One on One: Madih Umair
Headlines Salon, a renowned salon and spa for men and women located in a posh area in Lahore is the new hip place to go for all your grooming needs. Madih Umair is a project director and a lead stylist at Headlines while renowned model and actor Mikaal Zulfiqar is the CEO. The salon has the monochrome interior palette designed to complement the company’s logo and aesthetics. Madih ensures his clients keep coming back for unmatched grooming services at an urban chic atmosphere at the salon. TEdit spoke to Madih who is revolutionising hair and beauty standards.
Are you following any strategy to become a celebrity stylist?
They say the mechanism to become a celebrity stylist is by being a part of stardom itself. Another way towards becoming iconic is by coining new techniques that propel towards recognition. I think I fall somewhere in between the two but I don’t really follow famous hairstylists for inspiration or even branding ideas. I follow my instincts and I am lucky to have a good support system in terms of partners and team to help me where needed.
Do you have any signature style that reflects your work?
To become a top celebrity hair stylist you not only have to be the best of the best, but you must have the portfolio to back it up. This means that you have to create looks more as trend setters, which is certainly not easy. Many leading stylist know how to work with every individual client and tailor their cut and colour into their signature look. In my opinion, your work should reflect trendiness suitable to the person rather than maintaining your signature look on every head you work on!
What’s your take on leading male stylists in Pakistan?
Here in Pakistan, we have many creative & indeed steadfast stylists who never go wrong in whatever they do. I feel that likes of Ali Tehseen or Tariq Amin are as good as Ted Gibson or Vidal Sassoon but there is one man I consider a revolutionist in our industry. He does not have any signature style nor does he limit his work with celebrities. I think Shammal Qureshi of Tony & Guy has genuinely enhanced the spectrum of our industry and I like the maestro not just for his work but his efforts to change the concept of barber shops at a mass scale.
Share your journey with us?
I have done my graduation in finance from York University, Canada and I worked as Hedge Fund Administrator in CIBC Melon, Toronto for almost three years. I enjoy playing semi-professional tennis. There was a time when tennis was my life and I was unable look beyond my passion but now styling is my full time career.
Where did the idea of opening Headlines come up?
I think it was always on the cards. Mikaal and I discussed the idea of creating a local brand where we can give a celebrity experience to every client at competitive prices. My notion was to manage the project as a partner since Mikaal is mostly travelling for work but once we started working on feasibilities, we realised that if I have to run the show, I need to have a complete know how of what styling business is all about. Accordingly I took a couple of local managerial courses from Depliex and T&G but felt the need to be more hands on towards the technical side. So I went on to learn styling techniques from abroad and wish to continue exploring more styling courses. It’s neither consistent nor constant hence new ideas and techniques as well as use of products and modern equipment is something one needs to learn every then and now.
Do you plan to expand Headlines salon and academy?
We started off exactly one year ago with just a men’s salon because I needed time to prepare us for a women’s salon as it is far more competitive and demanding. Our vision for Headlines is to build a brand into an institute so maybe after opening a few stores of our own; we might start franchising as well. We want to open our own academy to enthuse youngsters to consider styling, make-up and other salon related treatments as a career. We want to keep the training courses less expensive and more creative. A Headlines for women is finally functional and it will be a treat for those who want to experience trendiness with quality and class. We are on track as business partners because we are always onboard on every decision we make.
What do you prefer, Mikaal as an artist or as a business partner?
To be honest, I have never followed the entertainment industry in Pakistan so I cannot really comment on how good Mikaal is when it comes to his acting skills but I know for a fact that whatever work he has done so far carries a lot of crux and quality. He is the CEO of Headlines and he is very sincere, honest and passionate about the brand image. What I really like about him is his personal sense of fashion and styling. He has recently been given the style icon award as well which endorses his persona as a style guru of Pakistan. I think this special trait of his professional career compliments Headlines really well. I have a good feeling that both of us will never compromise on the quality of work we want to offer nor we will circle around names to make Headlines a success.