousse and it was rubbed in luxuriantly. For an exaggerated look, the hair was diffuser dried. It was finished with some Digit Gloss and scrunched to define the cut and colours. Finally, the hair tumbled down in a mélange of three colours.
DIY: To get a bedhead look like Karen’s, you can crunch it into place when your hair is wet with a styling gel or a mousse. If you scrunch up a few strands of your hair at a time and run a dryer through them, you can get the curls.

Party look: For a more elegant look, Karen’s hair was simply picked and pinned up in sections. A few tendrils were allowed to fall free, outlining her face gently. A little more Digit Gloss was added to separate the curls on top. The perfect ringlets on the forehead gave Karen a demure look.
DIY: If you know your best features, pick and choose strands to pin up but make sure you leave a few tendrils loose to break the severity, to create a softer look around the face and to camouflage the jawline as well.