Arts
Giving shape to a timeless look
Vasantha at work
When Vasantha De Silva speaks about hair he speaks of it in curiously concrete terms, incongruent to its wispy quality and elevating its gravity. While describing haircuts in place of words such as‘tame’, ‘comb’, ‘smooth’ and ‘brush’, words like ‘structures’, ‘buildings’, ‘create’ and ‘build’ take its place in his vocabulary instead. When in conversation, he compares the wrong texturing hair to that of breaking a wrong wall when building a house.
One could speculate that this architectural approach to hair are lingering remnants of his early days studying mechanical engineering. This might be a far reach – he’s been in the beauty industry for the past 35 years and his much-loathed days of studying mechanical engineering are now a speck in the horizon– but even he acknowledges the unconscious influence it has had over his work.
It’s early in the morning and while Salon Kess is yet to open its doors, its staff move around getting ready for the day ahead. We’re seated on the upper floor inside the plush salon in Colombo 7 and Vasantha is foregrounded against the city’s skyline which forms the backdrop to the salon. A penchant for lapsing into droll, dramatic declarations, Vasantha becomes more thoughtful and ruminative when discussing all things hair-related.
Vasantha has been in the business of making people beautiful for the past 35 years. He ventured into the industry when it wasn’t a very bankable career (“My family freaked out”), gaining experience overseas and cautiously returning to Sri Lanka to test the local waters. It’s a career gamble which has paid off.
Salon Kess has grown to be a formidable player in Sri Lanka’s hair industry, amassing a small but fiercely faithful clientele spanning celebrities, socialites, sporting personalities and well-known names in Colombo. The haircuts don’t come cheap for Sri Lankan standards (a haircut at Salon Kess costs in the range of Rs. 4,000 and above,while a cut with Vasantha costs Rs. 10,000) but the salon’s reputation for shaping hair well is one that has only strengthened over the years, cushioned by its client base. Its client loyalty has even surprisingly made its way into verse. One client penned a limerick aboutVasantha in weekly newspaper over ten years ago, turning his prose on hair advice into rhyme, writing““Hair”, V goes on, / Needs tender loving care / “It’s not just the cut but the maintenance…” / I get a side lecture right there.”
Kumar Sangakkara: One of Vasantha’s clients
“We [Salon Kess] are basically hair lovers. We are into creating structures,” says Vasantha, explaining that a good haircut lasts for months if shaped properly.Vasantha is all praises for his staff, acknowledging that the salon isn’t an easy place to work for if you’re not passionate about hair but avowing that when he is gone, his legacy and learning will live through their styles. Whenever Vasantha is in need of a haircut, he turns to one of his staff, serene in the knowledge that he is in capable hands.
With wedding season around the corner, Vasantha’s only advice for brides on their wedding day is to go for sophisticated, timeless looks. He notes that the biggest mistake most brides make is to be carried away with the tide of trends which wash away with time. Iconic, classic looks with subtle modern elements age well and also stand out two decades from now. There’s a saying that fashion is fleeting but good style is timeliness and it is these classical styles and looks which Vasantha regularly revisits whenever he is in need of innovation or inspiration in his haircuts. While Vasantha does not dress brides (Prabath Gamage, a senior stylist at the salon braves the gamut of weddings when the season arrives), he pops in during the initial consultation to offer advice on the final look.
For Vasantha, the natural texture and curl of Sri Lankan hair offer a world of styling possibilities and is a dream for a hairdresser. Vasantha’s approach to hair is backed by a knack for creating timeless, iconic looks (“There’s a lot of thought in what I do”) and an innate aptitude for picking styles to complement the texture of thick, wavy Sri Lankan hair, when most stylists would shy away.
Vasantha’s tip for brides: Go for the classic look
He laments at the trend of straightening which kills the naturalness of the hair, thinning it with chemicals and allowing for very little natural movement, and transposing hair colours and global hairstyles which don’t suit the complexion or needs of locals. He compares working with treated hair to a starch-heavy canvas presented to a painter – you can work with it but there’s a textural difference evidenced in the final result.
With over three decades of experience in the industry and propelled by the desire to educate budding stylists in the industry about the unique textures of Asian hair, Vasantha has been toying with venturing into hair-education. It’s an idea that’s been at the back of his mind for a while and he’s mapping out plans but is excited about the possibilities.