For Karachiites, a hairstyle must reflect their personality: a customer gets the ‘Ronaldo’ hairstyle
After a series of disappointments due to my curly hair, I started dodging hair stylists the same way Donald Trump evades the taxman. My friends, on the other hand, have gone to great lengths to cultivate meaningful relationships with their hair stylists.
Back in my teens we had the ‘burger cut’, named after the so-called ‘burgers’ (slang for Westernised elite). There were other hairdos that were considered trendy. In 1991, the movie Terminator 2 was released and every boy wanted a hair style like John Connor’s (played by Edward Walter Furlong) — a side part with a long fringe on the other side. A similar thing happened when Titanic was released in 1997 and Leonardo DiCaprio made us believe that long locks will make you a hit with the ladies. It didn’t.
It wasn’t just Hollywood movie stars that inspired hair style trends. Haircuts of Indian movie stars, local musicians, cricketers and even popular wrestlers of the WWF (now WWE) were all copied — much to the exasperation of our parents. But we weren’t doing anything new.
For Karachi men, a hairstyle is all about making a statement
Hair has always been a prized possession and whether it was Waheed Murad’s side part or Dev Anand’s slicked quiff, men have tried their hand at various hair styles. The fibrous follicles on top of our head are the crowning glory for many gents and the foundation of a 20 billion dollar industry.
Nature intended hair as insulation from heat and cold, and enhancing our sense of touch. For centuries, however, tresses have reflected whatever their owner thinks is going to make him popular with the opposite sex. Love is truly in the hair.
There is no denying that a good haircut is a sheer delight and Karachi’s men go to great lengths for it. In the olden days, even among the fashionable crowd, there was a lingering social stigma towards a man who gave too much attention to his hair. Most people had the notion that this is something a ‘real’ man shouldn’t do.
Grooming was what horses used to get but the modern male wants to maintain good hair and visits the barber every week even though his hair only grows 0.44 mm per day — indicative of a paradigm shift in men’s approach towards hair.
There are a growing number of people who not only take pride in maintaining expensive hairdos but also consider it a pleasurable activity. Since the city’s humidity is bad for a carefully coiffed head it’s an uphill battle but those with hair are more than ready to cough up whatever their barbers feel like charging for their services.
Tony, the barber at Super Cuts in Saddar, says, “We used to have one person coming every month or six weeks. Now they are here every 15 days and even after we have raised prices to 150 rupees for a simple cut and 250 rupees for a proper hairdo.”