Something about Khursheed Rodrigue’s voice smoothens out life knots.  It the reassuring and confident voice of a woman who knows what she is doing and can be trusted. Be it with a pair of salon scissors or with your self-esteem issues more deep-rooted than your hair. Having been in the beauty business for more than two decades, Khursheed does not ever make the mistake of  thinking that beauty is just skin deep. Or that a woman’s hair needs more nourishment than her spirit. As a child however, she did not know dressing hair had some subliminal significance. She just loved doing her own hair. Putting on make up. Doing her nails. ``No one in my family was in the beauty business but I always knew I would do this. It was so clear. I just loved helping out with make up and hair during school concerts,’’ says Khursheed who today manages The Taj Beauty and Barber Shop at Taj Residency. ``Once a school friend walked into the salon and was taken aback to see me here. Then she said, ``Oh, I always knew you would end up doing this!’’

Any kind
Khursheed says, ``After so many years, I can handle any kind of hair.'' 

Read, ``I can handle any kind of client.’’ And there are all kinds. Since the beauty shop is in a five star hotel, it is inevitable that a lot of foreign guests sample beauty services.

``We maintain a very high level of hygiene, totally sterilise every tool of the trade, offer a range of services from massages to reflexology and even the Brazillian wax.’’

The soothing 1,200 square-ft salon has its share of regular expat clients as well. They know Khursheed’s skills well enough by now and ``are less demanding than many others.’’  There is also a percentage of those who sometimes don’t know what is best for them. But Khursheed knows that one thing a hair stylist cannot force on a client is a big ego. ``I don’t push clients hard. I win their confidence and when they have come to trust me, I tell them what is ideal for them. You have to handle more than just their hair. You have to be sensitive.’’ Over the years, the compliments she has received have exceeded her retentive powers but there is one she remembers. ``I was called an esteem builder,’’ she smiles. Did we not say, beauty salons handle more than just hair?

Look in the mirror
That is why one of Bangalore’s oldest and most trusted beauty haunts calls itself Mirrors and Within. Because what is reflected in the mirror is just half the story. The idea of Mirrors and Within is about 16 years old and still relevant to both its loyal local clientele as well as the expats who drop by and are converted sometimes for life.

Chic cut
Lizzie Lee at the Taj West End branch of  Mirrors and Within (There is one at The Leela, another at The Oberoi and yet another one at The Bangalore Club)  recounts how an American lady was jumpy about having her short blonde hair cut in Bangalore.

``She had got that cut abroad and wondered if we would be able to do an equally good job,’’ she says. But then the girls at this beauty shop update their skills regularly via workshops and beauty seminars and in the end, the client got the cut she wanted and Mirrors and Within got its share of vindication. ``We offer personalised service and give time to client and the space to unwind. When excellent service and ambience combine, the clients are bound to come back,’’ says Lizzie who has been styling hair for more than a decade.

Kevin Billings, the master stylist at Salon Squeeze understands that the beauty business is about creating a comforting experience for a client. ``I was not a people’s person but this profession has made me so,’’ he chuckles good humouredly. It all began in his aunt’s salon where he helped out occasionally and got interested in other people’s hair.

Observing all sorts of clients in the last 12 years has made him an astute humanist and trend reader. He says,``Now people are more willing to experiment with their looks and do new things to their hair with colour.
They have more knowledge about styling and cuts. The majority of my clients know what they want but others do need a second opinion.’’

That second opinion has to be  doled out carefully, points out Kevin. ``Depending how to tackle him or her, a client can walk out of your salon feeling wonderful or feeling like crap,’’ he says and adds, ``When you style someone, you have to keep their personalities, lifestyles and even social life in mind. It’s never just about hair.’’
He has many expat clients but he says dealing with them is no different from dealing with anyone else. ``One is still dealing with hair texture,’’ he says.