(Left to right) Agnimitra Paul, Sabina Yah, Koneenica Banerjee, Bridgette Jones, Katrina Kaif and June at Silk--Shine Sananda Kesh Katha at Hyatt Regency Calcutta on Monday afternoon. Picture by Aranya Sen

Look your best as best as you can. There are days when you feel lazy and don’t want to deck up, but make sure you make the effort — words of wisdom from Bollywood beauty Katrina Kaif. One look at the peaches-and-cream lady in a breezy yellow dress and “lazy to get dressed” is the last thing that comes to mind.

On Monday afternoon, the Hyatt Regency Calcutta saw Katrina reveal her style secrets to an eager audience at a hair workshop, Silk--Shine Sananda Kesh Katha.

The workshop brought together hair experts Sabina Yah and Bridgette Jones, actresses Koneenica Banerjee, Rimjhim Mitra and June, and designer Agnimitra Paul.

But leading the beautiful hair brigade was Silk--Shine brand ambassador Katrina, sitting proper, smiling pretty.

The day began with Sabina busting hair-related myths. Lessons learnt:

Colouring hair does not lead to premature greying.

Conditioners make hair smoother. They lock in moisture and prevent split-ends, but those with oily hair should apply it only on mid-lengths.

Use quality products for chemical treatment.

It was then over to Koneenica and Rimjhim to answer audience queries. Koneenica’s advice was simple: “Stress makes hair say goodbye. So don’t stress about hair and it will behave well!” Rimjhim topped it up with her mane mantra: “clean hair is healthy hair”.

The next session saw Bridgette giving a crash course on hair colouring, dos, don’ts and trends. “Colouring makes hair so beautiful, so healthy. No wonder 75 per cent of women across the world have coloured hair,” she said.

And here’s more:

Skin complexion and colour of eyes are the greatest determinants to choose the right hair colour.

Colour not only adds glamour, it adds shine and glow. Once the colour is deposited in the hair shaft, the strand gets doubled, making hair look thicker as well.

Over-coloured hair looks artificial and dry.

Ash-blonde streaks look disastrous on Asian skin tones. (Ameesha Patel, are you listening?)

Ask for low lights. They are two shades deeper than the natural hair tone.

Global colour demands frequent touch-ups. Go global only if you are a parlour person. Stick to highlights otherwise; they grow out gradually.

Follow up with right shampoos and conditioners, “just like you dry-clean your favourite heavy sari”.

Colour course over, Agnimitra then took the mike and announced, “please ask me fabric-related questions, I don’t know much about hair care”!

With that, it was time to topple some grandma’s tips. “Oil only spreads acne and dandruff. Conditioners are enough,” said Sabina. She followed it up with another one — “If only shaving off a toddler’s head would induce hair growth, no one would ever have thin hair!”

By then the stage was set for Katrina, who immediately scored a point with a “Nomoskar Kolkata, kamon aachhen?” A quiz based on the Just chill girl’s life followed. All smiles, Katrina enjoyed every moment, every question, right from her height, latest release, the colour of her eyes, and birthplace (someone finally guessed Hong Kong after travelling across Bangladesh, London, Pakistan, California, Kashmir…)

The panel then picked up ladies with great hair from the audience before interacting with Katrina. People wanted to know everything — her gym routine, (“mostly, I don’t get time. I am lazy”), her diet plan (“erratic food on the sets, though I love sushi”), her style statement (“experimental”), real hair colour (“dark black”)… Katrina obliged them all, chatty and charming.

Shradha Agarwal