Hair styling is both technical and artistic: Placid Braganza

For Placid Braganza, design artiste with Sebastian Professional, the hair styling profession is both technical and artistic. He also throws light on 2012’s hair trends.

As a design artiste, do you seriously think hairstyling is an art today?
Absolutely! Hairstyling is an art. Anyone can be trained to cut hair, but not everybody can design a haircut. There’s a lot of thought that goes into it. You have to think of textures, the length of hair, you also get inspired by the people you meet. To become a hairstylist, and more so a design artiste, you need lots of experience. You have got to work day in and day out and to become a design artiste, you have to have in-depth know-how and knowledge of anything that has got to do with hair.

Talking of inspirations, is there any particular instance where you got an out-of-the-blue idea that you loved?
Yes. I actually got inspired some time back during my trip to the USA where I was invited to attend the Wella Trend Vision award function. After the event, my friends and I decided to travel a bit. So, there we were passing by Virginia, driving through the highway when I saw a stretch of road with a whole line of trees on either side. Some of the trees were withered with leaves falling. There was a subtle mix of orange, green, mahogany and red in the trees and seeing the colours suddenly struck an inspiring thought in me. I felt that that palette of colours could be used for hair, too. That’s how I chanced upon the idea for my fall look — from nature.

So, you keep an open mind for ideas and inspiration?
Absolutely. I basically derive inspiration from anywhere. I can even get inspired by a junior hair-stylist who’s got just a month’s experience in cutting hair. I could probably pick a new approach or work style from him. Inspiration needn’t necessarily be only about colours or trends, isn’t it? It could also be a new approach to cut hair faster. I believe that no matter how successful you get, there’s always lots to learn.

Do you think India as a country is in a space where we can be trendsetters?
Without a doubt. In fact I will say that we have been trendsetters for a long time. In fact, braids, which go with almost any look, are essentially an Indian style. If you remember, not so long ago, a woman in India would be considered gorgeous if she had a thick long plait. Braids are completely in vogue now, and are being seen on international runways, fashion shoots and we even have celebrities  sporting the style.

Can you throw some light on hair trends for 2012?
The dominant look, I think, will definitely be more casual. Unlike this year’s trend of glamorous hairstyles, next year’s going to be about more eased out, yet, finished hair. Volume is coming back. Texture-wise, it’s going to be loose S -shape, flowy waves with uneven finish. These are going to be the predominant looks. However, that doesn’t mean we must blindly follow trends. Hair styles still need to be determined based on a person’s personality and what will suit them.

What is in vogue now in terms of hair colouring?
In terms of shades, matte shades are popular.  But unlike earlier, where the colouring was done to resemble zebra stripes (laughs) the trend now is to make the colouring seem natural, done in an organic, playful way and in a manner which creates lots of movement.