Karnataka - Bangalore

Beautician aims for world record

Special Correspondent

SLEIGHT OF HAND: Uma Jayakumar (right), who figures in the Limca Book of Records for fastest `hair do', is attempting to better her record in Bangalore on Thursday. — Photo: V. Sreenivasa Murthy

BANGALORE: Weary husbands who get tired of wives spending what seems like an hour to do up their hair can send them to this beautician.

She is attempting to better her own record of creating a hairdo in seven seconds flat, using a single hairpin.

Her entry in the Limca Book of Records was first for 30 seconds and in 2005 for seven seconds.

Beautician Uma Jayakumar says she is a social worker having trained many physically challenged young women.

She trains young women to set up their own beauty parlours and says 5,000 students have been trained so far by her.

The Limca Book refers to another of her records, that of draping a silk sari in 11.02 seconds.

Known as the "one-minute beautician," Ms. Uma says, "Working women with very little time and others who want to try out new hairstyles for social occasions can learn the art from me. It is not time that matters."

About her training visually challenged and speech- and hearing-impaired women, she says that a handicap need not be a constraint if one learns the art.

Having overcome several obstacles in her own life, she says: "Drive, energy and resilience of spirit are what make the impossible very possible, and the many young women trained by me are examples. Even an ordinary personality can have a glimpse of occasional magic with some care."

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