Another solitaire that we came upon during our quest for the visionaries is

Rohan Patel: Changing stereotypical tag of Barber to HairDresser

Art sees no bound when passion backs it. In city with the mindset that anybody doing anything with others hair could only be a barber by profession, Rohan Patel has to toil his way hard to break the stereotype and earn the tag of a hairdresser. Rohan grew up watching his mom work as a beautician and making her clients magically happy. That is how, even as kid he aspired to take hair-dressing as his career.

• How and when did it start?

At the tender age of fifteen, when he shifted to Mumbai for his studies, he rejoiced the opportunity and joined the Lo’real Institute and did a half year course on hair care. But that didn’t satisfy his yearning for learning, so he flew to London and that’s where he pursued cosmetology and was introduced to whole new world of real hair-dressing. In the years that followed, Rohan wasted no time in contemplating his life goals and started R&G Spaloon, a small shop with limited seats. He never believed in marketing for his salon, so it was always the word of mouth that worked for him through his family, friends and happy clients.

• What was the motivation behind it?

His inspiration has always been his mother, and it was only her who boosted him to go to Mumbai, learn, explore and startup a professional salon. He is more of a designer than just chopping the strands off. He believes in making his clients happy and that’s what makes him tie up stronger with Sebastian, his all time favorite brand to work with. He runs his salon in standard US style, with a classy waiting lounge and luxurious amenities where he customarily works on appointment basis, for he believes in giving adequate time and importance to each of his clients, be it a kid, teen or a grown up.

• Challenges faced:

His major challenge so far has been going against his father’s wishes. Belonging to a conventional Gujarati Patel clan, many perceived his career choice as inferior and that is something he wants to change, not only of his father’s but everyone around. He wishes to shift the perception of him from being a barber to a talented hairdresser.

• Future plans:

He plans to start up an institute, similar to that in Mumbai where he studied and even better, to help people learn and take pride in what they do. He profoundly wants to create awareness in people to be smart and logical with what they do to their hair, especially in case of permanent treatments. He strongly condemns straightening and rebonding unless one have time and resources to maintain it.

• On the parting note he shares an elegant statement for all: ‘Be Stylish and Look Beautiful.’