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Cutting a new edge
Natasha Saigol goes solo, snipping her way into the creative
world of hairstyling and following an unconventional path towards
music not fashion. Is she following in the footsteps of mentor
Tariq Amin?
By Aamna
Haider Isani
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Dressed
to kill in high heels and a razor sharp new hairstyle sporting flashes
of red at the Summer Club Night, it would be hard to recognize Natasha
Saigol as she appears today. But her transition from the softly-curled,
long-haired girl who worked with Tariq Amin, to the high energy
hair stylist she has become today is only natural. One’s identity
evolves only when out on your own and that is exactly what has happened
to Natasha. It’s been little over a year since she moved out
of Tariq Amin’s salon to begin her independent business but
in such short time, slowly and steadily, she had started to make
her mark.
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Natasha
has picked up a loyal clientele, she is styling hair for corporate
advertisements (the Warid Zem ad with the ‘stand up’ hair
has been styled by her), she’s been interviewed on the Nadia
Khan show and she’s helped stylists on major fashion shows and
events over the past few months. The Giorgio Armani show and the Pakistan
Cricket Board Association show held in Karachi are just two examples.
The best thing is, she’s not someone who has simply learnt on
the job. A humble beginning at Tehseen Ali’s salon encouraged
her to sharpen her clippers at Vidal Sassoon in London. It’s
an experience she compares to “boot camp”.
“You don’t get days off at Vidal Sassoon. It’s cut,
colour, work all day,” she remembers. “The only time I
managed to nip a day off was when I played up Musharraf’s military
coup in 2000. I told them that I was emotionally and psychologically
disturbed that my |
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country
had been taken over by a military dictator and they were so sympathetic
that they gave me a day off to mourn. I was quite delighted at that!”
Vidaal Sassoon helped her polish her skills and after some final ‘cuts’
at Wella, Natasha returned to Lahore. Within days she was hired by
Tariq Amin and packed off to Islamabad where she was needed most. |
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| “Tariq
taught me so much; I owe a lot to him,” she mentions fondly.
“And at that time he had the most talented staff. There was
Mubashir (Khan), Humayun, Ayesha (Schonmeyer) and a couple more.
Working there was a great experience but then I had to eventually
move on.”
And move on she did. Natasha Saigol’s salon in Lahore has
an old world charm to it. Located in the heart of the GOR residency,
it’s also where many others of the Saigol family reside. And
these days she has set up business in her home, cordoning off an
entire portion. A Chip and Dale van remains parked outside - Natasha
has also been managing the 25-year family business ever since her
mother passed away last year.
“My mother’s was the only hair that I couldn’t
handle,” she mentions with a faint smile. ‘She had bullet
proof hair, hardened by the use of hair spray and she didn’t
trust me with it.”
Though she is virtually a world away from her life at Tariq’s
she still carries on bits and pieces of his work ethos. Ceiling
high, ornately framed mirrors stand in the room and Natasha, like
Tariq, takes a seat when cutting long hair.
“He always advised me to sit and cut as opposed to bending
all the time… he insisted that bending would eventually kill
my back.”
Similarly, like Tariq Amin, Natasha is more inclined towards styling
music as opposed to working in the fashion industry.
“I don’t want to get into fashion,” she says.
“I want to get into the music industry and style music videos
or something like The Music Awards. And until I have a team, I don’t
mind working with other people at all.”
People don’t mind working with her either. She’s got
the friendly, get-along-with-everyone nature that warms people up
instantly. It’s no surprise that she can get along with most
make up artistes in Lahore as well. She enjoys a symbiotic relationship
with them. Young and pretty, Natasha also cuts the ideal role model
for most young teenage girls who walk in to get their hair styled.
And that’s definitely a good thing because as she says, she’ll
do anything to convince the young girls to “experiment”
with their hair instead of living within the safe walls of a straight
blow dry. Here’s to change and here’s to Natasha for
attempting to bring it around!
Natasha Saigol’s
work can be seen on Style Section. |
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