To blonde or not to blonde?

Known for her bold fashion choices, Sonakshi Sinha was trolled for her recent blonde look at the IIFA ceremony in the US. She isn’t the only Indian to have gone the other way on the hair spectrum. From Kareena Kapoor to Bipasha Basu and every “wannabe fashionista” you know, we’ve all been there, done that. Yet, the question remains: Should Indians go blonde?

While stars shone bright at the IIFA gala earlier this month, Sonakshi Sinha stood out due to her blonde tresses. Some compared her look to a bird, and others simply labelled it "horrifying".But people must try the golden look once in their lifetime, suggests popular hairstylist Asha Hariharan.

Asked what went wrong, Asha, who has worked with stars like Hema Malini and Priyanka Chopra, told: "The kind of blonde that she (Sonakshi) wore doesn't work. If you look at her skin tone, she has a very typical 'Indian' skin tone and features.

"You have to have someone who will calculate how much is right and what will completely work," she added. Going by the hair trends in the coming year, blonde, which comes in a number of shades, will continue to be people's favourite in India.

"A lot of personality types have been celebrated. Therefore, the trend has been varied. You have goth glam, which is dark maroon and brown. There is also elegant hair which has tremendous shine," she said.

"The very vibrant ones on hair will take a little bit of backseat next year. But brown, gold and maroon will be big even next year. So, platinum, gold and ash blondes will be absolutely favourites of people.

But why is there an obsession for colouring black hair blonde? Is it because of inspiration from the West?
"I don't think we are only inspired by the West. It's a colour difficult to achieve, and it's also the colour that throws out. Blondes throw out shine from hair. So, the entire romance like the beach hair and world travelled hair... Everybody wants it because everyone is a free soul today.

"Whether you talk about the older generation or young people... On the one hand, they are world citizens and, on the other, they are very private. Blonde somehow is always the colour that represents that state of mind," she said.

"You always have two types of products -- one is the professional range which is highly concentrated. There is a certain mechanism, how we deliver results... whether we are talking about suiting the complexion (and the like).

"Then you have the hair colour that can be used at home. These have different formulations. It is important that the hair colourist is trained in a holistic manner. Just teaching you how a product works is not enough. You have to understand how a product complements a client,” educated the stylist.

By Natalia Ningthoujam