After successful events held in Mumbai, Gurgaon, Bengaluru and Kolkata; the North-East Zone Semi Finals of Streax Professional Times India Hair Style Icon 2022 were held at Vishwakarma Banquets, Guwahati on September 20. From hundreds of entries that came in from the states of Sikkim, Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Triupura, Mizoram and Arunachal Pradesh top 40 hairstylists were selected for this leg.
Contestants were bifurcated into three different time slots and asked to select a category from creative colour (female), commercial cut & colour (male / female), red carpet up-style. Accordingly, each semi-finalist was asked to perform within the respective time period and process parameters.
Each hairstylist was accompanied by a muse, who was judged by an eclectic panel of jury comprising celebrity hair stylist Savio John Perreira, grooming expert and fashion director Kakoli Tamuli Chowdhury and actor Nishita Goswami; alongside technical judges from Streax Professional.
The winners used a mix of the Hold & Play Funky Colors and the Argan Secrets hair color from the Streax Professional range. After 12 hours of performances and a gruelling post event evaluation; the winners were announced.
Bhaskar Jyoti Saikia (category: female creative color) of Pink villa salon and Amit Tonk (category: female commercial cut & color) of Newlarc Salon have made it to the finals that will be held at Bombay Times Fashion Week in Mumbai on October 2. They have moved closer to winning Rs.5 lakh cash and a trip to attend Paris Fashion Week.
Bhaskar Jyoti Saika mentioned, “This is the first time I felt so energetic and free in a competition to show my creativity. Indian hair dressing industry has been through a lot during the pandemic and this is a much needed boost. I am raring to go to Mumbai and give it my best.”
Amit Tonk from Manipur explained, “Every hair stylist needs many factors for his or her art to come out the way it has been imagined. The good thing about this competition is that the organisers have thought about all aspects and points before formulating the rules. Hoping to bring the first ever trophy to my state of Manipur!”
Jogesh (female commercial cut & color (Magic Fingers 7 Salon & Academy) and Rake Buddin Ahmed (men’s creative cut & color, Khatiswag Hair Studio) made it to the first runner’s up position. The winners used a mix of the Hold & Play Funky Colors and the Argan Secrets hair color from the Streax Professional range.
Actor Nishita Goswami gushed, “The Northeast as a region has some amazing talent which goes unnoticed, so it’s great that the platform has come all the way here. What I saw while judging was just exceptional talent.”
With all 10 finalists decided (2 from each of the 5 zones), the hair competition now moves to Mumbai for the grand finale on October 2 at Bombay Times Fashion Week at 7:30 p.m. at The St. Regis Mumbai. The show is curated by ace designer Abhishek Sharma while hair will be styled by the finalists of the competition using, ‘Mercurial’, the new hair colour range from Streax Professional.
IHI aims to scout for talent and aptitude from across the country and change the world of hairdressers in India forever. It’s our passion to build expertise and help hairstylists & artists reach their highest potential in a neutral and impartial way.