The Game Changers

BENAIFER J. MIRZA catches up with veteran women hairstylists and young turks who made their mark in the Indian hair industry and are here to stay.

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They need no introduction. They’re innovators of modern hair and recognised the world over as movers and shakers in the hair industry. To mark International Women’s Day, we get some of the most renowned hairstylists and some promising newcomers to talk about their professional journey and accomplishments. More power to them!

ADHUNA BHABANI,

FOUNDER AND CREATIVE DIRECTOR, BBLUNT

She started her career when salons were simply salons and didn’t have brand recognition. She is one of the few experts who has been able to transform her salon (and herself, too, in many ways) into a global brand. How easy or difficult was it to bring about that degree of change? Today, when there are dime a dozen salons in every nook and corner of the country, how does BBLUNT maintain its special place amidst all the competition keep reinventing itself?

OVER TO BHABANI

Osh, my brother, and I, in collaboration with Avan Contractor, launched BBLUNT (B stands for Bhabani and also my favourite cut, The BOB!), a ‘destination hair salon’, and the first-of-its-kind in 2004.

Everything has been a milestone – from opening our first salon together to winning hairdressing awards to opening salon number two onto 18, to our first Bollywood hairstyling debut Dil Chahta Hai right to the 50+ films that followed after.

We founded the BBLUNT Academy with a vision of educating and nurturing a homegrown team of stylists, who are honest, like-minded, enthusiastic, thoroughly capable, and can successfully manage things. From just a team of Avan and me, we’ve moved on to a whole battalion of talented stylists called The Shoot Crew – currently spearheaded by Avan. Our latest project was