THE TRENDS IN HAIRSTYLES

The Trends in Hairstyles
by Sugandha Gupta
Souvik Choudhury
introduction
A hairstyles is an important part of our personality.it represents our taste ,likes and how we carry our selves in life. It is not only how we like to style our hair but also our identy, it is the way we want the world to see us .While searching for a theme from our photographs we thought of several things to research on but the main reason for us to choose this theme was that it is something that has evolved right from the time when humans came into being and has been changing ever since,To start with we took a time span from the twentieth centuary i.e. from the 1970s as major changes in the styling and make up started taking place post independence when our country became a little politically sounbd.
While going throught the pictures and pgotographs collected we came across a lot of similar hairstyles that ressemblled the actors and actresses of that particular time.for eg side parted hair in women and men and fringes etc
INFLUENCES OF BOLLYWOOD ON INDIAN HAIRSTYLES
Hairstyles have always played an important role in film making ..There are several stereo types in bollywood movies to depict different kinds of characters which are so strongly pot rayed that the public blindly believes in what is shown. however hairstyles form a very major role in describing the persons nature, .during the 70 s and 80th bollywood was a very major influence on the society , Though in contrast to the present people in general do not prefer having a very clean and neat look instead they want to look different and thus at times even immitate the villains an hairstyles not only have people reduced imitating the bolly wood actors in present times but have also started to create their own looks or in some cases even copy hollywood personalities just to be in the cool or sophisticated look, A lot of influences can also be found in the serials and soaps shown on television of the lifestyle of people in daily life.
eg a homely women would be shown in a neat and tidily tied bun where as a clever or villain charrecter would be dressed in a very modern or hippy look.these are pictures from the movie Rang De Basanti and they depict a wide contrast in the hairstyles at the time of independence in India , of the freedom fighters who represented the common man at that time , who were the real heros of our country and the present generation youth. The interesting part here is to see how much the image of the same person can be changed just by changing the hairstyle of the person..
Myths and Religious beliefs
A lot of myths and blind religious beliefs were followed in those times
which have been reflected in Indian cinema as well as soaps such as widows shaving off all their hairs ,sikh women and men would not be allowed to cut their hair as cutting their hair would not be considered sacred.
Since the Indian society has had a very strong religious base and has had strong influences on the society a large number of people still adhere to the religious customs and beliefs and thus that’s what dominates their lifestyles and mannerisms
HAIRSTYLES THROUGH THE DIFFERENT AGE GROUPS
Starck changes in hairstyles have been found the most in the youth as that’s the age when one wants to look cool and smart, .during the 70s and 80s young women would not really think of cutting their hair in general except for the elite class who new what was the latest trend of that period of time and wanted to look different from the crowd.6
The women would usually make two plats before marriage and after marriage a single plat or a bun.long hair was considered and still is the beauty of women in India but for the intellects it was a question of their identity which they wanted to be separate from the comman people.
Men during the 70s and 80s can be seen with a zulfi and they usually lept a mustache which was considered a part of their masculinity.
In contrast with the present now-a dyas men have started keeping long hair and women like cutting hair short .all the influences on men and women are largely from the ramp or the glam world or fashion world rather than much from the moivies though there are certain charrecters because of whom certain hairstyles become very popular . for eg form amitabh bachchan the bachchan cut..
OCCUPATION BASED CLASS IFF I CATION OF HAIRSTYLES
Another way of looking at the evolution as well as importance of hairstyles is the various occupation. During the time of independence there weren’t many occupations or rather many diversities in occupation but with the economic and technological growth of our country the occupations have also diversified and people are more or less free to choose the areas they like or the want to go for. with this the competition in jobs has also increased .with the private sectors coming into picture a lot is expected from the employees and personality forms a major part of their portfolio today. there for people today also like to maintin a formal hairstyle while they go for work. Especially in the corporate world.
CONCLUSSION
India has a very old mythological as well as political history . various religions have evolved and are still evolving in India and many people from various countries have settled here too this shows that it is very culturally diverse. this cultural diversity has lead to different traditions and cultures .every culture has its own identity in our country not only in their traditional outfits and custums but also in their make up and hair does are they very different or varied.