Adhuna Bhabani is one of those people whose smile reaches her eyes. And she can often be seen flashing one. Adhuna, one of the top hairstylists in the country, has a lot of reasons to smile. Her hairstyling salon — BBlunt has about 19 outlets in Delhi, Mumbai, Pune, Indore, Bengaluru and Dubai. In the last two years, she has opened four new outlets, the latest two being in Bengaluru.
Amidst a fun-filled launch with all the neighbourhood ladies being given a makeover, Adhuna dressed in a signature Nicobar outfit, spoke about the discipline of hairdressing, its practitioners and its future.
Edited excerpts:
You seem to be on an expansion spree. How would you ensure quality?
I have a fantastic core team which has been with me for 10 years. In alignment with my belief in education, we offer lot of advance courses, structured courses and rigorous training programmes. And before you can hit the floor, you have to spend a period perfecting those skills.
A lot of people don’t see value in that kind of training. But yes, we have observed that once people are done with the courses at our academy, they are offered better designations elsewhere. In different cities, we have identified key senior members who guide the others like in Bengaluru we have Vinod and Kim.
Who can become a hairstylist?
Well, the skill is trainable but it really works if you are a people’s person. You have to smile all day long. You need good fitness levels and a strong stamina.
Sometimes, you don’t get to eat at all during the day.
Do we see different hair trends in different cities? Could we make observations like if Delhi is little less experimental than Bengaluru etc.?
Yes, you can generalise but I don’t like to do that. Bengaluru is very fashion aware. I used to spend a lot of time here earlier doing shoots and I would find it adventurous. People love to experiment.
What about hair styling products? Are people more open to using them?
First, a lot of myths have been busted regarding hair styling products. When I first came to India, my concerns were where to get them from. It was difficult to find them. Also, the research. Thanks to our association with Godrej (Godrej has a 30 per cent stake in BBlunt), we have access to their research about what people are doing with their hair. Till two years ago, we used to hear things like ‘Oh, I shampoo my hair but not condition it’. We are also providing base products to build people’s trust in our brand. People are now beginning to get interested in styling products. In general, they are more conscious and aware of possibilities.
Hairstyling was integral to Dil Chahta Hai . The film brought the profession into spotlight as it was probably the first time, a hairstylist was mentioned in the credits. Does it continue?
I want to credit my training in the UK which was many moons ago. The film was an opportunity to show and do the kind of work you don’t get to do on a daily basis. The film got us a lot of recognition and showed how important a hairstyle is, in creating an identity and enhancing a look for a character. People are experimenting with it now in the film industry. We now have a full-fledged shoot division called “Shoot Crew”.
