LAKMEN: THE HAIRCUT YOU MAY OR MAY NOT DESERVE BUT DEFINITELY DO NEED

24 Sep 2017

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We men are notorious for getting our hair done for just Rs. 60. A handful push it up to Rs.100 but only because a taming of the beard is included in it. The other thing we’re notorious for is that we tend to complain about the cut not being that good. Then again, we suck it up because we paid the bare minimum for it. We leave it to being us not being able to talk to the barber correctly. And then we just move on with our lives unsatisfied and even insecure.

This is where the Lakme Salon comes in. Recently opened as a flagship parlor at Labim Mall, Lalitpur, Lakme has been grooming men and women who want the finest. Employing not only their own exceptional products but also hairstylists who should be termed as artisans, Lakme is pretty much your one stop solution to all of your hair tantrums.

Now, we would not recommend a place to our faithful readers just like that. We would never do that. That is why we got two drastically different people with two drastically different hairstyles to see what can be done with their mane. We were more than impressed with the results.

Our first model is Solar Karki. He has the kind of hair every man would be jealous of. Long, straight, bouncy, and oh-so thick. When he came in, his hair was long on the top and shorter on the sides. For him, the look we were going for was a more of a rockabilly slick back. Our stylist started of by sectioning the hair in three, separating the top part and either the sides. Going in with a buzzer with a number 3 clip, the sides were cropped short. Then, to make everything clean, a number 1 was used. For the top, we needed the length, so just the tips were trimmed to eliminate split ends. Then, the model was sent for a wash.

Using cold water, the hair was washed with Lakmé’s all purpose shampoo and the blown dry. While blowing dry, the hair was combed backwards and upwards to give it some volume. A roller brush was used to do this. With the desired volume, a high sheen wax was applied and let to sit. Just to make everything spot on (as if it wasn’t already) a trimmer with no guard was used to clean up the strands that may have gone astray.

Now, Solar has a very chiseled jaw. To emphasize it, we could have gone with a clean shave but the stylist suggested that we should just clean up the neck with a trimmer so that the masculinity of the facial hair stays intact. Masculinity is something that is always welcome, and let this be a prime example for one having to always listen to their stylist. They know their stuff. This was speck ally evident when the towel was taken off Solar and he looked ready to dazzle the entire galaxy with his fresh cut and exquisitely define jawline.

The next model, me, has the sort of hair one would juxtapose with pubic hair. With a thinning top and embarrassingly rough texture, I came into the salon eager for an upgrade. The stylist took one look at me and you could see in his reaction that a challenge was before him. But he was as cool as a cucumber and showed me to the chair. (This would be a good time to point out that the chairs here are the comfiest.)

My hair being dry, the stylist did not have to bother with clips to partition my hair. Also, it not being as long as Solar’s, we went for a short side part. Hence, trimmer with a number 3 was used to crop the sides and back. Then, for the top, the stylist pointed out a fallacy. My hair being thin, I thought I could cover up with long hair. But what that apparently does is it makes the hair heavy, making it lay out in different manners, thus revealing various bald areas. So we went on to trim it down. For this, a pair of scissors were used. When the length was appropriate enough, the stylist went at it at an angle of 45 degrees to give it some texture. Similar to Solar’s, my hair was washed with cold water and shampooed with the same product. Then, it was blown dry and combed upwards with a roller brush. I was initially against it, but under his better judgment, we put down a line on the left side so that a sharper side part could be made. My concern was having to maintain it but he bypassed it as unnecessary whining. This is a decision I do not regret and would like to reinforce the previous statement: always listen to your stylist. Even more so when he’s from Lakme.

After a application of low shine wax, I felt like a proper man rather than a boy. I could not thank Lakme enough for making me fit enough to pose beside a proper model and actually put my hand on his shoulder and establish myself as the alpha.