For the confident, elegant and articulate woman of today, Shyamani Priyanthi of ‘Roots’ offers the perfect array in hair options.

Believing that every woman has a right to look beautiful she endows her hair creations with an extraordinarily fashionable quality to accentuate the best in a woman’s countenance by merging the element of practicality which flatter’s eve.

Talking about hair fashions for 2005, Priyanthi says, "Hair braids are very much in vogue. Braided hair is principally a women’s fashion and art form and is an ancient art, coming down from generation to generation beginning in Africa.

The origins of this art form can be traced back to Egypt as far 3500 BC. Each African region has its own traditional styles with the different tribes having their own distinctive identity in hair do.

In Sri Lanka braids are very much in vogue with many varieties of braids, each having style of its own.There are many types of braids says Priyanthi.

French braids, Dutch braids, short hair, twists and laces, English braids and fish tail braids ‘We do braids at our salon ‘Roots’ depending on the type of hair’ says Priyanthi.

Priyanthi who has her state- of- the -art salon at Ridgeway, Bambalapitiya also runs an Hair and Beauty Academy registered with the Vocational and Tertiary Educational Commission.

The academy offers long and short term courses comprehensively covering all aspects of beauty culture.

For those who want to make beauty culture a career, Priyanthi offers both theory and practical classes where students will learn from haircuts, hair care to styles, perms, braiding, colour, tinting to facials, make up, acne treatment and all other aspects of beauty culture.

Armed with years of experience and natural talent, Priyanthi has created a niche in the competitive world of hairdressing.

Priyanthi’s salon ‘Roots’ relocated at Ridgeway Place, Bambalapitiya is elegant and the ambience relaxing for those wanting to unwind themselves and be pampered by an efficient staff. Talking about hair trends this year Priyanthi says braids and perms have made a comeback this year. What are braids? Where did it originate? How come it became a fashion statement? Let’s go back to history.

In many West African countries, hair braiding developed into complex patterns signalling one’s social status, age group, and village affiliation says Priyanthi. Tracing the history of braiding she says certain elaborate hair treatments were reserved for ceremonial occasions- weddings and other rites of passage, for example. While braided hair is principally a women’s fashion and art form, in some areas men also create and wear these styles.

From a very young age, Liberian girls of the Kpelle tribe wear their hair styled into braids or knots. Girls first have their hair done by older female relatives-sisters, mothers, grandmothers, cousins, aunts. They learn first by watching, then by doing. A girl just developing these skills will usually practice on her peers or on younger girls, since no one wants to have her hair done by someone younger (and, therefore, less adept) than she.

When girls from traditional Liberian families reach marriageable age - formerly 16 or 17, but now whenever their formal schooling is finished - they spend three months to a year in a "traditional" or "country" or "bush" school, where they learn the domestic skills whose mastery marks their accession to adulthood. In these schools, women depend entirely on their own knowledge and abilities to survive. The initiates learn to weave fish nets and catch fish, to cook., braid hair, and perform traditional dances and songs.

Priyanthi says ‘hair braiding is often an immensely time-consuming activity: same styles can take an entire day or more to create.