A British Airways plane at Heathrow Airport and (top) the busy check-in counters at the same airport

What’s the ultimate ambition of a super-snipping hairstylist? To make evergreen actress Goldie Hawn cry with joy after trimming her lush locks? To take the scissors and comb to Bollywood’s most delectable ladies including Aishwarya Rai, Manisha Koirala, Raveena Tandon, Mahima Chaudhary and too many others to be named? To have the rich and famous in London waiting patiently for their appointed hour with him?

You could say that hairstylist Dar has done all that and more. He’s sought after by jetsetters and many Indian movie stars are likely to stop by in London just to make sure their hair is trimmed to perfection before an opening or awards night. Even hunky, masculine stars like Jackie Shroff and Salman Khan make sure they get the length just right under Dar’s care.

After decades in the topiary business, Dar is still filled with boundless energy and enthusiasm for making people look good. Without any prompting, he will whip out his camera phone to show off his latest collection of hairstyles. Like a designer creates a new collection of dresses, Dar creates a hairstyle collection every season.

It is, of course, the women who get preference in Dar’s scheme of things. The hairstylist insists that he might easily have become a make-up artist, a designer or maybe a fashion photographer. Anything, he says, so that he could spend the working day with beautiful women. “I wanted to do anything to stay close to women,” he says with a grin.
Dar was born in Malaysia to Indian parents who were from a small village called Fathejalal in Jalandhar. His father was in the British Army and fought in the Second World War, after which he moved to Britain. A few years later, his father decided to return to India but died soon afterwards. Dar, who had stayed on in London finally decided not to return to India. He and a younger brother lived with their aunt’s family in Britain instead.

But the young Asian lad made his decision about the future at an early age. As a teenager he would often blow-dry his friends’ hair and it was obvious that he loved doing it. Finally it was his English girlfriend who bought him a hairdressing journal, which had vacancies listed on its back page. He quickly found a job at a salon in Oxford.

There, the salon owner gave the enthusiastic young boy his first lessons in the trade and how to hold the scissors and wield them to maximum effect. But Dar didn’t stop with that. To sharpen his skills, he would go home and practice on friends and relatives. He recalls, “It was like a paid vacation for me. Whereas it takes almost three and a half years for learners to master the art, it took me only 18 months to excel.” “It’s wrong to say that English people don’t welcome Asians. If you are good, you are always welcome here,” he adds.

Inevitably, it hasn’t been an easy path to the top of the topiary tree. Working in a salon involves long hours and back-breaking work. Says Dar, “I often made coffee and swept the salon floor initially.” But he has a cheerful zest for life and never grumbled even when the going got tough.

It wasn’t long before Dar rose through the ranks. He accumulated experience by working seven years with Vidal Sassoon. Later, he went on to higher things and travelled through Europe as a freelance hairdresser working with some of the world’s leading hair product companies.

His infectious cheerfulness has also won him friends among the rich and famous. He first came to India almost 20 years ago and through a customer made his links with India’s ‘beautiful people’. Later, he met Goldie Hawn in India for the first time through his friend, Parmeshwar Godrej and “we connected spiritually,” he says. “We became thick friends and later when I did her hair, she looked into the mirror and cried with joy, saying ‘you’re the best’.”

Dar has also been a behind-the-scenes player on the fashion front and has worked with fashion photographers and editors for leading fashion magazines including, English and Italian Vogue, Tatler, Harper’s and Queen, and Cosmopolitan. As a result, he knows what an evening look is all about and what kind of hairstyle goes with a cocktail dress. Many customers show him the dress they plan to wear for a party and he designs the perfect cut to go with it. And what according to him is a perfect hair cut? “As far as the haircut is concerned, it should be sculpted to your face — whether it’s very long or short. The perfect haircut should also emphasise your cheekbone, jaw line and most importantly, it should emphasise your eyes,” he explains.

Dar believes a good hairstyle never makes you look like you’ve just come out of the salon. “It should be very natural and sexy as though you’ve just got out of the bed. Ideally, your hair should look tousled, yet a little bit done,” says Dar.

He has, in recent years, begun flying back and forth between India and Britain, especially since he has so many admirers and customers in the Bollywood fraternity. He insists that India has always inspired him spiritually and professionally. Also, travelling and visiting places helps him get new ideas for hairstyles.

The ace hairstylist was in India recently to visit Asian Roots, a Delhi spa and salon. And he has big plans for the salon that include bringing top stylists here from abroad and taking promising students to London, where they will be introduced to the latest trends in hair cutting and styling. “When Indians can be good in IT and in the fashion industry, then I’m sure there is a potential for good hairstylists that needs to be explored,” he says.

What other ambitions does Dar have in India? He says he would love to do President Abdul Kalam Azad’s hair and also that of Asha Bhonsle. “I can make her look 15 to 20 years younger to go with the voice,” he claims. And what hair style does he have in mind for the Queen of England? None. “I really wouldn’t want to change her look. I love the way she looks. I think it’s perfect,” he concludes.

Photograph by Jagan N