CHENNAI: The owner of 484 salons across 24 states and 92 cities in the country, Jawed Habib is not just a businessman, but a man on a mission. An optimist, who strives to promote education-based learning in hair styling through his brand that is the only education-based franchise in India, Habib believes an aspiring hairstylist needs to have proper education in the field.
“Lack of education makes the profession less respectable,” he says. Habib was recently in Chennai to launch three outlets of his salon at Perungudi, Valasaravakkam and Kilpauk. With his mission laid out simple and straight, Habib is now taking forward his family legacy of three generations to a global arena. He says the art of styling hair is not about merely cutting or using branded products, it is about knowing about the scientific methods of cutting hair and styling. “I am proud of my family legacy. It started with my grandfather and has been there for a hundred years now. It is not an easy task though,” he says.
With the reputation of his family at stake, Jawed emerged successful in his journey of being a style guru and has a strong foothold in Singapore and London.
Sharing with us how he fell for the profession Habib says, “Initially, I wanted to do hotel management. I was young and unsure of things. Then I did a degree course in French language at Jawaharlal Nehru University. By the final year I attended a hair stylist course at London’s Morris School of Hair Design where I was enamoured with the glamour attached to the profession. After that, there has been no looking back.”
With an alarming rise in the number of local salons that are cropping up in the country, without properly trained staffs or hair stylists, Habib feels such startups will disappear soon. “Salons without health license cannot survive for a long period. It will die down itself . The local government has to intervene and stop such salons and beauty parlours from creating a bad image of the profession,” he says.
Speaking about trends, Habib says hair styling is one thing that is not dictated by trends. “Every individual is different and has styles and preferences based on the place and culture he/she belongs to. A style that is famous in London cannot be compatible in Mumbai, a style that is thriving in Bombay cannot be compatible in Chennai,” he says.
Talking about the love for long hair in South Indian states, Habib suggests that long hair is unhealthy in a place with high humidity, which is why the level of hair fall is high in South India. “Long hair is not very healthy, due to sweating, high levels of salt and iron. When hair is longer, there is more sweating and it aggravates dandruff which is poison for hair,” he claims.
Despite his brand being a big franchise today, establishing it was not easy. “The profession was never respected and was ridiculed as ‘barber’s work’. Even today there are people who do not respect the profession. But, it has come a long way and people are respecting hairstylists and styling for its intricacy and complexity,” he says. With his success attributed to education in the field, Habib has opened academies in every district of the country.
He is starting a brand called Jawed Habib Gram Beauty Parlour-barber shop. He also plans to open 25,000 outlets across the country in three years and start academies in Coimbatore and Pondicherry soon.