Men's Grooming Saloon

A hidden place in Kochi; where Saddam and Musharraf give haircuts. 

'FACESTYLE'

By - Lt Col (Retd) D Purushothaman Pillay

These days in the hip and happening Kakkanad it is well nigh impossible to just go to any decent gents and kids saloon and get a small thing like a simple haircut without a long wait; more so on Saturdays and Sundays. My two boys and I badly needed a pre-newyear haircut and so went to all the big names viz; Zookie's, Barik's, Naturals and Polonica around the neighbourhood; there we found to our utter dismay, that we needed to telephonically book our appointment well in advance and the ignorant walk-ins generally had to annoyingly wait for anything between three to five hours to be entertained. That inspired us to explore the neighbourhood to find out decent alternatives for these busy haircutting saloons. After chancing upon a few shabby run-down and pedestrian, hole-in-the-wall barber shops; it was indeed a very pleasant surprise when we accidentally stumbled upon "FACESTYLE"-Gents & Kids Beauty Parlour, on the first floor of a building, at the nearby Vazhakkala bang opposite the Fish Market and Hotel Malabar Plaza on the Civil Line Road.

'Facestyle' is indeed a very new, well-equipped, modest, neat and clean grooming saloon for gents and kids. It is airconditioned, well-lit and furnished in an eye-pleasing, cool purple and white laminate and also affords the luxury of choice between satellite television and piped music to accompany the grooming session. It offers the whole range of men's grooming treatments from the basic haircuts and regular shaves to the more specialised hair spa/colouring/straightening, facials, pedicure, manicure and head massages etc. A haircut is only as good as the skill of the person who executes it; this is where we discovered that we landed in a gold-mine, for in this tucked-up, nondescript saloon were two unsung, amazingly gifted stylists, waiting to be discovered. The most amusing part follows; these enterprising North Indian youngsters interestingly go by the names SADDAM Farhad and Mohammed Pervez MUSHARRAF.

This was not by any design but by a totally accidental comical coincidence.Saddam hailing from Shahranpur in UP is a Javed Habib school trained hair dresser from Delhi who had previously worked in UP and NCR. Musharraf belongs to Yamunanagar in Haryana and has valuable styling experience in Delhi and Haryana. My boys and I got terrific haircuts and I additionally even enjoyed a great shave; our haircuts were appreciated by one and all. We enjoyed all this with the whole saloon to ourselves whilst being treated by their exceptional skills, with the welcome accompaniment of the latest Bollywood hits. However the biggest 'bonus' was that this great new delightful experience was at a third of the cost we would have otherwise doled out in the other reputed saloons nearby.

This has prompted me to share this piece about these two abundantly gifted stylists, so that more people can get to benefit their plenteous talents and indulge in this marvelous gratification. It also affords an intrepid vicarious pleasure to have your hair done by barbers named Saddam or Musharaff. I shall be returning to this new place for my grooming needs in the future; as it is excellent value for money for the exquisite expertise you get to experience. 
Saddam Farhad can be contacted on the mobile number +91-9567804249 for bookings and appointments. Presently being unsung and anonymous one can just walk in and get serviced; but this gesture of giving the number might lead to me having to wait the next time I need to go there. Who cares as long as these gifted twosome; can gainfully groom a few more of my Kochi brethren!